The Watchtower — June 1, 1958

When Will This Madness Cease?

MAN’S frantic search for weapons of war has brought him from the age of the sword to the age of the hydrogen bomb, from the age of the arrow to the age of the rocket. It has meant a change from wars that affected limited portions of the earth to wars that affect the entire earth. It is now possible for a war to become so devastating that all earthly life could be destroyed.

War is sheer madness, more so today than ever before. The nations realize that something has to be done to stop it, that permanent peace must be established. Yet their efforts fail and they continue to arm.

As man has increased in knowledge and advanced in civilization he has not moved closer to peaceful relationships, as would be expected. Instead his wars have become fiercer. From the fifteenth century before the Christian era to the nineteenth century after it began there were 3,357 years of war and only 227 years of peace. That is about one year of peace for every fifteen years of war. Since 1861 human relations have grown steadily worse, for there has not been one single year from that date to the present during which a war or several wars were not being waged somewhere on earth.

The rising cost of war has kept pace with man’s development of more destructive weapons. In primitive times it cost practically nothing to kill a man in war. In the days of Julius Caesar the cost was about seventy-five cents. During the days of Napoleon it rose to almost $3,000. The four years of World War I brought it up to $21,000, and then in World War II it leaped to $55,000. Now, with the costly weapons of mass destruction in this atomic age, the cost to kill an enemy soldier has skyrocketed to fabulous proportions. War has become so expensive that the nation that prepares for it endangers its economy.

But war’s cost in human lives and suffering is more important. It is a greater reason to hate war. A Swiss journalist took stock of World War II and found that it claimed the lives of 32 million people in battle, 20 million in air bombings and 26 million in concentration camps. In six years 78 million persons were slaughtered. Add to this some 15 to 20 million who were rendered destitute by the war and you have 98 million people who suffered from the effects of that one war. But the cost in lives and money of World War II is small when compared with what a third world war would cost.

People the world over are crying out for peace. They want to know when the madness of war will cease. When will humans stop this crazy slaughtering of one another? When will they begin respecting one another’s rights and lives and begin living together in peace?

Their leaders have failed in every effort that has been made to bring an end to war. There is now only one direction in which they can turn for the peace they long for, and that is toward their Maker, Jehovah God. He long ago declared his determination to bring an end to war, and when he purposes something he never fails to fulfill that purpose. “Come you, behold the activities of Jehovah, how he has set astonishing events on the earth. He is making wars to cease to the extremity of the earth.”—Ps. 46:8, 9.

This present generation will see the fulfillment of this prophecy. Shortly the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” will bring this wicked system of things to an end. It will be the war that will really end wars. The nations with their many governments will be swept out of existence.

In the place of these nations there will be a united body of people under one righteous government—the kingdom of God. Since this one, divinely established government will rule the earth, mankind will never again become divided, either politically or religiously.

But it may be argued by some that even a divine government could not insure peace, because there always will be fighting so long as there is even one person who will not respect the rights of others.

Let those who think that way consider this scripture: “And just a little while longer and the wicked one will be no more, and you will certainly give attention to his place and he will not be.” (Ps. 37:10) This means that the wicked among mankind will not survive the day of God’s wrath. They will be screened out and will perish with this system of things. They will cease to be just as surely as the wicked before the Flood ceased to exist. “Jehovah is guarding all those loving him, but all the wicked ones he will annihilate.”—Ps. 145:20.

Because God’s kingdom will rule the earth following the destruction of the present world, wicked persons will not be able to rise up, gain power and revive the madness of war. Never again will wickedness prosper on earth.

People are now being gathered from all races and nationalities to be the inhabiters of the earth under God’s kingdom. Since they live for that new world they are a New World society. As Noah and his family were preserved through the Flood, so they will be preserved through the day of God’s wrath. They are the meek ones referred to in Psalm 37:11: “But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”

They will not carry with them into that new world the madness of war. They are now a peaceful people who have beaten “their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks.”—Mic. 4:3, AS.

People who sigh and cry over the terrible slaughter caused by war can lift up their heads and rejoice, because the earth will soon be inhabited solely by meek, peaceable people, and will be ruled by God’s kingdom. Then the madness of war will cease forever.

The Memorial Day for Rejoicing

A memorial day is coming that will be one of the most joyful times in human history.

CHRIST Jesus told us about the memorial day for rejoicing in these words: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.”—John 5:28, 29.

What a time for rejoicing that will be—the time when Almighty God resurrects the dead who are in his memory! “All those in the memorial tombs,” those dead but yet in the memory of God, will hear the voice of Christ Jesus, the one who said: “I am the resurrection and the life. He that exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life.” (John 11:25, 26) So what a cause for rejoicing it is to know that God’s memorial day foretold by the Bible is not one for sadness, not one for the mere decoration of graves or the mere remembrance of the dead but rather the time when “all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out”!

This teaching of the resurrection of the dead, then, is not man-made; only in the mind of Jehovah God, the Creator of heaven and earth, could such a doctrine originate. No wonder the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is one unknown by the wisest heathens, a doctrine unknown by the so-called great philosophers of ancient times! To an apostle of Christ the pagan philosophers of ancient Athens said: “You are introducing some things that are strange to our ears.” One of those things was the resurrection of the dead. “When they heard of a resurrection of the dead,” the Bible tells us, “some began to mock, while others said: ‘We will hear you about this even another time.’” The doctrine of the resurrection is strange only to those who do not know Jehovah God and his Word, the Holy Bible.—Acts 17:20, 32.

How often the Bible makes reference to the resurrection of the dead! In winning the approval of God, Abraham attempted to offer up his son Isaac. How was he able to do this? By faith “he reckoned that God was able to raise him up even from the dead.” And that man of integrity, Job, prayed to God: “O that in Sheol you would hide me, that you would conceal me until your anger turns back, that you would set a time limit for me and remember me!” It was an angel from heaven who told the prophet Daniel that he would rest in death until the time for the resurrection: “Go thou thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest, and shalt stand in thy lot, at the end of the days.”—Heb. 11:19; Job 14:13; Dan. 12:13, AS.

DEAD NOT CONSCIOUS

There would be no purpose of a resurrection of the dead if the dead were living or conscious, experiencing either pain or pleasure. It is because the dead are actually dead, unconscious, nonexistent, that mankind needs a resurrection of the dead. Christ Jesus likened death to sleep. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus died, Jesus told his disciples: “‘Lazarus our friend has gone to rest, but I am traveling there to awaken him from sleep.’ Therefore the disciples said to him: ‘Master, if he has gone to rest, he will get well.’ Jesus had spoken, however, about his death.”—John 11:11-13.

Though dead for four days Lazarus was resurrected by God’s power through Christ Jesus. Lazarus, upon coming back to life again, said nothing about experiencing consciousness in death, because death is a state of total unconsciousness or nonexistence, as the Bible states: “The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they any more have wages.”—Eccl. 9:5.

So the dead in God’s memory are asleep in death, awaiting the time the Bible refers to in these words: “And the sea gave up those dead in it, and death and Haʹdes gave up those dead in them.”—Rev. 20:13.

THOSE IN GOD’S MEMORY

Who are in line to receive a resurrection from the dead, to enjoy life on earth, a peaceful, paradise earth? Christ Jesus identified two groups: “Those who did good things to a resurrection of life” and “those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.” The apostle Paul included these two groups in one of his many statements about the resurrection. “I have hope toward God,” he said, “that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.”—John 5:29; Acts 24:15.

The “resurrection of life” is for those who did good things, righteous things, things in harmony with God’s commandments. Such persons came to know Jehovah God, had faith in him and his Word and their lives were spent in serving him. Among such persons who did good things are Abraham, Job, Daniel and John the Baptist. The book of Hebrews, chapter eleven, gives the names of others who did good things and whose hope was “that they might attain a better resurrection.” (Heb. 11:35) Their resurrection will be “better” in the sense that they will not have to die again, as did those in ancient times who were resurrected.

What of the other group Jesus mentions, “those who practiced vile things”? These are not the willfully wicked; rather they are those who did not pursue a course of righteous living in harmony with God’s Word, those who did not come to know Jehovah God. Since God can read a man’s heart, he knows those who can profit by a resurrection from the dead. These persons, raised from the dead, will be judged, not by their past deeds, but by their future deeds on earth under the reign of Christ the King.

Among “those who practiced vile things” and who are in God’s memory is one of the evildoers who died alongside Christ Jesus at Calvary. This impaled evildoer said: “Jesus, remember me when you get into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, saying: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:42, 43) This evildoer is in God’s memory, in the memorial tomb, awaiting the time when a paradise earth is established after Armageddon during the thousand-year reign of Christ the King. In due time, then, that evildoer will come back from the dead along with those “who practiced vile things.” By his future deeds he can prove his worthiness of receiving the gift of everlasting life on earth.

BASIS FOR A RESURRECTION

Christ’s ransom sacrifice makes possible a resurrection from the dead. “Since death is through a man [Adam], resurrection of the dead is also through a man,” Christ Jesus. It is this one whom God has appointed judge of both the living and the dead. “To this end Christ died and came to life again, that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living.” By God’s resurrecting Christ from the dead to heavenly life, God has given us a guarantee that His memorial day for rejoicing is certain: “He has set a day in which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and he has furnished a guarantee to all men in that he has resurrected him from the dead.”—1 Cor. 15:21; Rom. 14:9; Acts 17:31.

Yet despite this assurance there are persons today who find it difficult to believe in a resurrection of the dead. They are like the persons whom Christ’s apostle asked: “Why is it judged unbelievable among you men that God raises up the dead?” It is not really unbelievable, for God’s power through Christ makes possible the resurrection. “The things impossible with men,” said Jesus, “are possible with God.” And as the Almighty God said to Abraham: “Is anything too extraordinary for Jehovah?” God’s power, exercised through Christ, when Jesus was on the earth, shows that even a resurrection from the dead is not too hard for Jehovah. God’s prophets Elijah and Elisha each raised a person from the dead; so did the apostles Peter and Paul. Christ raised at least three from the dead—the widow’s son, Jairus’ daughter and Lazarus. How easy, then, for God to raise the dead!—Acts 26:8; Luke 18:27; Gen. 18:14.

The fact that there are many persons in the “memorial tombs” awaiting a resurrection poses no difficulty for God; for such persons are in the memory of God, and God’s memory is something marvelous. We even marvel at certain humans who have what we call photographic memories; how it amazes us that they can remember the things they want to! How much more marvelous is the mind of the Creator of our human brain, Jehovah God!

Through the Scriptures we can gain some insight into the Creator’s marvelous memory. God’s Word tells us: “He is counting the number of the stars; all of them he calls by name.” (Ps. 147:4) This the Creator does! Man cannot even count the stars, there are so many; nor can he see them all even with the 200-inch telescope. Yet God not only counts them but names them and remembers their name. This is truly something that reveals to us how easy it will be for God to remember those worthy of a resurrection.

Consider the number of stars that make up just one galaxy; they vary, but in our own Milky Way there are some 200,000,000,000 stars! And yet this galaxy is itself just one of hundreds of millions of other galaxies!

Think of the mind that can name and remember the names of countless billions of stars, their total number, if it could be known, surpassing with an immense greatness the total number of persons that have ever lived on earth! What a mind beyond human understanding! What a mind worthy of our richest exclamations of praise! In the words of Christ’s apostle: “Oh the depth of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How unsearchable his judgments are and past tracing out his ways are! For ‘who has come to know Jehovah’s mind?’”—Rom. 11:33, 34.

We can never come to know Jehovah’s mind. But from what the Scriptures tell us about his mind, we can understand how simple a thing it is for him to remember those deserving of a resurrection. Indeed, Christ Jesus tells us that those in God’s memory are just as good as living in God’s sight. “That the dead are raised up,” said Jesus, “even Moses disclosed, in the account about the thornbush, when he calls Jehovah ‘the God of Abraham and God of Isaac and God of Jacob’. He is a God, not of the dead, but of the living, for they are all living from his standpoint.”—Luke 20:37, 38.

LIFE PATTERN RECONSTITUTED

The resurrection, then, of “all those in the memorial tombs” is absolutely certain. In the resurrection does God re-create the same body, atom for atom? No, God provides a new body, one made up of different atoms but one reasonably like the one a person had before death. It is not the identical body atoms that make one the same person in the resurrection, since even now the atoms in the human body are constantly changing. “In a year,” says Science Digest of December, 1954, “approximately 98 per cent of the atoms in us now will be replaced by other atoms that we take in in our air, food, and drink.” So in the resurrection it is not body atoms that God remembers and re-creates; what God holds in his memory is the life pattern of the creature. This is what makes the same person in the resurrection—the life pattern.

What is this life pattern God retains in his memory? It is the life-long record of the creature, a record made by the thoughts he thought, the experiences he had, the knowledge he stored up. So the life pattern results from one’s memories and mental abilities. The life pattern includes all intellectual growth and characteristics that make up one’s personality. This is what God faithfully reconstitutes in the resurrection.

We may be assured, then, that in the resurrection one will retain his personal identity, though having a body of different atoms. One worthy of receiving a resurrection from the dead will not be like those persons who, after an accident or shock of some kind, awaken or respond with a case of amnesia, a loss of memory, not even knowing who they are. No, but in the resurrection one awakening from the sleep in death will know who he is and will possess all his memories. It will be as if one merely went to sleep and woke up. Thus the last conscious thought or observation will connect up with the opening thought.

That happy day approaches, that grand day when God remembers the dead with a resurrection, His memorial day for rejoicing. What joy to be living when dead loved ones and friends are raised to life again! The time for this earthly resurrection of “those who did good things” and “those who practiced vile things” is during Christ’s thousand-year rule, due to follow God’s war of Armageddon. Since Armageddon is scheduled to come upon this generation in these “last days,” now is the time for those who long to see dead loved ones raised to life again to do good things. How?

Learn more of Jehovah’s purposes. Learn what you must do to survive Armageddon into God’s new world. Then by acting in harmony with Jehovah’s Word you may experience the unspeakable joy of greeting “those in the memorial tombs” when God remembers them with a resurrection from the dead.

Why Dedicate Ourselves to God?

WHAT does it mean to dedicate oneself to God? Are those who do so to be considered impractical or foolish? And what about those who hesitate; are they wise? Yes, why dedicate ourselves to Jehovah God?

To dedicate means “to devote exclusively to the service or worship of a divine being, or to sacred uses. To set apart formally or seriously to a definite use, end, or service.” (Webster) In fact, it might be said that everybody is dedicated; either to God, to himself, to another person or to some cause. Those now dedicated to God once were not.

Those who today dedicate themselves to Jehovah God follow the example set by the wisest and noblest man that ever trod this earth, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. At God’s appointed time for him Jesus dedicated himself to do his Father’s will. At that time he said: “Look! I am come to do your will.” Why did Jesus dedicate himself? Because “in the roll of the book” it was written that he would and he was determined “to carry out all that is righteous.”—Heb. 10:9, 7; Matt. 3:15.

Why was it God’s will for Jesus to dedicate himself? Why is it His will for anyone to dedicate himself? First of all, because it is the course of honesty, justice and righteousness. Jehovah God, being the Supreme Sovereign, can rightly command: “I Jehovah your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion.” Having created us, given us life, he owns us as well as the earth on which we live, and so we are obligated to serve his purposes for us.—Ex. 20:5.

God, being supreme and almighty, could easily coerce all his intelligent creatures and force them to serve him. But he glories in the fact that he can give his creatures freedom to choose to co-operate with him and his purposes or not, accepting the consequences of their choice, knowing that many will choose wisely. Of course, it being his purpose to have an orderly, harmonious, productive and loving universe, he cannot indefinitely tolerate those who oppose his purposes. Justice, as well as the very fitness of things, therefore requires that we dedicate ourselves to God, that we give him the exclusive devotion due him as our Sovereign and Creator.

WAY OF WISDOM

Secondly, dedication is the course of wisdom, as regards both the present and the future life: “Godly devotion is beneficial for all things, as it holds promise of the life now and that which is to come.” (1 Tim. 4:8) Those who would go through life without dedicating themselves to God can be likened to the purchaser of a new automobile who objects to any instructions as to how best to operate the car as being an unwarranted restriction of his rights as owner. Or they may be likened to the automobile owner who insists on violating all traffic regulations, on the basis of his living in a free country and his auto being his property. Yes, all such would foolishly ignore the instruction Book of their Maker and his “traffic laws” for living. And yet that is the very course that more than 99.9 percent of earth’s population take and it accounts for the fact that the earth is filled with confusion, misery and wickedness. Those who are wise will avoid all that at the present time by dedicating themselves to God.—Jer. 8:9, AS.

Further, nothing we have is more precious to us than life, and especially life in happiness. Dedication is therefore the course of wisdom, for “the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life.” And as Moses told the Israelites, we choose life by loving Jehovah our “God, by listening to his voice and by sticking to him,” for he is our life and the length of our days.—Rom. 6:23; Deut. 30:19, 20.

Nor may we vacillate or delay. We are living in the days comparable to those in which Noah lived and time is running out! If we procrastinate we may not survive the foretold cataclysmic end of this old world at Armageddon. If we are wise we will urgently flee from this wicked old system of things, which we do when we dedicate ourselves to do God’s will.—Matt. 24:15-21, 37-39; Rev. 18:4.

And then love for God will also prompt us to dedicate ourselves to him. His Word tells us that he is love. Love prompted him to create us in the first place. Love also caused him to spare the human race when it deserved destruction because of its rebellion; and it was love that caused God to give his Son as a sacrifice to take away the sin of the world.—John 1:29; 3:16; 1 John 4:8.

Surely, since God expressed so much love for us, we should respond with gratitude and appreciation. That is why he commands that we love him with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength. In fact, since everything else already belongs to God, all we can give to him as an expression of love and appreciation is our love, our hearts. If we love him we will dedicate ourselves to him, becoming his willing slaves. As we read: “This is what the love of God means, that we observe his commandments.”—1 John 5:3.

Besides, ever since the rebellion in Eden Satan has challenged Jehovah God to put men upon the earth that will prove faithful to him under test. (See Job, chapters 1 and 2.) By dedicating ourselves to God we are taking his side of that issue, vindicating him as worthy of worship and able to elicit unselfish service from his creatures. Thereby we are heeding his request: “Be wise, my son, and make my heart rejoice, that I may make a reply to him that is taunting me.” So we see that justice, wisdom and love combine to urge dedication upon us; a threefold cord that should pull us to Jehovah God and his service.—Prov. 27:11.

DEDICATION REQUIREMENTS

Dedication, to be intelligently and honestly made, requires advance preparation. We must have a “right and good heart,” and be ‘conscious of our spiritual needs.’ Next we must gain a knowledge of God’s Word and exercise faith in Jehovah God, in his Word and in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. As we progress in knowledge and understanding we will grow in faith and love to the point where we will want to dedicate ourselves to God.—Luke 8:15; Matt. 5:3.

God’s Word also counsels us to count the cost. Not so as to determine whether we should dedicate ourselves or not—there can be but one answer to that question—but so as to appreciate what is involved, so that we will be prepared to “say goodbye to all [our] belongings,” if need be. And in making the decision to dedicate ourselves to God we may not be influenced by pressure of friends, emotionalism, fear of man, or any other outside factors.—Luke 14:25-33.

Once having dedicated ourselves to God, we must carry out that dedication. “Better is it that you vow not than that you vow and do not pay.” The very first requirement is that we go on record before witnesses as having made a dedication by being baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit.” And ever after we must keep on “seeking first the kingdom” of God.—Eccl. 5:5; Matt. 28:19, 20; 6:33.

We must continue to feed on God’s Word, to associate with his people and endeavor to bring forth the fruitage of the spirit, which is “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control.” We must also keep separate from this old world’s politics, commercialism and hypocritical religions, knowing that whoever “wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God.” And we must actively share in preaching “this good news of the kingdom” to the extent of our opportunities and abilities.—Gal. 5:22, 23; Jas. 4:4; Matt. 24:14.

The Waters of Life Find a Way

One of Jehovah’s witnesses who had suffered as a conscientious objector in Communist Hungary told how Bible literature reached Christian ministers even in the military prisons. He said:

“The order was very severe in the military prison of the ninth district of Budapest. It seemed to be entirely impossible to get anything in there that was forbidden. Yet the waters of life found their way to the brothers through subterranean streams. Three days after getting my sentence I was sent out into the city to do certain work. From my working place I was able to get in touch with brothers. The prisoners suffered great hunger, both spiritual and physical. Only cabbage, carrots, beans and peas without any fat were on the menu. As regards spiritual food, we had practically nothing left.

“However, on a certain occasion I managed to take in a Watchtower article. When I returned from work I had a dirty cement bucket with me. At the entrance I was searched very thoroughly and then told to move on. Intentionally I didn’t pay much attention to my bucket. Immediately the guard shouted after me: ‘Why do you leave this bucket here?’ I picked it up and took it along. The Watchtower article was in it. I had put paper on the bottom, on the paper the article, and then again paper covered with cement.

“Later on I worked again outside as a repairman. Thanks to a soldier I could contact the free brothers again. From wood I made a toolbox for myself. I made it with a double bottom and put the Watchtower articles in between. I always threw many sharp pieces of iron into the box, so that the guard wouldn’t do much searching. In this way it was very easy to smuggle the study articles inside. As repairman I had access to every cell and so was able to pass the spiritual food from one to the other within the prison. Thus, by the undeserved kindness of Jehovah, the brothers got some spiritual provision.”

They Are Preparing for You!

Come and Attend the Divine Will International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses

ON April 26 a crowd of 9,000 people gathered in Yankee Stadium because of something that would take place three months and one day later in that same stadium. They came to receive instructions on how to prepare for it.

The event to come is the Divine Will International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses. These 9,000 people represented 135 congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses in New York city and vicinity. The meeting launched the greatest search for rooms ever undertaken.

The president of the Watch Tower Society was the principal speaker. He mentioned how great preparation was necessary for the assemblies of God’s people in ancient times, and it is not different today. He pointed to the phenomenal growth of the New World society as evidence of how much greater the preparation must be for this convention than was necessary for the assemblies in 1950 and 1953. “From 1950 to 1957,” he said, “there was a one-hundred-percent increase in publishers. From 1953 to 1957 there was a fifty-percent increase. On the opening day of the convention in 1950 there were 79,274 in attendance. In 1953 the opening day had 126,387, a difference of 47,000. What will it be in 1958? How many will come?” He felt certain that a very conservative estimate could be 150,000.

The president then mentioned how a survey revealed that approximately 140,000 in the United States have expressed their intentions of coming. In other lands more than 30,000 have said they are planning on being at the assembly.

The big problem of finding a place large enough to hold all these people has been solved by obtaining New York city’s two largest ball parks, a nearby auditorium and space around the stadiums for tents. But there is another big problem that must yet be solved—finding rooms where these people can sleep. This is the tremendous task that was placed upon the shoulders of Jehovah’s witnesses in New York city and vicinity.

But before they were to begin searching for rooms, it was pointed out that they must begin in their own homes. They should devise ways that they could accommodate one or more delegates themselves. The Bethel family is doing its part. Even though it is crowded with 500 members it will squeeze in 300 to 350 foreign delegates. When the audience was asked how many could accommodate some conventioners, the response was a surge of motion as nearly everyone stood up.

To help with the rooming work an attractive folder was released that announces the convention, explains why it is being held, invites the public to attend and appeals for rooms. It was given wide distribution in the vicinity of New York city during the month of May. Then another folder will be released in June, and still another in July.

The convention servant pointed out in his talk that many New Yorkers who are now happy members of the New World society became such as a result of taking in delegates during the 1950 or 1953 assemblies. It has been observed that the most good in comforting people with Scriptural truths during conventions has been done by witnesses who have stayed in private homes, not in hotels or in trailer camps. When the two-hour program concluded, the crowd of 9,000 filed out of Yankee Stadium filled with enthusiasm for the job ahead.

Convention headquarters are located in the recently built thirteen-story addition to the Watchtower printing plant. The entire eleventh floor has been turned over to it. This is such a busy place that an additional telephone switchboard has been installed to handle the many incoming and outgoing calls.

The rooming department is humming with activity as volunteer workers process room requests and receive new accommodations. On the seventh floor volunteer craftsmen are working on the beautiful platforms for the stadiums as well as many other necessary projects.

The April 26 meeting at Yankee Stadium opened the floodgates of convention activity. That activity will steadily increase as the convention draws nearer. Then on July 27 the preparations will cease and the big event will begin. Will you be there?

Pursuing My Purpose in Life

As told by John A. Cutforth

IN THE year 1911 my father became acquainted with and accepted the truth, and it was thus that I had the great blessing to be reared in the discipline and authoritative advice of Jehovah.

Throughout the many years that have since elapsed while pursuing my purpose in life, two things have been forcefully impressed on my mind: First, that no matter how I might try to find satisfaction, contentment, pleasures or friends in the old world it was a hopeless and futile search. Second, that Jehovah has an organization on earth that he is directing, that I as an individual could work with that organization and that if I would fully follow its leadings and direction it would bring me peace, contentment, satisfaction and many friends, plus many other rich blessings.

On many occasions I unwittingly tried to side-step Jehovah’s organization and think and do things the way I wanted to. On each occasion Jehovah has mercifully allowed me to return, penitently and sorrowfully. I was always glad to be back home again with His people and organization.

After about fifteen years of successful teaching in city schools, a year’s absence from teaching duties with sixty percent of my pay while away was extended to me, provided I spend at least four months of that time at a university. Accordingly I enrolled at the University of Southern California, and in 1940 I found myself enjoying the delightful California climate, its beaches and many other unending attractions. Unwittingly I was seeking contentment in the wrong direction. A joyless melancholy settled over me in spite of all that money could buy. But when I began to associate with the Glendale congregation each Sunday, joy began to return. If this is what brings joy, I reasoned, then I must do more service. My hours in field service soon jumped from ten a month to fifty, to seventy and eighty! Working so many hours in Jehovah’s service brought satisfaction.

Then after a few days of serious thinking, and especially after considering Matthew 6:33, 34, I sent to the Society for a pioneer application form. On March 1, 1941, I started my first day in the pioneer service. Never had I felt so close to and a part of Jehovah’s organization. The university faded in the background. When the brothers saw that I was sincere and had real love for Jehovah they could not do enough for me. Never had I so many friends, privileges and blessings! So satisfying was the pioneer service that university classes were canceled, my teaching career was put aside for the joy of serving Jehovah full time. Pioneering became my purpose in life.

Several joyous months passed by. I read in the Informant about the new arrangement for making many pioneers special pioneers, provided they were willing to go wherever the Society would assign them. Convinced that such a privilege would never be extended to me, I contentedly settled back to enjoy pioneer life with the congregation, where everything was comfortable and pleasant.

Shortly thereafter a long envelope arrived from the Society. Would I take up the special pioneer work? Well, December, 1941, saw me in Colton, California, ministering as a special pioneer. It seemed very lonely out there. There were times when I thought of going back to Glendale, thinking that I would do more good as a general pioneer. But I fought off those ideas, knowing that I must follow the lead of Jehovah’s organization. Resolutely I set my mind on my work. Interest was located. Studies were started. Friendships were made with the brothers. Together we worked hard and soon a new congregation was formed and I moved on to another locality. But Jehovah’s blessings never ended.

In October, 1942, I was privileged to serve as a “servant to the brethren,” starting in San Francisco. Several more months of joyous work serving the congregations followed. The future looked very pleasant indeed, but all of a sudden the bottom seemed to drop out of it all. Since I was a Canadian citizen, immigration authorities requested that I return to Canada. The Society suggested that it would be wise for me to return immediately.

With a heavy heart I landed in Victoria, Canada, February, 1943. What would I do now? How easy would it be to slip away without anyone being the wiser! Appreciating the danger of such thinking and the need of keeping close to the organization, I resolved more firmly than ever to pursue my purpose in life as a pioneer.

The third day back in Canada saw me in the pioneer service going from house to house with just the Bible. The ban against Jehovah’s witnesses was on and the weather was cold. There was no way of my contacting the Society in Canada. I was confident, however, that I could not go wrong continuing in the pioneer service.

A month passed. Back-calls and Bible studies were established. There were pleasant moments with the local brothers, even though we were under the ban. Then word came to me from the Society that I was to proceed to Edmonton. In a few weeks I found myself once again a servant to the brethren in Northern Canada. My, how terribly cold it was! How deep the snow and how impossible the roads, especially in the spring! But the brothers were the same loving kind as in Glendale and our work and association far outweighed any of the inconveniences. Life was joyful, but this assignment was not for long.

A few months later word came by telegram, “Come to Toronto Bethel.” “I am not cut out for office work,” I thought to myself. “And I have always disliked community life.” But I did not allow myself to dwell on the matter long. “I must follow the Lord’s direction through his organization,” I sternly counseled myself. Three years in the Canadian Bethel followed. Sometimes it seemed long, sometimes short. With years came maturity and a greater reliance on Jehovah’s spirit. All this prepared me for my next big step in pursuit of my purpose in life, that is, the servant-to-the-brethren work in Quebec, Canada.

Serving the congregations in Montreal, Quebec City and surrounding area was a testing time. Police cars trailed us as we went from door to door. There were arrests, fines and imprisonments to follow, all for preaching God’s Word. It was not pleasant, but we could not stop doing what God had commanded to be done. As congregations were visited, I grew stronger; we all did, in fact. Our joy removed any sting from police or jail.

Then came the pleasant surprise of 1946, an invitation to attend the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead. What a reward for making pioneering my purpose in life! Months of hard study ensued, tests were endured, increased knowledge followed and fellowship with the brothers—all this broadened and equipped me for greater service ahead.

With Gilead finished I was sent back to Quebec and the Maritime provinces. This round of visits gave me the opportunity to pour out to the brothers many of the good things I had learned at Gilead.

In October, 1947, I remember asking myself, “Am I prepared for anything the Society requests of me? Is my faith strong enough?” After meditating on those questions awhile I thought I had the answer. I was ready.

Pursuing the life or a pioneer calls for great faith, and in that very month my faith was put to the test. I received an assignment to go all the way to Australia. What a long distance from home that was! Would I ever get back to Canada to see my parents and friends again before Armageddon? The only way to find out was to go. But could I be ready in a week’s time? That meant not going home to say good-by to father, mother and friends, and me with a one-way ticket to Australia! That was a big test for me, but there was only one thing to do: follow Jehovah’s direction. And that I did.

With two other Canadian brothers with me, New York was left in the distance as our ship headed for Panama and then the broad Pacific. After three weeks of continuous sailing we were beginning to feel as if we had left a world behind us and that there was just nothing but water in front. About five o’clock one afternoon the wireless operator came down with a cablegram. It contained greetings and well-wishes from a circuit assembly in Western Canada. Jehovah had not forgotten us even away out here in the middle of the broad Pacific.

After a month’s sailing we finally landed in Brisbane, Australia. We knew not a soul. In a strange city and a strange continent we wandered about the streets for a few days. This allowed us to get acquainted with the new surroundings. Shortly thereafter, however, we arrived at the Australian Bethel. New friends were made, our circuit work was outlined and in less than a week I was down serving the congregations in Melbourne and vicinity.

Life was different down here. It was not as fast, for one thing. Conveniences did not seem as up to date. Nevertheless, many people believed themselves to be living in a paradise. Although the brothers in this kangaroo land had suffered severe setbacks in preceding years, yet with the return of Jehovah’s spirit and increased activity their numbers began to increase. Joy returned.

After a few months of circuit work the privilege of being a district servant was offered me by the Society. This seemed overwhelming. Could I do it? Responsibilities became many but in Jehovah’s power these were shouldered. It was a thrill to see how step by step as I pursued my purpose in life as a pioneer Jehovah opened up new avenues of service with enlarged privileges and blessings. Somehow there was always more to come, as you will see.

A few years of district servant work passed. I began to feel a part of Australia and soon I was calling it home. Then 1950 came up and with it the international assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses at Yankee Stadium, New York. I was prepared to stay in Australia until Armageddon, yet only a little more than two years in this land and an opportunity was provided for me to return to New York, to make a trip completely around the world. It was all done in ten weeks! How small the earth appeared to be now!

The assembly at Yankee Stadium gave refreshment and encouragement to all who attended it. It also gave me an opportunity to see all my old friends. Then came that peculiar feeling, the going back home to Australia.

Three more years passed. There were many increases in publishers, greater maturity was in evidence among Jehovah’s people, and the joy of serving full time was an ever-present thrill. Then 1953 loomed up with another Yankee Stadium assembly. What a joy! for with that announcement came a second opportunity for me to go back to America!

Another ten weeks of feasting and enjoying the New World society. Still more this time the thought of coming back home was present with me. It was good to get back and settle down to Jehovah’s work in this land down under.

Now nearly seventeen years of the full-time service have passed. These have been the best years, the happiest years, the years with more homes, clothes and friends than ever before. How wise it was to heed the Lord’s promise at Matthew 6:33! How sensible to follow the Lord’s lead as made manifest through his organization! How I thank Jehovah that I made pioneering my purpose in life.

Now after nearly ten years in Australia this land has really become home. So it matters little where one serves. The brothers are the same, for the same spirit operates upon them. Customs and habits may differ, but changing one’s way of thinking and always seeking to follow Jehovah’s leading, accepting whatever assignment he sees fit to give, brings joy, happiness, contentment and unnumbered friends—things that come only from pursuing a grand goal in life—such as pioneering.

We Found Contentment Helping the Needy

From two Kingdom publishers in Brazil

GODLY contentment is the lot of those who place love for Jehovah and his sheep first in their lives. We know this to be the truth, because a little more than three years ago our circumstance forced us to leave the full-time missionary service—we were about to start a family. The sudden change from missionary life was a challenge to meet. It left us feeling disorganized and with having deep concern for the future. It turned out to be a time of real spiritual testing.

Things went fairly well materially for a while. Mark, our son, was born. What a joy he proved to be! But we found ourselves getting so involved in obtaining our material needs that the ministry work was getting crowded out. We realized that we had to do something about it.

Following a thrilling circuit assembly in an interior town, we decided that even if we could not pioneer, still there was nothing to stop us from moving the family out to this town to take care of the newly interested. With our last bit of capital we bought a small abandoned farm. This became our home. Now after two years of work, we can report a healthy new congregation, which was finally organized with thirty-four publishers. We have a fine Kingdom Hall in the center of town where we average over fifty in attendance for the weekly Watchtower study. The brothers are rapidly progressing. The month’s report showed twenty-nine home Bible studies and an average of fifteen hours and five back-calls per publisher. You can imagine our joy!

How this has encouraged us and made us know that Jehovah never fails to bless if we put forth the effort! We have found an unspeakable blessing serving where the need is great. Even though we are unable to spend our full time in the service, yet helping as publishers by moving out to this interior town, organizing the work and being with these brothers have brought us great contentment. Maybe you can do something like this. Why don’t you try? You will find it a great joy if you do.

What Does It Take to Make You Happy?

“Happy are those who are conscious of their spiritual need.”—Matt. 5:3.

1, 2. What determines a creature’s requirements for happiness?

WHAT does it take to make dust happy? Nothing, for dust lacks the power to feel anything. But what if the Creator takes that dust and makes a living organism? Then what does it take to make it happy? It depends on what God made from that dust. If he made a single-celled organism it would not take very much. Some oxygen, some moisture, a little food, and the needs of the organism might be fully satisfied.

² But what if Jehovah took that dust and made a man out of it? What would it take to make him happy? It would take some air and water and food, but it would take much more than that. Man is more complicated than a one-celled organism and his needs are far greater. God made him with certain appetites and if he is to be happy these must be met. Man makes cars to run on gasoline that needs air mixed with it and a spark to ignite it. Meet these needs and the motor will purr; let water get in the gasoline and the engine will splutter and die. Similarly, God made man with needs that must be met if man is to function happily. It takes more than air and water and food. Man does not live on bread alone, on material provisions only.

3. Why are man’s needs greater than those of other earthly creatures?

³ God did not make man in the image and likeness of any other earthly creature. He was made according to a superior pattern: “And God went on to say: ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every creeping animal that is creeping upon the earth.’” Man was made in God’s image, meaning he had the godly attributes of wisdom, power, justice and love. Because of this man has needs that rise above the mere material provisions that suffice to satisfy fish and birds and wild and domestic beasts.—Gen. 1:26.

4. How is the mind’s hunger shown and best satisfied?

⁴ Jehovah’s giving man the attribute of wisdom does not mean man began with a head packed with knowledge. It means he was given a brain with a capacity and hunger for knowledge. The brain’s hunger from birth is shown by the baby’s intent gaze and its busy hands always reaching out to touch and to take things to its mouth for further testing. When it can talk questions pour from its mouth in an endless stream, to the amazement, bafflement, exasperation and exhaustion of adults. But the barrage is to satisfy a natural curiosity and hunger, and this quest for knowledge should not be discouraged in the young or be lost by the old. The nerves feed their messages into the brain, and the brain has the power to register them, ponder them, digest them, think abstractly upon them and reach conclusions about them. To a great extent we live with our thoughts, but these must come from somewhere. The richer our thinking the richer our living. The richest thoughts are Jehovah’s thoughts; so to enrich our lives the most we must mine the wisdom laid up in his Word: “If you keep seeking for it as for silver, and as for hid treasures you keep searching for it, in that case you will understand the fear of Jehovah, and you will find the very knowledge of God.”—Prov. 2:4, 5.

5. How can man’s attribute of power bring happiness?

⁵ Jehovah made man with the attribute of power; and with wisdom to direct his hands in work, man has the power to perform many things that give happiness and deep satisfaction. He may plant flowers, raise crops, build houses, invent machines. He may write poetry or paint pictures or compose music. If he gets his wisdom from God and uses his power in harmony with Jehovah’s will he happily gains “the peace of God that excels all thought.” But man may misuse his wisdom and power, and if he does his capacity for wrongdoing is great.—Phil. 4:7.

6. Why does the attribute of justice affect happiness?

⁶ To prevent this, man was given another divine attribute, that of justice. Man is a moral creature with ability to know right and wrong, and when the sense of justice is trampled beneath the feet of evil the conscience is hurt and cries out. Even if by habitual wrongdoing the conscience is seared and silenced there are inner feelings of guilt that disturb and upset and may bring on psychosomatic illnesses. So entrenched in man is the moral sense that even chronic sinners try to justify their evil as good, as Isaiah wrote: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” They may bury their wrongdoing out of sight but not out of mind, and if complete happiness and contentment are to be theirs they cannot ignore this Bible truth: “Better is a little with righteousness than an abundance of products without justice.”—Isa. 5:20, RS; Prov. 16:8.

7. Why is the attribute of love so important?

⁷ But the quality that will perfectly blend all faculties and powers is love. It will properly balance all attributes. Its scope and importance is reflected in this brief statement: “God is love.” Love is not passive but is active and expresses itself in acts pleasing and helpful to the loved one. Because we love ourselves we look out for ourselves, care for ourselves, provide for ourselves, protect ourselves. We should love others as we love ourselves, doing things for their welfare also. The love we show to others causes others to show love to us, and it is necessary for us to both give and receive love if we are to be happy. If we fail to give love to others we become self-centered. If we do not receive or accept it from others we may be crushed and retire like a snail within its shell, or we may rebel in bitterness and plunge into delinquency. There is no happiness without love.—1 John 4:8.

8, 9. What natural urge do men have, and how must it be met?

⁸ We need to love Jehovah, need to know and worship him to feel secure. We were created with the urge to do so. In the Woman’s Home Companion for April, 1954, the article “We Are Born to Believe” has this subtitle: “We all feel an urge for God as powerful as our instincts for sex and hunger, says a daring new school of psychiatric thought.” This article by a doctor states: “If men and women will recognize their need for a belief in God and in a meaning to life beyond their personal pleasures, this new school says, they can find peace of mind and happiness. . . . Men and women are driven not only by sex and ambition but also by an overriding need for God. They must overcome the modern-day notion that religion and God are not real needs and that it is unsophisticated to search for a spiritual side to life.”

⁹ Actually, it is this urge to worship a higher power that accounts for the development of so many religions, even among savages. The need is there and they attempt to fill it. Left to themselves and their own thinking or to blind leaders, the people fill it in the wrong way, with the wrong religions, perhaps worshiping images or looking to spirit mediums or to the stars of heaven for guidance. In modern times this urge to worship Jehovah is perverted to the idolizing of movie stars, athletes, politicians or scientists. Many make a god of money; their religion is the pursuit of pleasure. But none of these substitutes satisfyingly feed our inherent hunger for God. Only by using our mind to learn God’s commandments and to understand his principles and then put them into practice can we rightly meet the urge and show our love for God, for “this is what the love of God means, that we observe his commandments.” If we fail to meet this need we fall short of complete happiness, for Jesus spoke a truth when he said: “Happy are those who are conscious of their spiritual need.”—1 John 5:3; Matt. 5:3.

WHAT IS MATERIALISM?

10. What is materialism?

¹⁰ The great enemy of our spiritual need is materialism. What do we mean by materialism? Not food and clothing and shelter. “Your heavenly Father knows you need all these things,” Jesus said. It is not materialism to provide yourself with good food and nice clothes and a comfortable home. It is not necessarily materialism to have a television set or a fine car or a substantial bank account. But if we have a love for food that makes us gluttonous, a love for clothes that makes us vain, a love for house that makes us proud; if we have an addiction to television that gobbles up our time, a desire for an expensive car to make an impressive display, a love for money that makes us miserly, then we have fallen prey to materialism. Material things are all right, but when they become an ism to us they are wrong. “Ism” means, according to Webster’s dictionary, “a distinctive doctrine, ideal, system, or practice;—usually disparaging.” When material things become our chief aim or ideal and their pursuit becomes as a guiding doctrine to us, we are practicing materialism.—Matt. 6:32.

11. What harm can come from having too little?

¹¹ Having inherent need for both material and spiritual things, we must strike the right balance. Either too many or too few material provisions can bring us spiritual injury: “Give me neither poverty nor riches. Let me devour the food prescribed for me, that I may not be too full and I actually deny [you] and say: ‘Who is Jehovah?’ and that I may not come to poverty and I actually steal and assail the name of my God.” Some religions make a virtue out of poverty, but deliberate physical hardship is sham and mockery: “Those very things are, indeed, possessed of an appearance of wisdom in a self-imposed form of worship and mock humility, a severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in combating the satisfying of the flesh.” If material needs are not met suffering sets in, bitterness is sown and hostility grows, and the fruit produced is a blaming of Jehovah for troubles, a cursing of him for woes, and a turning to thievery to meet wants. Material shortages can lead to spiritual poverty.—Prov. 30:8, 9; Col. 2:23.

12. What harm can come from having too much?

¹² But an abundance can crowd out spirituality, can even push Jehovah out of heart and bring in a false god: “Their finish is destruction, and their god is their belly, and their glory consists in their shame, and they have their minds upon things on the earth.” Such ones have made their flesh their god and materialism is their creed. They idolize themselves, are guilty of idolatry, for Paul spoke of “covetousness, which is idolatry,” and of a “greedy person—which means being an idolater.” So we can have too much materially and begin to feel independent even of Jehovah, thinking we do not need him. We might fail to recognize him as our Provider and ask in the spirit of Pharaoh of old, “Who is Jehovah?” If that happened, what a shame to us our glorying in material things would become!—Phil. 3:19; Col. 3:5; Eph. 5:5.

13. What did Jehovah warn Israel about materialism?

¹³ Jehovah warned Israel that material wealth could make them spiritually blind: “When you have eaten and satisfied yourself, then you must bless Jehovah your God for the good land that he has given you. Watch out for yourself that you may not forget Jehovah your God so as not to keep his commandments and his judicial decisions and his statutes that I am commanding you today; for fear that you may eat and indeed satisfy yourself and you may build good houses and indeed dwell in them, and your herd and your flock may increase and silver and gold may increase for you and all that is yours may increase; and your heart may indeed be lifted up and you may indeed forget Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves; . . . and you do say in your heart, ‘My own power and the full might of my own hand have made this wealth for me.’ And you must remember Jehovah your God, because he is the giver of power to you to make wealth.” And in poetic song Moses was used to warn Israel, addressing that nation by the honorary title of Jeshurun: “When Jeshurun began to grow fat, then he kicked. You have grown fat, you have become thick, you have become gorged. So he forsook God, who made him, and despised the Rock of his salvation.”—Deut. 8:10-14, 17, 18; 32:15.

THE MONEY ITCH

14, 15. What false reason is sometimes given for making money a god, and what is the real reason?

¹⁴ Why do men make a god of money? Those serving riches will deny that it is their god. They will say you need money to live. It takes money to eat, to buy clothes, to have a home. That is true and it is a reason to make money, but it does not stop there with those who worship money. If money is no more than a means to provide necessary things and even some additional things for recreation, then the more money you make the more those desires would be met and the less additional money you would want. But how many feel that way? A few years ago social scientists interviewed hundreds of Americans on every income level, asking if they were content with the amount of money they were making. The majority were not satisfied with their incomes. The one making $5,000 a year wanted to make $10,000, the one making $10,000 wanted $20,000, the one making $20,000 wanted $50,000. Even those with millions wanted more millions. Reported the interviewers: “It is generally true that the more money a person has, the more he wants.”

¹⁵ Money has become a symbol for success. It is thought that money brings security, recognition, prestige, friends and love. These are needs for man, but only partially and inadequately are they met by acquiring money. If it is by money that we have security or some standing in the community, when the money goes so do the security and recognition. If we have friends because we have money, if we are loved for our money, our friends and lovers vanish with our money. We want to be loved for what we are, not for what we have. Money is not the food to satisfy these human appetites, and that is why no matter how much we gorge them on money they are never satisfyingly nourished. The Bible recorded this truth three thousand years ago: “A mere lover of silver will not be satisfied with silver, neither any lover of wealth with income. This too is vanity.”—Eccl. 5:10.

16. Why is there no rest for those afflicted with materialism?

¹⁶ To pursue happiness by pursuing money is like chasing rainbows and digging at their ends for pots of gold: you never find it. But deluded persons never stop chasing the rainbow of materialism, not understanding that the need they think money will feed is not filled by it at all. What is honored in a society is what is cultivated by the persons of that society, and since money is honored in this materialistic century that is what so many seek. They measure a man’s worth by his possessions. They see a new car and they want it and they buy it. While paying for it they see a new home that they want. They buy it but make the payments over a long period of time. Still not satisfied, they see new furniture they must have, and get it on the plan “you use it while you pay for it.” By now a year has passed and the new model cars are out. They must have one. It does not run any better. Any difference is more in their head than under its hood. But they must have the newest, the latest, the best, and when they get that they quickly think of something else they want and their life deteriorates into chasing themselves in circles of materialism. They are caught in the whirlpool of worldlyism: “the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life.”—1 John 2:16.

17. What malady do many have, and what does it lead to?

¹⁷ They have the money itch. The more they scratch the more it itches, and the more it itches the more they scratch. Itching palms are not cured by scratching but are inflamed by it. To refrain from scratching is the way to diminish the itching. But money is on their mind and the love of it is in their heart, and that is the root of their malady. It is not the money but the love of money, not the pleasures but the love of pleasures, not the house or furniture or car but the love of house or furniture or car. It is this love for material things that crowds spirituality out of mind and heart, that occupies life and saps strength until no time remains or strength is left to satisfy spiritual needs. It is in this love of money that the ruin of many is rooted: “For we have brought nothing into the world, and neither can we carry anything out. So, having sustenance and covering, we shall be content with these things. However, those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many senseless and hurtful desires which plunge men into destruction and ruin. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of injurious things, and by reaching out for this love some have been led astray from the faith and have stabbed themselves all over with many pains.”—1 Tim. 6:7-10.

MAKE ROOM FOR THE SPIRIT

18. What texts show the conflict between flesh and spirit, and what does each one lead to?

¹⁸ The apostle Paul was not fooled by his fallen flesh: “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, there resides nothing good; for ability to wish is present with me, but ability to work out what is right is not present. For the good that I wish I do not do, but the bad that I do not wish is what I practice. I really delight in the law of God according to the man I am within, but I behold in my members another law warring against the law of my mind and leading me captive to sin’s law that is in my members.” The flesh means the fallen human creature with its sinful tendencies, inclinations, impulses and desires. This flesh is sold under sin as sin’s slave, with sin as its master driving it against the spiritual law of God that comes into our mind by study of Jehovah’s Word. Sinful flesh opposes the spirit and makes us do things we would avoid: “For the flesh is against the spirit in its desire, and the spirit against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, so that the very things that you would like to do you do not do.” If our spirit or mental disposition is in accord with Jehovah’s spirit and his Word it will direct us in right ways, and the spirit must win out over our opposing flesh if we are to live instead of die: “Those who are in accord with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those in accord with the spirit on the things of the spirit. For the minding of the flesh means death, but the minding of the spirit means life and peace.”—Rom. 7:18, 19, 22, 23; Gal. 5:17; Rom. 8:5, 6.

19. What must be included when counting the total cost of materialism?

¹⁹ With the help of Jehovah’s spirit and by keeping ours in accord with his we can win out over the fallen flesh. But it means we must make room for the things of the spirit. To seek material things that in themselves are not bad may lead to our ruin by consuming all our time. If you cannot turn its knob when it should be shut off, television will cost more than the price of purchase. It costs you the time to watch it. It may cost you meeting attendance or back-calls or Bible studies. For your expensive car or fine home you may pay over the privilege of teaching someone the truth or of training him to serve Jehovah. Count the total cost of materialism. Count more than the dollars and cents on the price tags. Count the cost in spirituality also. There was nothing wrong with the wealth of the rich young ruler, but it kept him from following Jesus, which was wrong. There was nothing wrong with looking over a purchase of oxen, or being with a new wife, or seeing a piece of property just bought; but if harmless things keep you from serving Jehovah they become harmful. You can let them become thorns that choke out good: “There are still others who are sown among the thorns; these are the ones that have heard the word, but the anxieties of this system of things and the deceptive power of wealth and the desires for the rest of the things make inroads and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”—Mark 4:18, 19.

20. What should those trying to give up materialism consider, and what did Paul say on the matter?

²⁰ Root out materialism to make room for the spirit. “Do not put out the fire of the spirit,” Paul cautions. A fire needs air; if too much stuff is heaped on, it will be smothered. Do not smother the fire of the spirit with an overloading of material cares and possessions. With limited time and energy “you cannot be slaves to God and to Riches.” Which will you choose? Is it difficult to decide to give up materialism? Then consider this. You have started Bible studies with persons and then had them quit when they saw the obligations of service. You knew they were wrong, that they should not have worried about such things, for in time as they learned more they would have grown strong and wanted to preach. They could see what they must give up, but were too new to appreciate what they would gain. Well, some witnesses are like this concerning materialism. They see what they are asked to give up, but they do not appreciate what they will spiritually gain. But they can take Paul’s word for it, since he was inspired: “I do indeed also consider all things to be loss on account of the excelling value of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. On account of him I have taken the loss of all things and I consider them as a lot of refuse, that I may gain Christ.” So look beyond the material loss to see the spiritual gain that makes the loss as nothing.—1 Thess. 5:19; Matt. 6:24; Phil. 3:8.

21. How do some try to justify their materialism, but how does it leave its mark on them?

²¹ Materialism leaves its mark on a person. Watch the man who gravitates toward material things. He now gives more attention to his clothes, living quarters, car, entertainments. He may argue that his position requires him to keep up a front, that the world expects it of him. But wait, Is his position higher than that of Jesus when he was on earth? Did he let the world shape his policies by its materialistic way of viewing things? Did he have the finest steeds to ride or a luxurious place to lay his head? No, he repudiated materialism by both word and deed. He set an example of lowliness by washing the feet of his disciples. Rather than his position calling for a showy front, he felt it called for just the opposite. He was interested in spiritual strength, not display. But note the man that becomes more materialistic. Are his comments quite as good, his talks as upbuilding, his conversation as perceptive spiritually as before? If not, his materialism is showing, whether he has eyes that will see it or not. His brothers can see it, and be assured God can: “Do not be misled: God is not one to be mocked. For whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap; because he who is sowing with a view to his flesh will reap corruption from his flesh, but he who is sowing with a view to the spirit will reap everlasting life from the spirit. So let us not give up in doing what is right, for in due season we shall reap by not giving out.”—Gal. 6:7-9.

22. What is one great evil of materialism, and what can this evil cost you?

²² Jesus said: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself.” One great evil of materialism is that its victims do not deny themselves. Unseen, like termites in a timber, it eats away strength and will power. Catering to the flesh gnaws at the moral fiber and robs us of that fruitage of the spirit called self-control. We should daily exercise the ability to say no to ourselves in little things, for without the daily exercise of the faculty of effort we lose the faculty of effort. By denying ourselves small things we develop the strength to say no to ourselves when big issues rise. Being faithful in little, we will be faithful in much. Or failure in little things sets the pattern for failure in big things. Inability to deny yourself can cost you your life: “Really, of what benefit is it for a man to gain the whole world and to forfeit his soul?” Do not lose your head trying to get ahead. You cannot walk with God and run with the world. Money is one of the gods of this modern world and for them money talks. They are deaf when Jehovah speaks, but prick up their ears when money talks. They can hear money whisper in the cellar, but they cannot hear preaching from the house-tops. Money has no voice but it can talk them out of everything, can talk them out of their life, can talk them to death. Better for us to listen to the voiceless heavens proclaim Jehovah’s glory.—Mark 8:34, 36; Ps. 19:1-4.

23. Why should we cultivate simple tastes, and how did Paul train himself?

²³ To be happy, satisfy wants. To satisfy wants, keep them simple. Do not hinge happiness on possessions. Many things thought necessities are not necessities at all. A taste can be cultivated for a drug and the habit is hard to break, but it can be broken and the addict freed. Cultivate materialism and wants expand beyond our power to meet them. “Do not toil to gain riches. Cease from your own understanding.” Cultivate simple tastes that do not enslave us. Paul trained himself to be content in whatever material circumstances he found himself: “I have learned, in whatever circumstances I am, to be self-sufficient. I know indeed how to be low on provisions, I know indeed how to have an abundance. In everything and in all circumstances I have learned the secret of both how to be full and how to hunger, both how to have an abundance and how to be in a shortage.” A lack did not turn him bitter, an abundance did not drop him into the pitfall of materialism. He followed his own advice: “Let your manner of life be free of the love of money, while you are content with the present things.” Paul was content, whether little or much was present. His material needs were simple, his spiritual riches were great.—Prov. 23:4; Phil. 4:11, 12; Heb. 13:5.

24. In what plentiful things can we find pleasure, and what are the more vital things that it takes to make us happy?

²⁴ To be happy, remember how God made you, of the earth, for the earth. The true pleasures are in the things God made: the black dome from which myriads of stars twinkle and shine, the warmth of the sun, the cooling of breezes, the fragrance of flowers, the song of birds, the grace of animals, the hills that roll and the crags that tower, the rushing rivers and lazy streams, lush meadows and dense forests, the glisten of snow in the sun and the patter of rain on a roof, the chirping of a cricket in the cellar, the croak of a frog in the pond and the splash of a fish that sends ripples circling out under the moonlight. Even more pleasure is found in companionable persons, for man was made a social creature. A kind thought, a sympathetic touch, a soft gesture or expression, a warm smile and a loving act, the laughter of a child at play and the gurglings of a baby in its crib, the dignity and wisdom of an old person rich in life’s experiences—these are things that satisfy. It is what we are that counts, not what we appear to be. It is the love we have, not the social position. It is what we can give, not what we can get. It is the treasure in heaven we have, not the hoard of gold on earth. It is contentment with little rather than anxiety with much that matters. It is getting God’s thoughts to make us wise, using this wisdom to channel our power, following his principles to insure justice and copying him in the showing of love that will meet the needs and fill the hungers he put within us. And all this is what it takes to make us happy.

What It Takes to Be Happy Forever

“Wisdom is for a protection [the same as] money is for a protection; but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom itself preserves alive its owners.—Eccl. 7:12.

1. What shows the inability of riches to bring lasting happiness?

DO YOU now have what it takes to be happy? If you do, will you have it long? Under the best of circumstances life is short. Like the grass that withers and the flower that fades and the shadow that continues not, man is of few days and returns to the dust. When life is gone happiness ends. Riches cannot preserve it. “Even when a person has an abundance his life does not result from the things he possesses,” Jesus said. And the psalmist states: “Not one of them can by any means redeem even a brother, nor give to God a ransom for him; (and the redemption price of their soul is so precious that it has ceased to time indefinite) that he should still live forever [and] not see the pit. Do not be afraid because some man gains riches, because the glory of his house increases, for at his death he cannot take along anything at all; his glory will not go down along with him himself. For during his lifetime he kept blessing his own soul; (and people will laud you because you do well for yourself) it gradually comes only as far as the generation of his forefathers. Nevermore will they see the light. Earthling man, although in honor, who does not understand, is indeed comparable with the beasts that have been destroyed.”—Luke 12:15; Ps. 49:7-9, 16-20.

NO HAPPINESS FOREVER BY IMMORTAL SOUL

2. By means of what teaching do men refuse to face the fact of death, but what does the Bible show?

² Unwilling to face oblivion, men have buried the fact of death in the fiction of immortality. Their religions teach that the human soul is immortal. Thus they will not be completely ground into the dust by the heel of time. The parade of the years marching over them will not trample them into oblivion. The soul will live on after the body molds in the grave. They will have consciousness after death, they say. But the Bible does not say it: “His spirit [or, breath, margin] goes out, he goes back to his ground, in that day his thoughts do perish.” They think they will have knowledge of what is happening, but the Bible disagrees: “For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, . . . for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol, the place to which you are going.” Their immortal soul sets them apart from animals, so they teach. The Bible teaches differently: “For there is an eventuality as respects the sons of mankind and an eventuality as respects the beast, and they have the same eventuality. As the one dies, so the other dies; and they all have but one spirit [breath, margin], so that there is no superiority of the man over the beast, for everything is vanity. All are going to one place. They have all come to be from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust.” The sinful soul is not immortal: “The soul that sins shall die.” Even the only sinless soul that lived on earth as a man died, it being written about Jesus: “He poured out his soul to death.”—Ps. 146:4; Eccl. 9:5, 10; 3:19, 20; Ezek. 18:4, RS; Isa. 53:12, RS.

3. What blessings does wisdom bring?

³ If not in an immortal soul, in what is our hope for life? In wisdom: “For wisdom is for a protection [the same as] money is for a protection; but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom itself preserves alive its owners.” And not just life, but happy life: “Happy is the man that has found wisdom, and the man that gets discernment, for the gaining of it is better than the gaining of silver and the produce of it even than gold. It is more precious than corals, and all other delights of yours cannot be made equal to it. Length of days is in its right hand; In its left hand there are riches and glory. Its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its roadways are peace. It is a tree of life to those taking hold of it, and those keeping fast hold of it are to be called happy.”—Eccl. 7:12; Prov. 3:13-18.

THE WISDOM AND POWER OF GOD

4. What is the substance of 1 Corinthians 1:18-25?

⁴ Specifically, what wisdom delivers from death and leads to life? Whose ways are pleasant and whose paths are peace and whose possessors are happy? First Corinthians 1:18-25 reveals the wisdom that points the way to unending happiness: “For the speech about the torture stake is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is God’s power. For it is written: ‘I will make the wisdom of the wise men perish, and I will shove the intelligence of the intellectual aside.’ Where is the wise man? Where the scribe? Where the debater of this system of things? Did not God make the wisdom of the world foolish? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not get to know God, God saw good through the foolishness of what is preached to save those believing. For both the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks look for wisdom; but we preach Christ impaled, to the Jews a cause for falling but to the nations foolishness; however, to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because a foolish thing of God is wiser than men, and a weak thing of God is stronger than men.”

5. Is all human wisdom foolish to God, and is all God’s wisdom foolish to unbelieving men?

⁵ Just what does this mean? That all the wisdom of men is foolishness in God’s sight? Often the application of man’s wisdom heals the sick or saves the dying. It makes machines that carry men along the ground or over the sea or through the air. It makes possible comfortable homes with many conveniences. By it men can transmit voices and music and even moving pictures over thousands of miles. When properly used the marvelous ingenuity of man is not foolishness with God. How could it be, when it was God who gave the attribute of wisdom to man? How could it be, when Jesus said that “the sons of this system of things are wiser in a practical way toward their own generation than the sons of the light are”? Nor can we say without limitation that men view all God’s wisdom as foolish. They marvel at the divine wisdom reflected in starry heavens, the green earth, the fascinating animal life and their own bodies so “fearfully and wonderfully made.” What, then, is the human wisdom that God calls foolish and the godly wisdom that many men class as foolishness?—Luke 16:8; Ps. 139:14, AV.

6. What wisdom and power of God seemed foolish and weak to men?

⁶ It is the speech about the torture stake that sounds weak and foolish to unbelieving men. Christ impaled, to the Jews a weak thing! Christ impaled, to the nations a foolish thing! But Christ impaled, to those being saved the power of God and the wisdom of God! Christ’s death on the torture stake is the wisdom and power of God for defeating death and ending the grave. But Christ seemed so weak to the Jews. They despised his humble origin. What good thing ever came out of Nazareth? He was not educated in their schools, he contradicted their established religions, mingled with sinners. When he was dying on the torture stake they abused and taunted him as a weak thing: “Others he saved, himself he cannot save!” And Christ impaled seemed so foolish to the Greeks. They looked down on Judea, so why expect salvation from that place? They scorned and spurned a doctrine that taught salvation from the disgraceful death of a despised Jew. They prided themselves on their philosophical chatter, were always ready to listen to some fancy speech or flowery language or high-flown rhetoric about evolution or soul immortality, but loath to listen to what they considered foolish babbling about Jesus by ignorant and unlearned Jews.—Matt. 27:42.

7. What wisdom of men is foolish in God’s sight?

⁷ So the Jews might consider Jesus the Ransom as weak and the Greeks might think it foolish; nevertheless, this foolish thing of God is wiser than any scheme of men to effect salvation, and this weak thing of God is stronger than any effort by men to evade death. When wise men bring forth teachings that would nullify or replace Christ as ransom or as King, when they through their schemes propose to do what only Christ’s ransom or kingdom will accomplish, then their wisdom is foolish and futile in the sight of Jehovah. They should rid themselves of such foolishness so they can become truly wise, accepting Christ impaled, the wisdom and power of God. So Paul counsels: “Let no one be seducing himself: If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this system of things, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. For 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.’”—1 Cor. 3:18-20.

8. In general, what class does God call and what class does he reject, and why?

⁸ Because the worldly wise viewed Christ impaled as weak or foolish, Paul went on to say: “For you behold his calling of you, brothers, that not many wise in a fleshly way were called, not many powerful, not many noble; but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put the wise men to shame, and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put the strong things to shame; and God chose the ignoble things of the world and the things looked down upon, the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are, in order that no flesh might boast in the sight of God.” Paul does not disparage knowledge. He was educated. He urges Christians to study. Not all man’s wisdom is foolish. But when it attempts to brush aside God’s wisdom and power it is foolish and weak and its possessor is wise only in his own conceit.—1 Cor. 1:26-29.

9. What is true of millions today that puts them in the class of the Jews and Greeks of Paul’s time?

⁹ Like the ancient Greeks, there are millions today who spurn the ransom as foolish and look to their philosophies and sciences for wisdom. Like the religious Jews, there are millions now who repudiate the ransom as weak and adhere to traditions and creeds for power. One religious publication says: “Strictly speaking, the death of Christ was not necessary to human salvation.” The Christian Beacon quoted the prominent minister Harry Emerson Fosdick: “Of course I do not believe in the Virgin Birth, or in that old fashioned substitutionary doctrine of the Atonement; and I do not know any intelligent Christian minister who does.” Minister Lloyd C. Douglas said in his book The Living Faith: “I have told you that this conventional view of the atonement . . . was unwarranted because there was no adequate basis for the Adam story.” For the most part, it is still “the things looked down upon, the things that are not,” persons considered to be nothings or nobodies, that believe, while “the things that are,” the somebodies in this world’s eyes, reject the wisdom and power of Jehovah.

GAINING HAPPINESS FOREVER

10. What must we do to get the merit of Christ impaled imputed to us?

¹⁰ How do we get the merit of Christ impaled imputed to us? Hebrews 5:9 states: “He became responsible for everlasting salvation to all those obeying him.” What commands did he give that we must obey? “You will be witnesses of me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the most distant part of the earth.” “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.” “And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.”—Acts 1:8; Matt. 28:19, 20; 24:14.

11. To obey these commands, what must we do, and why is this wise?

¹¹ To obey these commands we must study privately, meet and study with others, and then receive training in the work of witnessing. After receiving all of this freely, we freely make it available to others. The world in general will think this preaching weak and foolish, but in times past “God saw good through the foolishness of what is preached to save those believing” and he still sees this as good. The Jews in Jesus’ time may have thought him something to stumble over and the nations may have thought his death foolishness, and peoples today may balk at the ransom provision of Jesus and modernist clergymen of Christendom may call it foolishness; but regardless of what all these worldly-wise ones say there is no other name given under heaven whereby we can gain lasting happiness, because “there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.”—Acts 4:12.

12. Why is deathbed repentance too late, and what shows wealth cannot deliver at Armageddon?

¹² You may be happy now. If you have food and clothing and shelter in abundance you may feel secure. But when the day of death comes for you, how happy will you be? What will you give for your life? An offering of deathbed repentance? That is as futile as the fiction of immortal soul. It is too late to store up treasure in heaven by obedient service to Jehovah and compliance with Christ’s commands, and earthly treasure of silver and gold cannot ransom you. Perhaps the time for your deathbed scene will come at Jehovah’s war of Armageddon. Wealth accumulated by materialism will not deliver its victims: “They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Jehovah.” What is the course of wisdom for now and for the future?—Ezek. 7:19, AS.

13. What do we need to be happy now, and what do we need to gain happiness forever?

¹³ We do not try to steer a ship on land or drive a car over the ocean or mow a lawn with a typewriter. We should not try to make ourselves do what we are not made for. Some food and drink and money are proper, but God did not design us to be gluttons or drunkards or greedy materialists. To play a little is good, but we are not to become useless playboys. We must study to gain wisdom about Jehovah, must work in his service, must act justly toward all, and must have love for self and for neighbor and for God. We need some material things, but without materialism. We need some money, but not the money itch. We need Jehovah’s spirit; so make room for it. We have the urge to worship; so respond to it zealously. Doing this, we will be happy now. But what if we die and turn to dust? What can make dust happy? Nothing, unless Jehovah returns us from the dust to life again. And he will do that only if we have availed ourselves of the only suitable, effective, powerful ransom. So what does it take to make us happy forever? It takes Christ impaled, the wisdom of God and the power of God. Embrace it now!

Sermon Subjects Too Thin

Charles Clayton Morrison. one-time editor of The Christian Century, once discussed sermons, saying: “During the many years since I was pastor of a church I have listened to a great many sermons. . . . One impression made upon me is that the sermons generally deal with subjects that are too thin. Most preachers seem to select for their subject some fragment of Christian truth; they break off a tiny twig from the tree of life—it may be a scripture text or an ethical idea—and make their sermon out of that.”—Treasury of the Christian Faith.

The Kremlin and the Vatican

Russia’s Nikita Khrushchev, an atheist, recently granted an interview to the Hearst Newspapers editor-in-chief, William Randolph Hearst. At the close of the interview the Soviet leader said that “God is but a mask” put on by some people whose actions “are contrary to humanism.” Khrushchev continued: “They lean on the word of God and then violate it. How can we understand it when churchmen, clergymen, throw holy water on guns that are intended to kill people? Is that the highest showing of man’s spirit? God is being used by these people for hire. They are Pharisees.”

Though the Vatican declined any official statement on Khrushchev’s remarks, Vatican spokesmen said that such antireligion statements were “the most blatant in the Kremlin’s recent times” and that they serve “as a further warning to the world that communism is the world’s public enemy No. 1.” Vatican spokesmen asked: “Cannot a priest also bless a gun to preserve peace?”—New York Journal American, November 26, 1957.

Congregating Together for Worthwhile Works

“EVERYTHING is vanity!” Thus wise King Solomon accurately appraised all human striving after material gain. And no wonder, since there is so much frustration connected with such striving. Even if one does gain his goals, which is seldom the case, he then may be in no position to enjoy his gains or he may have to leave them to one who is not deserving. Uncertainties such as these make man’s striving a “calamitous work.”—Eccl. 1:2; 4:3.a

Since Solomon proved by his experience that materialism does not pay, why experiment ourselves only to arrive at the same frustrating conclusion? Why not be wise and learn from a study of God’s Word and from the experiences of others?

King Solomon gave others the benefit of his experience in his book misnamed Ecclesiastes—misnamed, for it would better have been termed “The Congregator,” since that is what the original Hebrew word means. Solomon was a congregator of his people. He had them come together, as at the time of the dedication of the temple. Additionally, by means of his book, Ecclesiastes, he endeavored to congregate them away from the vain and fruitless works of men and to the worthy service of the God to whom they, as a nation, were dedicated. As the congregator, Solomon well pictured the Greater Congregator, Jesus Christ.

Concerning his own activity as congregator of his people Solomon says: “And besides the fact that the congregator had become wise, he also taught the people knowledge continually, and he pondered and made a thorough search, that he might arrange many proverbs in order.” By a study of this book of Ecclesiastes we are helped closer to God and to a finer appreciation of his service.—Eccl. 12:9.

When Solomon said that “everything is vanity!” he was thereby referring to everything he took in survey, the things that he saw other men doing and with which he experimented to see if they really brought satisfaction. He therefore did not include his building of the temple nor his congregating his people for the worship of Jehovah God. And so today, while all materialistic pursuit is vanity, all activity related to the pure religion of Jehovah God is not vain, is not a calamitous occupation but constitutes worthwhile works. And this is especially true of the work of preaching this good news of the Kingdom in all the earth for a witness.—Matt. 24:14.

To carry on such worthwhile works it is necessary for us to congregate together. By means of our very dedication to do God’s will and to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, and also by prayer, we become congregated in spirit, as it were, with all other dedicated Christians. But we must also literally congregate together to the extent we have opportunity by attending the weekly congregational meetings provided for us in the New World society, as well as the larger assemblies. By thus congregating together we become stronger in faith, grow in love and learn to be more able ministers as well as more effective by reason of united activity. And in a special sense we congregate together for worthwhile works when we meet at specified times for joining others in preaching from house to house, in the homes and on the streets.

By congregating together for worthwhile works in all such ways we are able lovingly to help one another and to build up our sense of togetherness, of belongingness, and of mutual dependence and need.

[Footnotes]

Questions From Readers

● “Juvenile delinquency on the increase!” Is that not a cry of an adult generation that has conveniently forgotten its own youthful escapades? Are not some politicians correct in attributing delinquency’s statistical increase to improved police efficiency in methods of exposing crime and capturing criminals? Further, is not population centralization responsible for a great deal of the accent on delinquency? And, too, with a growing world population, is it not natural to expect more marriages, more children, more divorces and more delinquency?—S. G., United States.

None of these arguments stand up under a truthful examination. The growth of divorces, delinquency and crime has far surpassed the population increase rate. Benjamin Fine, in his book One Million Delinquents, says the population has increased 5 percent since 1950, while crime has leaped ahead 20 percent in the same period. Worse yet was this figure: In 1953 adult crime rose 1.9 percent, but child crime rose 7.9 percent. In 1956 there was an increase of 17.2 juvenile arrests over 1955, while the number of persons aged 10-17 increased less than 3 percent. In 1956 juvenile arrests were nearly 42 percent higher than in 1952, while the juvenile population had increased only 13.5 percent. With more policemen, educational and social centers, etc., there should have been a marked decrease in the percentage of delinquents, but the opposite is true.

Crime is no longer a phenomenon peculiar to city slums, nor can poverty and war receive all the blame. Juvenile crime has spread to the suburbs and to the rural sections. It has taken root at all social levels. In Sweden, where there has been no war and very little poverty, the country has one of the highest divorce rates in Europe and juvenile and adult delinquency have became major problems. The American Weekly of November 13, 1955, stated that in Sweden’s population of some 7,000,000 “there are 27,000 illegitimate children a year”; “that of every 10 Swedish women now being married, seven have conceived at least one child before reaching the altar.” Justice Samuel H. Hofstadter charged that it is the corruption of the elders that “has spawned the delinquency of the young.” He said that the problem “cuts across nations, cultures and ideologies. . . . We live in a climate of moral and physical violence—and our children reflect the world of which they are a part.”

Jesus and his apostles foretold that these conditions would befall this generation. Jesus said: “Because of the increasing of lawlessness the love of the greater number will cool off.” Paul wrote: “But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, without gratitude, with no loving-kindness, . . . lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God.” We who live today are privileged to see these words being fulfilled before our very eyes. It is a sign of the outgoing of a dying old world and an assurance that the new world is near at hand.—Matt. 24:12; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; 2 Pet. 3:3-13.

Stamped with Authenticity

The following words are those of Sir Isaac Newton: “There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history.”

Why Civilizations Disintegrate

“The sense of drift,” says British historian Arnold J. Toynbee, “is one of the most powerful of the tribulations that afflict the souls of men and women who are called upon to live their lives in an age of social disintegration; and this pain is perhaps a punishment for the sin of idolatry committed through worshiping the creature instead of the Creator; for in this sin we have already found one of the causes of those breakdowns from which the disintegration of civilizations follows.”

Announcements

CONGREGATING TOGETHER FOR WORTHWHILE WORKS—Eccl. 12:9.

Witnesses of the Most High God, Jehovah, are closely united together as a family and as an organization, unique and distinct from the ungodly and indifferent world in which they dwell. Being “congregated” by Christ, they are drawn together by love for God and his King, Christ Jesus. They have one aim and purpose, to serve the true God, Jehovah, and to engage in worthwhile works. These worthwhile works honor God and advance the interests of his glorious kingdom. They include the proclamation of the good news of the Kingdom. Throughout June Jehovah’s witnesses will take worthwhile knowledge to the people in the form of two bound Bible-study aid books and two booklets on a contribution of $1. All persons who desire to engage in worthwhile works are invited to contact the local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s witnesses.

FOR CONTINUAL BIBLE READING

By its very name, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society gives evidence of its interest in the closely related fields of Bible distribution and Bible education. Jehovah’s witnesses, who have used this nonprofit corporation since 1884, are busy in every community, ever alert to help truth seekers in their quest for Bible knowledge. It is only in God’s Word that the truth may be found. Never cease studying it, for with such study comes great peace of mind now and, along with it, positive assurance of a new world ahead, a world of everlasting peace and righteousness.

In its years of service the Society has printed and distributed many different translations of the Bible. One of such is the excellent American Standard Version containing all sixty-six books of the Bible. It is printed on thin Bible paper and bound in light-brown leatherette. Among its features are a 95-page concordance, maps and footnotes, as well as helpful markings for pronunciation. It can be yours for only $1. Send now!

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.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

July 6: What Does It Take to Make You Happy? ¶1-19. Page 337.

July 13: What Does It Take to Make You Happy? ¶20-24, and What It Takes to Be Happy Forever. Page 343.

Check Your Memory

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

✔ What is the only direction man can now turn for world peace? P. 324, ¶2.

✔ Why God’s memorial day is not one for sadness? P. 325, ¶2.

✔ What makes a resurrection from the dead possible? P. 327, ¶1.

✔ How Bible literature was smuggled into a Hungarian prison? P. 331, ¶6.

✔ How man is in the image of God? P. 337, ¶3.

✔ What a person cannot ignore if he wants happiness and contentment? P. 338, ¶6.

✔ Why the possession of material things cannot be classed as materialism? P. 339, ¶10.

✔ Why money cannot satisfy the human desire to be loved? P. 341, ¶15.

✔ What wisdom can deliver a person from death? P. 347, ¶6.

✔ What King Solomon meant when he said “everything is vanity”? P. 350, ¶5.

✔ Whether the centralizing of populations is a contributing factor to the increase of juvenile delinquency? P. 351, ¶2.