The Watchtower — August 1, 1959

Generosity Is Proof of Wisdom

THERE was a time when generosity was shown even in business relations. That was the time when, for example, a baker gave thirteen rolls when a customer asked for twelve, giving rise to the expression, “a baker’s dozen.” The baker knew that his solvency did not depend upon that extra roll, that it made his customer happy and giving it also made him happy. More likely than not he did not give any thought as to its being good business, even though it was. His generosity was proof of wisdom. How so?

Because life without happiness is burdensome. By showing generosity even in little things we can give both others and ourselves a measure of happiness, making life more enjoyable. We need each other. Did not the Creator say regarding our first parent, “It is not good for the man to continue by himself”? (Gen. 2:18) But the tendency of the times and our inherited selfish bent causes us to ignore others and to act as if our happiness depended wholly upon our ever gaining and holding on to more and more. Just the opposite is true: sharing with others is what brings happiness, making life enjoyable.

It simply has to be that way, for, though present conditions seem to belie it, this universe is a moral one. It was created by a just, loving and wise God who also made its laws. Otherwise Jehovah God himself would not be happy, for all good things come from him, nor can any repay him. As it is, he is the supremely happy one, for, as Jesus said, “there is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving,” and God certainly gives most.—Acts 20:35; 1 Tim. 1:11.

Yes, because this universe was created by a God who is love, who is the perfect expression of unselfishness, it is true that selfishness is self-defeating. The more we acquire the more we want and the less we appreciate what we have. With added wealth comes added anxiety, and the more anxieties we have the less likeliness that we will be happy. Happiness is not possible if we are not content. So long as we make our chief concern acquiring material possessions and holding on to them, we betray that we are not content, that we do not have a sufficiency. How can we be happy then? On the other hand, if we act generously we in effect say that there are things of greater value than mere material possessions. Also implicit in generosity is faith and hope in God’s provisions, that He will provide for each day its bread.—Matt. 6:11, 19, 32.

Note, if you will, some pertinent examples recorded in the Scriptures for our benefit. Abraham was one who was generous. When his servants and those of Lot got to quarreling over pasture lands, Abraham, as the leader of the party and the older one, could have arbitrarily taken the best for himself and let Lot take the rest. But no, he was generous. He appreciated that love and friendship meant far more than choice pasture lands and so he said to his nephew: “Please, do not let any quarreling continue between me and you and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we men are brothers. Is not the whole land available to you?”

He let Lot take his pick, and, of course, Lot chose the best pastures and Abraham took the rest. Was Abraham hurt thereby? Not at all. He still had enough for his flocks and kept the friendship and good will of his nephew, which was worth far more than pasture lands, especially in view of his being in unfriendly territory. By an ironic touch, in the end Lot lost all because of the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, partly occasioned by richness of the land, whereas Abraham retained his possessions to bequeath them to his offspring.—Gen. 13:8, 9; 19:15-25; 25:5, 6.

An incident involving Elijah and the widow of Zarephath is also to the point. Although this widow had only enough for one more meal for herself and her son and then faced death by starvation, she generously complied with Elijah’s request first to serve him with a portion of this last baked meal of hers. So, true to Elijah’s prophecy, her “large jar of flour itself did not get exhausted and the small jar of oil itself did not fail” until the drought, sent by God because of Israel’s unfaithfulness, ended.—1 Ki. 17:8-16.

Generosity may also be said to be proof of wisdom in that almost invariably it is contagious. Thus, regarding our everyday relations, Jesus said: “Practice giving, and people will give to you. They will pour into your laps a fine measure, pressed down, shaken together and overflowing. For with the measure that you are measuring out they will measure out to you in return.” Yes, even as another’s niggardliness tends to make us close-fisted, concerned lest we be short-changed or cheated, so an unselfish, generous example tends to make us generous. Try that principle of Jesus and see how it works!—Luke 6:38.

Should a few extremely selfish ones not respond in kind to our generosity, then what? Are we losers? Not at all, for the principle still holds about the greater happiness of giving.

All the foregoing applies in a special way to religious or spiritual matters. Jehovah God has set the pattern of generosity, and to the extent that we get to know him, understand his purposes and appreciate his attributes, we will find ourselves imitating him by being generous. Does he not make the rain to fall and the sun to shine upon both wicked and good persons? Is he not the Giver of “every good gift and every perfect present”? Surely!—Matt. 5:45; Jas. 1:17.

Dedicated Christians will therefore be generous in the use of their time, means and strength, appreciating that “he that sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he that sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” This principle applies not only to the field ministry but also to congregational meeting attendance and support.—2 Cor. 9:6.

Truly has the wise man written: “There exists the one that is scattering and yet is being increased, also the one that is keeping back from what is right, but it results only in want. The generous soul will itself be made fat, and the one freely watering others will himself also be freely watered.”—Prov. 11:24, 25.

Walking Wisely in a Wicked World

The prevalence of delinquency highlights the need of walking wisely. What aids are there to our doing so and how can we make best use of them?

WALKING wisely has much to recommend itself. Why? Because, as it has well been said, walking wisely means “the ability and inclination to use one’s knowledge to carry out one’s purpose to the best effect.” Not, of course, without keeping God in mind, for “the fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom” and “knowledge of the Most Holy One is what understanding is.”—Ps. 111:10; Prov. 9:10.

Walking wisely means exercising wisdom, and regarding it a wise king long ago wrote under inspiration: “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.”—Prov. 3:13-18.

Underscoring the truth of all the foregoing are the further inspired words: “Because sentence against a bad work has not been executed speedily, that is why the heart of the sons of men has become fully set in them to do bad. Although a sinner may be doing bad a hundred times and continuing a long time as he pleases, yet I am also aware that it will turn out well with those fearing The true God, because they were in fear of him. But it will not turn out well at all with the wicked one, neither will he prolong his days that are like a shadow, because he is not in fear of God.”—Eccl. 8:11-13.

WHY SO DIFFICULT

How few today are walking wisely! How few enjoy wisdom’s rewards of peace, pleasantness and happiness! And no wonder. Walking wisely is not easy, for fulfillment of Bible prophecy shows that now is the time when Satan the Devil has “great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.” A short period of time for what? To prove his boast that he can turn all mankind against God, even as illustrated by his attack upon Job’s integrity. Should he ever succeed in corrupting all mankind he would consider himself superior to Jehovah God. There is, however, no danger of that ever happening, even though at the time of the Noachian flood only eight humans had successfully resisted him by walking wisely. Jesus foretold that a comparable condition would exist in our day.—Rev. 12:12; Matt. 24:37-39.

The activity of Satan and his demons accounts primarily for the fact that in these last days “critical times hard to deal with will be here.” They are chiefly responsible for men today being “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, without gratitude, with no loving-kindness, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with self-esteem, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power.”—2 Tim. 3:1-5.

How accurately that prophecy describes present conditions and how well the facts demonstrate that this is the day of its fulfillment! Thus for years now it has been noted that big business uses sex to sell everything from automobiles to cigarettes, but early in 1959 a leading United States radio and television producer created a sensation by exposing the policy of some big business firms of hiring prostitutes to influence sales. It was claimed that clients are invited on weekend cruises and given the intimacy of charming prostitutes. This makes it so much easier to persuade the client to place his order, and, if he is reluctant, the hint of his being exposed is sufficient to make him deliver the deal, even though it may be contrary to the best interests of his or his firm’s business. Could anything be more ruthless and degrading? What a commentary on modern civilization!

Then too, as God’s Word so clearly points out, we have enemies within ourselves, fallen tendencies. “The inclination of the heart of man is bad from his youth up.” That is why the human “heart is more treacherous than anything else and is desperate.” David found that out to his sorrow, causing him to say, “With error I was brought forth with birth pains, and in sin my mother conceived me.” The apostle Paul likewise keenly appreciated this fact, for he wrote: “What I wish, this I do not practice; but what I hate is what I do.” Clearly, with superhuman foes plotting our downfall, with selfish men setting snares for us and with our own inherited weaknesses, we have no small difficulty in walking wisely.—Gen. 8:21; Jer. 17:9; Ps. 51:5; Rom. 7:15.

AIDS TO WALKING WISELY

Where can we get help to walk wisely? From higher schools of learning? One might think so in view of their claims. But not so. We need more than human wisdom in order to combat superhuman foes. We need “the wisdom from above.”—Jas. 3:17.

While man cannot guarantee wisdom, Jehovah God, the Source of all true wisdom, can. That we may walk wisely he has provided a number of aids, foremost of which is his Word, the Bible. As called to our attention throughout Psalm 119, and especially in Ps 119 verse 105 of that psalm, ‘God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our roadway.’ And as the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy: “From infancy you have known the holy writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through the faith in connection with Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.”—2 Tim. 3:15-17.

A study of God’s Word educates and strengthens our conscience, our moral sense. It sets out guiding principles, making clear what is right and what is wrong and demonstrates that “whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap.” By acquainting us with our Maker and Lawgiver it instills in us a wholesome fear of displeasing him, which is the beginning of true wisdom. Further aiding us are the convincing Scriptural assurances of resurrection and of everlasting life in a righteous new world for all who walk wisely.—Gal. 6:7; 1 Cor. 15:20, 21, 58; Rev. 21:4.

Another divinely provided aid for walking wisely is God’s visible channel. Termed the “faithful and discreet slave,” at Matthew 24:45-47, it helps by publishing Bible literature, such as this magazine, and by providing Christian meetings and assemblies where Bible truths and principles are taught. More than that, it provides personal help in the form of home Bible studies and a ministerial training program. Congregational overseers and ministerial assistants are required to set the proper helpful examples and any in a congregation who flout God’s righteous requirements are excommunicated or disfellowshiped. All such is a great aid in our walking wisely.—1 Cor. 5:1-13; 1 Tim. 3:1-13.

God’s holy spirit or active force is another vital aid. It is received in answer to prayer and “due to obedient hearing by faith.” The apostle Paul tells us: “Keep walking by spirit and you will carry out no fleshly desire at all.” God’s impersonal holy spirit or active force may be likened to an electric current, which, though invisible, is very powerful and can accomplish many things: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts.”—Gal. 3:2; 5:16; Zech. 4:6, AS.

Nor may we overlook prayer as an aid to walking wisely. Prayer not only puts us in the right frame of mind but actually gives us wisdom and strength and whatever else we have need of, provided—an all-important condition—it is in line with God’s will.—1 John 5:14.

WALKING WISELY

Mere knowledge of the foregoing aids, however, will not of itself result in our walking wisely. We must “become doers of the word, and not hearers only,” or we will be ‘deceiving ourselves with false reasoning.’ If we really have faith we will act in line with what we believe, for, “indeed, as the body without breath is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” Initial works that are in line with faith are repentance, conversion and dedication to do God’s will.—Jas. 1:22; 2:26.

God’s will for us is to follow the example set by Jesus Christ, and that means, to begin with, being baptized, even as Jesus was at the Jordan. Then what? Try to keep the Ten Commandments and go to church on Sunday? While that seems to be the prevailing thought in Christendom, the Scriptures show that Jesus and his early disciples devoted their lives to preaching the good news of God’s kingdom. (Matt. 4:17; 10:7) Jesus told Pilate: “For this purpose I have been born and for this purpose I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.”—John 18:37.

Yes, by reason of his dedication to do God’s will, each Christian is under obligation to make the ministry his vocation in life. It must take precedence, even as Jesus commanded: “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you.” From then on we become stewards of the ministry as well as of all we possess, our time, strength, means and personal influence, and it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.—Matt. 6:33; 1 Cor. 4:1, 2.

Walking wisely, therefore, means doing God’s will. It means overcoming the opposition of the Devil and his demons, it means avoiding the snares of this wicked world, it means striving against our inherited weaknesses to the best of our ability, and it means making good use of the aids God has provided, his Word, his visible channel, his holy spirit and prayer. Regarding our chief enemy we are counseled: “Oppose the Devil, and he will flee from you.” Also, “put on the complete suit of armor from God that you may be able to stand firm against the machinations of the Devil.” That armor includes the Word of God, the hope of salvation, the shield of faith and the breastplate of righteousness or a good heart condition.—Jas. 4:7; Eph. 6:11-17.

To avoid the snares and resist the pressures of the world successfully we must keep separate from it. We must remember that “the form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is . . . to keep oneself without spot from the world.” In fact, “the friendship of the world is enmity with God.” So “do not be misled. Bad associations spoil useful habits.” In addition to being on guard against the world’s snares, we must be fearless when confronted with its threats. Then we must answer as did Peter and the other apostles who said to their opposers: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.”—Jas. 1:27; 4:4; 1 Cor. 15:33; Acts 5:29.

The Scriptures also give us abundant good counsel on how we may walk wisely in spite of our inherited selfish bent: “Keep strict watch that how you walk is not as unwise but as wise persons, buying out the opportune time for yourselves, because the days are wicked.” “Strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality which through accurate knowledge is being renewed according to the image of the one who created it.” All such walking wisely requires the exercise of self-control in thought, word and action. Paul appreciated that fact, for he wrote: “I browbeat my body and lead it as a slave, that, after I have preached to others, I myself should not become disapproved somehow.”—Eph. 5:15, 16; Col. 3:9, 10; 1 Cor. 9:27.

Walking wisely also means having the right mental disposition. Here, too, Jesus set the example for us, being “mild-tempered and lowly in heart” and fully submissive to his Father’s will. Far from being ambitious, he manifested gratitude, appreciation and contentment regarding his relationship with his Father and the blessings bestowed upon him. He was a living demonstration of the truth that “it is a means of great gain, this godly devotion along with self-sufficiency.”—Matt. 11:29; 1 Tim. 6:6.

Above all else, however, to be walking wisely we must guard our inmost thoughts and motives, our desires, feelings and affections. Not without good reason does God’s Word state so strongly: “More than all else that is to be guarded, safeguard your heart, for out of it are the sources of life.” That is why all God’s requirements can be summed up in the two great commandments: “You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind and with your whole strength,” and “you must love your neighbor as yourself.”—Prov. 4:23; Mark 12:30, 31.

Truly, walking wisely involves many things: knowing who our enemies are, appreciating the aids God has provided for our walking wisely and making good use of them. “If you know these things, happy you are if you do them.”—John 13:17.

You were once darkness, but you are now light . . . Go on walking as children of light.—Eph. 5:8.

Be Filled with Spiritual Discernment

“Be filled with the accurate knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual discernment, in order to walk worthily of Jehovah to the end of fully pleasing him.”—Col. 1:9, 10.

1. What kind of decisions is the Christian called upon to make, and what is required to make right decisions?

EACH day the dedicated Christian is called upon to make decisions. Living in this world presents many problems, and issues arise that require him to make decisions. He has to make decisions in his home affecting his family, at his place of business affecting his relationship with those outside the truth; he has to act on matters that affect his relationship with his brothers and sisters in the New World society, or that affect his relationship to Jehovah and His organization and the Kingdom service. How to make right decisions, how to follow always the right course, that is the problem. To do so requires spiritual discernment.

2, 3. How should we view things in order to make right decisions, and what does this result in?

² To discern things in a spiritual way means to view things the way Jehovah views them. Jehovah, by the operation of his spirit, has made known his viewpoint on things in his inspired Word. He tells us how he values things, what he considers to be valuable and worth while and what he considers to be vain and worthless, what works and thoughts are good and virtuous and those that are evil and wicked. Being in the fallen flesh, one tends to view things from the standpoint of the flesh. But if a person allows the tendencies of the flesh, such as selfishness, fear, pride or jealousy, to influence him when issues arise, then that one is certain to make wrong decisions.

³ To make right decisions the Christian must be filled with spiritual discernment. He must discern clearly right from wrong. He must come to love what is right and hate what is wrong, as Paul expressed it at Romans 12:9, saying: “Abhor what is wicked, cling to what is good.” Demonstrating that one has spiritual discernment by making right decisions is something pleasing to Jehovah and results in walking worthily before him. Wrote the same apostle to the Colossians (1:9, 10): “We . . . have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the accurate knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual discernment, in order to walk worthily of Jehovah to the end of fully pleasing him as you go on bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the accurate knowledge of God.”

4. What does it mean to “discern,” and what part does knowledge play in spiritual discernment?

⁴ How can we be filled with spiritual discernment? In those words to the congregation at Colossae Paul points to the first basic essential, namely, to have an accurate knowledge of God’s will, to be filled with such accurate knowledge. To “discern” literally means to “see” or “distinguish with the mind’s eye,” that is, to distinguish or notice one thing from another, whether it is right or wrong, important or unimportant, valuable or worthless. Knowledge is to the eye of discernment what light is to the natural eye. It illuminates, makes things stand out clear and sharp in their proper relationship to one another. Just as light is essential for one to choose the best path over rough and treacherous ground, so accurate knowledge is needed to discern the right and safe course to take through the treacherous and dangerous conditions of this old system of things. Thus an accurate knowledge of God’s will, along with the love for God that such knowledge brings, acts as a strong force for righteousness in one’s life and is essential to making right decisions, to one’s pleasing Jehovah.—Eph. 4:23, 24.

5, 6. (a) What kind of studying is required? (b) What is one way we can “make sure” of the things we study?

⁵ To fix firmly in mind the accurate knowledge of God’s will requires study. This is something so essential that it cannot be overstressed. The kind of studying required is the kind that fixes ideas permanently in the mind, and this calls for effort and concentration. We must be “working hard and exerting ourselves” in our Bible study. Yes, study means just that—study! It means meditation. Food needs to be well chewed if it is to be properly digested. While chewing food we savor it, getting the full taste out of it. Likewise with spiritual food, it needs to be chewed, turned over and over in the mind, getting the full taste of it. As an aid to this mental chewing of spiritual food we might ask ourselves questions as we read (as when studying this magazine), such as, Why is that? How is this so? No, not out of any spirit of criticism of what is being read, but so that we examine our own thoughts to see that we are grasping the points with understanding. Just as the apostle admonishes: “Make sure of all things; hold fast to what is right,” that is, understand what is read and then fix the points firmly in mind.—1 Tim. 4:10; 1 Thess. 5:21.

⁶ Spiritual discernment does not come just from learning a lot of facts. Many people have knowledge, they have information in their minds, yet they lack spiritual discernment. For us to have spiritual discernment means that we have understood and digested the facts, examined them in the light of other knowledge already learned, and placed the new information in its right relationship to the other, allowing it to enlarge or to correct and amend our understanding of matters on which new light has shone. In this way we ‘may prove to ourselves the good and acceptable and complete will of God.’—Rom. 12:2.

7. Why is Jehovah’s spirit so essential to becoming filled with spiritual discernment? So what should be done on each occasion of personal study?

⁷ Then, too, it is necessary to have Jehovah’s help by his spirit if one is to become filled with spiritual discernment. It is only by the spirit of Jehovah, along with study and meditation, that one can gain accurate knowledge and full understanding. This all-important fact must never be forgotten: It is impossible to be filled with spiritual discernment without the help of God’s spirit. God’s own Word states: “For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of man that is in him? So, too, no one has come to know the things of God, except the spirit of God. Now we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been kindly given us by God. These things we also speak, not with words taught by human wisdom, but with those taught by the spirit, as we combine spiritual matters with spiritual words.” So when you study, yes, on each occasion when you study privately at home, pray to Jehovah for his spirit to help you in your study, to help you to understand, to help you to grasp the meaning of the things you read, that you may grow in spiritual discernment.—1 Cor. 2:11-13.

8. We should study with what purpose in mind, and what must we make sure to avoid?

⁸ Along with such prayers for the spirit there must be the necessary effort in personal study, with the purpose in mind of enlarging one’s understanding and appreciation of God’s Word so as to grow in spiritual discernment. Such study can and should be joyful and exhilarating. Casual study in preparation for congregational meetings, such as for the Watchtower study, does not lead to spiritual discernment. Some may have the habit of leaving their study preparation to the last minute, maybe to an hour or two before the scheduled congregation study. Perhaps there is time just to look up some of the easier questions and check the answers in the paragraphs so that at least some comment can be made in the Watchtower study at the Kingdom Hall. But that is not study, is it? What information one may get in that way is quickly forgotten, and probably will not be remembered a day or two after the consideration of that particular material.

9, 10. (a) Of what benefit is review in our personal study? (b) Why is there a need for a regular schedule for personal study?

⁹ In scheduling definite times for personal study and preparation for the Watchtower study and other meetings sufficient time should be allowed for meditation on the material as one goes along, chewing over the information so as to get it fixed firmly in mind. To see whether this has been accomplished it is good to review after each period of personal study. Then is the time when the information is fresh, and the best time to see that it has made a deep impression. Making an effort to recall the information to conscious thought immediately after the period of study trains the process of memory and the ability to recall, and will do much to fix the points firmly in mind. The final review could be with a closed magazine or book. We have the title of the article; now, how much can we remember of the high lights, of the main arguments? Do we recall some of the proof texts that were used? Can we relate the main points together in a brief summary of the article? If not, we need to go through the article again, consciously looking for the high points, the main arguments.

¹⁰ One may say at this point, “But all this takes time.” True, but it is time well spent, time that must be spent if an accurate knowledge of God’s will is to be fixed firmly in mind and the proper basis provided for being filled with spiritual discernment. There is no short cut. Study, regular study, is essential to being filled with spiritual discernment. As Paul wrote to Timothy: “Give constant thought to what I am saying; the Lord will really give you discernment in all things.”—2 Tim. 2:7.

11. What will result from growing in understanding and appreciation of the truth?

¹¹ As you follow this wise course you will rejoice in growing in understanding and appreciation of the truth. It will sink deep into your mind and heart and become part of you. Then, indeed, you will be “always ready to make a defense before everyone that demands of you a reason for the hope in you.” Your mind and heart will be strong, mature, sound. You will see clearly the way to go. You will not fall from the narrow path of truth and sound doctrine into the morass of false teachings and sectarian ideas; you will avoid having extreme views on things, and will be guarded from falling into the all-too-easy snare of leaning to your own understanding. With your mind filled with accurate knowledge and your thinking abilities guided by Jehovah’s spirit you will discern the right way to go, the way that is full of light, and be delivered from the bad way that leads into darkness. “When wisdom enters into your heart and knowledge itself becomes pleasant to your very soul, thinking ability itself will keep guard over you, discernment itself will safeguard you, to deliver you from the bad way, from the man speaking perverse things, from those leaving the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness.”—1 Pet. 3:15; Prov. 2:13.

12. What does the Christian need to do when issues arise in his life, and what does he need to discern when making decisions?

¹² The Christian must exercise spiritual discernment in the way he walks “in order to walk worthily of Jehovah to the end of fully pleasing him.” When issues arise that affect one personally, the imperfect flesh is quick to react, and, if one is not careful, it can lead one into a wrong course of action. One must restrain the fleshly impulses and passions and be guided instead by spiritual discernment. So, when issues arise, there is need to stop and think: What do the Scriptures say about this? How would Jehovah and Christ Jesus view the matter? Often a number of factors are involved that may not be taken into account if one acts hastily; such as factors affecting various interests—the interests of one’s fellow witnesses and of the Christian congregation, divine interests, and, perhaps, one’s own life interests. Consider the following inspired counsel: “That your love may abound yet more and more with accurate knowledge and full discernment, that you may make sure of the more important things, so that you may be flawless and not be stumbling others up to the day of Christ, and may be filled with righteous fruit which is through Jesus Christ, to God’s glory and praise.”—Phil. 1:9-11.

13, 14. (a) How will the one having spiritual discernment act in the face of some difficulty in the congregation? (b) What will help him have the right viewpoint?

¹³ Perhaps something in a congregation is not handled just right, or at least so one may think. Even if something is not handled just the way it should be, that would be no reason for one’s getting upset to the point of agitation, possibly letting his temper get a little out of hand. If this were to happen, he would most surely lose his sense of balance. His acting hastily under such circumstances would be from the standpoint of the flesh and not from mature spiritual discernment. Even if at the start one is in the right about something, acting hastily will not help, and such one may find himself also taking a wrong course, and that would not put anything right. At all times we must watch that we do not run ahead of Jehovah and his organization, becoming impatient, taking things into our own hands. There may be times when someone goes wrong, and perhaps because he holds some office in the congregation things become a little difficult for a while; but such are the times for demonstrating Christian patience, and, if there is nothing that we can do theocratically to handle the situation, then we need to wait for Jehovah to remedy the matter. The one filled with spiritual discernment will do so.

¹⁴ It is a matter of getting the right perspective, of viewing things with a right sense of proportion. Local difficulties or problems may arise from time to time because of human imperfections and they may result in inconvenience and a test of one’s patience, and even put a strain on one’s affections; but by our stopping and meditating a little these problems would soon come to appear small when compared to other more important things.

15, 16. (a) What are some of the more important things on which we should fix our attention? (b) How does Paul in his letter to the Philippians encourage this mental attitude?

¹⁵ Consider for a moment some of these more important things. The fact that we are living in the last days of this system of things; that Armageddon, the battle of the great day of God Almighty, when he will magnify and vindicate his universal sovereignty, is at hand; that Christ Jesus is now ruling in Kingdom power and is directing the great work of having “this good news of the kingdom” preached in all the earth; that as a result of this preaching work, persons of good will from all lands, tongues, races and peoples are being gathered together into one united, harmonious New World society. As one considers these things and the wonderful privilege and undeserved kindness of knowing them and sharing in them, one’s heart is filled to overflowing with gratitude to Jehovah. How petty and small one’s problems now seem when compared to these so much more important things! So, when small problems come up, or even big ones from a local standpoint, the one having spiritual discernment will not allow such problems to become so big in his mind as to distort his vision. He will keep his balance and always view things in their relation to the more important things.

¹⁶ Happily, problems and difficulties do not arise all the time in the New World society; indeed, they are few and far between in comparison to the joys that are ever present: experiences in the field, the finding and feeding of the sheep, the happy association with the brothers at the Kingdom Hall. These are the things to have our minds on. “Whatever things are righteous, . . . whatever things are lovable, whatever things are well spoken of, whatever virtue there is and whatever praiseworthy thing there is, continue considering these things.” Let such things flood your mind and you will always keep your sense of proportion. You will be able to discern spiritually.—Phil. 4:8.

17. How have some come to stumble out of the truth over little things?

¹⁷ One who is overcritical, always looking at others from the standpoint of the imperfections of the flesh, loses sight of the more important things. Such a one is likely to find himself becoming an unhappy complainer. Some, indeed, have allowed trifling things to stumble them right out of the truth. How? They allowed a little thing to become a big thing in their lives, so big that it crowded out everything else. They lost their spiritual discernment. Instead of stopping to consider things from the standpoint of God’s Word, they allowed some fleshly passion, such as pride, fear or jealousy, to motivate them. They were led along by their own understanding into a course ending in spiritual disaster.

18. How can we guard against such a course of stumbling?

¹⁸ Certainly all of us want to guard against such a course, do we not? We will do so if we have increased and keep on increasing in an accurate knowledge of what God’s will is for us, if we hold the more important things in our minds and hearts and if, when issues arise, we take notice of Jehovah’s way of looking at things as set out in his Word and do not become wise in our own eyes. In this connection note the timely counsel Jehovah gives us at Proverbs 3:1-7: “My son, my law do not forget, and my commandments may your heart observe, because length of days and years of life and peace will be added to you. May loving-kindness and trueness themselves not leave you. Tie them about your throat. Write them upon the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and good insight in the eyes of God and of earthling man. Trust in Jehovah with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding. In all your ways take notice of him, and he himself will make your paths straight. Do not become wise in your own eyes. Fear Jehovah and turn away from bad.”

19. How do we show that we trust in Jehovah with all our hearts?

¹⁹ Even when one thinks he is in the right about something he must be on guard against being overly righteous, wise in his own eyes, and thus being carried away by his own self-righteousness. The Christian must maintain his balance, keeping control of his spirit, not giving Satan any opportunity to overcome him and lead him in a bad way. Time must be taken for one to consider a matter, using spiritual discernment, turning to God’s Word to get His mind on matters. There is hardly any problem that can arise in the Christian’s life about which Jehovah’s Word does not give wise counsel and guidance. One shows that he trusts in Jehovah with all his heart by seeking His counsel and then following it at all times, by letting agreement with the accurate knowledge of God’s will be ‘the force actuating his mind,’ and by thus putting on “the new personality which was created according to God’s will in true righteousness and loving-kindness.”—Eph. 4:23, 24.

20. (a) How does spiritual discernment guard against our becoming angry or upset? (b) What proper course did Jesus advise in dealing with one who gives offense?

²⁰ Spiritual discernment leads one into the right relationship with his brothers and sisters in the New World society. For example, if a brother feels he has been wronged he will not act in hasty anger, being upset because of what his brother may have done toward him or said about him. What is it that would cause a person to get upset and angry under such circumstances? Is it not because he is thinking just of himself, is disturbed perhaps because his good name has been misrepresented? But is not something more important involved? If someone in the congregation has acted wrongly, the spiritually discerning Christian sees that his brother’s wrong course is an evidence of some spiritual weakness on his part and that his spiritual life is therefore in danger, and that is surely something more to be concerned with than any real or imagined wrong his brother may have done to him. Rather than “keep account of the injury,” the mature Christian is moved to go to his erring brother, not in anger, not to get some personal satisfaction for the wrong he may have done, but out of love for him, to help him up from his stumbling if possible, before it is too late. Is not this just what Jesus advised: “Moreover, if your brother commits a sin, go lay bare his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother”?—1 Cor. 13:4, 5; Matt. 18:15.

21. How does the mature servant of Jehovah view himself?

²¹ Having spiritual discernment, God’s faithful servants see themselves for what they are, just earthen vessels, of little worth in themselves, yet, through Jehovah’s undeserved kindness, containing valuable treasures of knowledge to be used in his service. This keeps them humble, always appreciating that what they have that is of value has been received from Jehovah and is no cause for boasting in themselves. At 1 Corinthians 4:6, 7 the apostle wrote: “Learn the rule, ‘Do not go beyond the things that are written,’ in order that you may not be puffed up individually in favor of the one against the other. For who makes you to differ from another? Indeed, what do you have that you did not receive? If, now, you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” Having this Scriptural point of view will guard one from becoming proud and self-centered, or touchy and resentful, thus making him difficult to get along with. He will be filled with appreciation for Jehovah’s goodness and the privilege of knowing Him and his Son, Christ Jesus, and he will forget himself and be interested only in sharing the good things he has with others.

22. While we are remaining humble, what extremes must be avoided? How?

²² Yet, while we are remaining humble, there is need to guard against the opposite extreme of having an inferiority complex, being apologetic, feeling dissatisfied with oneself to the point of discouragement. Recognizing the power of Jehovah’s spirit, one discerns with a sound mind that, with Jehovah’s help, he is able to do what is God’s will for him and so he tackles any assignment of service with faith. As we read at Romans 12:3: “For through the undeserved kindness given to me I tell everyone there among you not to think more of himself than it is necessary to think; but to think so as to have a sound mind, each one as God has distributed to him a measure of faith.”

23. How does spiritual discernment contribute to unity among the brothers?

²³ This humble yet realistic viewpoint toward himself enables the Christian to have an honest, frank and realistic attitude toward his brothers, which makes for refreshing companionship and godly harmony. Spiritual discernment enables us to work together in unity, appreciating the needs of one another, enabling us to give practical expression to the quality of love. So, be filled with spiritual discernment, make right decisions, “in order to walk worthily of Jehovah to the end of fully pleasing him as you go on bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the accurate knowledge of God.”

Spiritual Discernment—an Evidence of Christian Maturity

1, 2. (a) What is necessary for a young child as it faces new situations, yet what will the wise parent work for? (b) What is the most important kind of maturity?

A YOUNG child needs help and guidance. The parents who are concerned with the welfare of the child are always ready to give the needed help and advice as the growing child faces new situations. At first the parents have to make decisions on behalf of the child: what is good or what is bad; what to eat or what not to eat; when to sleep or when to play; where the child can go in safety and what places to avoid as dangerous; what literature is within the child’s scope and beneficial for its upbringing and what would tend to confuse or would be bad for spiritual and moral growth. But as the child progresses in years the wise parent trains his child to think for himself, to discern what is good and bad, wise and foolish. Then as adulthood in years is reached so also is mental maturity.

² It is important for parents to appreciate the need for mental and spiritual growth in their children, particularly the latter growth. The term “maturity” can be applied to many features of growth, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, but it is the last-named kind, spiritual maturity, that is the most important, and yet as far as this world is concerned, it is the one most neglected.

3. (a) How should the wise instructor train those with whom he studies? (b) What is the evidence of Christian maturity?

³ Our illustration of the child well applies to the growth to Christian maturity of a person newly coming to a knowledge of the truth. At first he needs help in how to study God’s Word, the personal help and guidance of a mature Christian. He needs to be fed. But the wise instructor will train his student to think and reason things out for himself so that he can soon begin to feed himself and grow in powers of discernment. Just as the evidence of true adulthood is in demonstrating adult understanding and appreciation, so Christian maturity is demonstrated by one’s powers of spiritual discernment, the ability to arrive at right decisions, keenly discerning right from wrong on the basis of Bible principles. Paul well expressed this: “For everyone that partakes of milk is unacquainted with the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to mature people, to those who through use have their perceptive powers trained to distinguish both right and wrong. For this reason, now that we have left the elementary doctrine about the Christ, let us press on to maturity.”—Heb. 5:13 to 6:1.

4. (a) What encouragement is there for those newly acquainted with the truth? (b) What is the chief factor in making progress toward maturity?

⁴ Some readers of this magazine may have begun a study of the Bible with the help of Watch Tower study aids just in recent weeks or months. Such may feel “unacquainted with the word,” being babes, as it were, from the spiritual viewpoint. To such ones we would say, Continue in your diligent study of God’s Word, confident that by Jehovah’s undeserved kindness you can grow to Christian maturity. Attaining to Christian maturity does not necessarily take many years, as it does for a child to attain maturity in a physical way. Rather than depend solely on the amount of time spent in study, the chief factor that it depends on is depth of heart devotion to Jehovah and appreciation for his “word of righteousness.” One needs to be meek and teachable and anxious to make progress. After assimilating the elementary doctrines one must make progress toward understanding the “solid food” of truth, thus demonstrating advancement to maturity.

5. To whom actually are the words at Hebrews 5:13 to 6:1 addressed, and why?

⁵ But the apostle in writing the words quoted above to the Hebrews was not writing to ones newly associating with the Christian congregation. He was, in fact, writing to persons who had been “in the truth” for some time but had failed to advance to maturity and were still babes as to spiritual discernment. They were not demonstrating the qualities of “full-grown men” that were so much needed for the work of teaching to be done, so he wrote to them that they “ought to be teachers in view of the time.” There was need for these ones “to show . . . industriousness so as to have the full assurance of the hope down to the end, in order that [they might] not become sluggish, but be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”—Heb. 6:11, 12.

6. Why do we need to continue ‘pressing on to maturity’?

⁶ Maturity is not something that, once attained, stays with us without further effort on our part. The Christian organization is constantly on the advance. The light of truth shining upon it and through it gets steadily brighter. This is especially true now in this day when Jehovah has come to his temple, for “when there are judgments from [him] for the earth, righteousness is what the inhabitants of the productive land will certainly learn.” Not only is there an advancement in knowledge and understanding, but, since this is the day for the preaching of “this good news of the kingdom,” Jehovah is training his witnesses as never before to accomplish this work in the most effective manner possible. Constantly, by means of his theocratic organization, he provides new methods and equipment for this work. To keep up with the advancing maturity of the organization in spiritual understanding and ministerial ability means a constant ‘pressing on to maturity.’—Malachi chapter 3; Isa. 26:9; Matt. 24:14.

7. What should one discern in connection with the ministry? How only can we continue to make progress?

⁷ The need is for each one of Jehovah’s witnesses to discern his relationship to the advancement being made by the organization. It may be that one has been long associated with the truth, having been active many years in the ministry. Such steadfastness is well-pleasing to Jehovah. But there is a need at the same time to discern that one is keeping pace with the New World society. If you are in the happy position of having had many years in Jehovah’s service, then you will be anxious about the effectiveness of your ministry. Does it produce fruit? Does it help new ones by teaching them and making disciples out of them? As mentioned previously, one of the basic essentials of maturity and spiritual discernment is humility. To be able to discern accurately how we are making progress we need to take an honest, humble look at ourselves. If we are not making the desired progress, then we should not be too proud to seek help, or resent it when one of the overseers comes to us offering assistance. We must discern our needs if we are to continue to make progress.—Phil. 3:16.

8. (a) Where does spiritual discernment begin? (b) What relationship or association is most important for the Christian?

⁸ The evidence of this growth in Christian maturity is in the discernment one shows of each step to be taken, of each decision to be made. It begins right with dedication. The one considering dedication must understand first that his dedication is being made, not to some man, nor to please some person, be it husband or wife, mother or father. It is not a dedication to an organization, not even to the New World society. It is a dedication to the Supreme Personage in the universe, Jehovah God, with the determination to do his will and please him, just as Jesus expressed it: “I am come . . . to do your will, O God.” The dedicated one appreciates, then, that the most cherished association or relationship is that which he now enters into with Jehovah. That is a holy, precious and “intimate” relationship into which Jehovah invites his creatures by means of his undeserved kindness through Jesus Christ, a relationship not to be lightly broken.—Heb. 10:7; Ps. 25:14.

9. Why is dedication to a work a mistake, and what can having an unbalanced view of the ministry lead to?

⁹ One who dedicates himself just to do a certain work, such as preaching, makes a mistake. When the going gets rough he easily becomes discouraged. If he sees only the physical association with the organization and its members as the most important thing to be guarded he is lacking in spiritual discernment. Work in preaching the good news, and physical association with the New World society, are not enough in themselves and do not guarantee salvation. There is no salvation on the basis of works alone. To have this view of things would place one in the same danger as those under the Mosaic law who sought to “establish their own [righteousness].” It can lead to becoming “egotistical, stirring up competition with one another, envying one another” over having a good record of preaching service.—Rom. 10:1-3; Gal. 5:26.

10. What helps to keep the right view of the Kingdom work?

¹⁰ Does this mean that God’s work is unimportant? Not at all! To the contrary, the mature Christian spiritually discerns that his dedication to Jehovah calls for him to love Jehovah with his whole heart, soul, mind and strength. He remembers the words of James that “faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself.” By always being conscious of his dedicated relationship to Jehovah he is able to take the right view of his work and engage in it with the right motive; because of love for his heavenly Father, out of a desire to exalt His name, out of love for his neighbor and sharing with him the same privileges and blessings. A mature understanding of the initial step of dedication paves the way for mature worship “with spirit and truth.”—Mark 12:30; Jas. 2:17; John 4:23.

11. How could a married man show a lack of spiritual discernment?

¹¹ Spiritual discernment, then, results in having the mature view of the ministry that takes into account the other responsibilities one may have as a dedicated servant of Jehovah. A man who is married, with children, has many blessed privileges and responsibilities. It would show a lack of spiritual discernment for him to neglect family obligations just to build up an outstanding record of service in the field. Not only must the Christian provide for the necessary material needs of his family, but he will be alert to “provide for those who are his own” in a spiritual way, studying with them and aiding them to become mature in God’s service. To fail to give such proper attention to “those who are members of his household” is the same as ‘disowning the faith.’—1 Tim. 5:8.

12. What will the mature Christian discern as to his preaching activity, and as to any necessary secular work?

¹² A record of service in preaching the good news is not in itself the proof of maturity. Of what avail would such be if, at the same time, one failed to walk in harmony with the Bible principles of morality, or in some other way practiced what was hurtful in the congregation. This would not be walking worthily of Jehovah, not fully pleasing him. While working diligently in God’s service, telling others of the good news, the Christian discerns the need to pursue the course of integrity in every part of his life if he is to serve for the vindication of Jehovah’s name. At all times the mature person remembers he is dedicated to do the divine will and always he will want to please the One whose servant he is, Jehovah. He will not be doing things just to please men, whether when engaged in congregational activities or in his secular work, but he will do all things honestly, “with sincerity of heart,” working “whole-souled as to Jehovah, and not to men.”—Col. 3:22-24.

13. (a) How does the mature publisher pursue a balanced ministry? (b) What is the secret of being truly joyful in the ministry?

¹³ In the ministerial work itself the discerning publisher of the good news keeps a proper balance, always having in mind the more important things of the ministry. He is not content with just house-to-house work distributing literature. He sees it is not enough just to be able to preach. He discerns that now is the time he ought to be a teacher, able to feed the sheep and help them find the way to eternal life. So he is diligent to keep a record of any interest he has found and to call back. When he makes his return visits he is prepared with interesting Bible sermons and is alert to arrange a home Bible study with those persons of good will. Being filled with accurate knowledge of God’s Word, with love for Jehovah the Great Shepherd, for the good Undershepherd Christ Jesus and with love for the other sheep, the Christian minister moves out in the service with a burning desire to find and feed the sheep—out of love and not just from a sense of duty. That is the secret of being truly joyful in the ministry.—Heb. 5:12; John 21:15-17.

14, 15. (a) What blessings result from Christian maturity? (b) What must be guarded against? How?

¹⁴ Spiritual maturity brings with it untold joys and blessings. His being filled with accurate knowledge and spiritual discernment makes the Christian strong, able to ward off attacks of the enemy, Satan, able to identify his subtle snares of materialism and fear of men and to resist them. He escapes the frustrations, worries and self-inflicted pains that come from unwisely following senseless and hurtful desires and avoids foolish actions that lead to self-reproach and a guilt-heavy conscience.—1 Tim. 6:9, 10.

¹⁵ While enjoying the blessings such maturity brings we must guard against overconfidence and always remember that Christian maturity and spiritual discernment do not result from just our own efforts but come about by the operation of Jehovah’s spirit in expression of his loving-kindness to us. So we will continue to look to Jehovah in prayer to help us continue serving him in a mature way, to hold us back from any presumptuous acts, that ‘the sayings of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts may become pleasurable to Jehovah’ at all times.—Ps. 19:13, 14.

16, 17. In what way can each one share in the spirit of joyful optimism of the New World society?

¹⁶ The faithful servant of Jehovah moves forward confidently, happy and contented as he works under the direction of the reigning King, Christ Jesus, and the visible theocratic organization that God has established in the earth. His Christian maturity enables him to strengthen and build up his brothers and persons of good will so that they also may attain to full Christian manhood and share the same joy and blessings.

¹⁷ The happy, confident outlook demonstrated by the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses is an evidence of its maturity. Each one can share in that spirit of joyful optimism by reaching out for the goal of Christian maturity, and getting filled with spiritual discernment. By our doing so unnumbered joys and privileges can be our portion both now and in the new world just ahead, “provided, of course, that you continue in the faith, established on the foundation and steadfast and not being shifted away from the hope of that good news which you heard, and which was preached in all creation that is under heaven.”—Col. 1:23.

“Spiritual Malnutrition”

American clergyman and religious writer Roy L. Smith has written about the spiritual food dispensed by Christendom’s churches: “A people that will sell principles for profits, barter character for pleasure, or sacrifice manhood for dividends must be prepared to face the disintegration that inevitably follows. The cause of this collapse is spiritual malnutrition. We have been feeding on much food, but it has not produced strength for the crisis. More than a generation ago Dr. Stephen M. Babcock, of the University of Wisconsin, made the amazing discovery that cattle might be eating prodigious amounts of food and at the same time be starving to death. Extended investigation revealed the fact that life-giving food contains a strange element called vitamins, which furnish the vitality necessary for maintaining life, and that the value of any food depends upon its vitamin content. The spiritual collapse of these last days makes evident the fact that we have been feeding on food that is lacking in spiritual vitamins. . . . We have been abundantly fed but not well fed.”—Treasury of the Christian Faith, p. 267.

Pursuing My Purpose in Life

As told by John R. Cooke

ONE day in August, 1927, while on holiday in France, I sat on the shore thinking about my home in Broadstairs, England. I was fourteen years old, and for the last six years had heard about the truth from my mother. On that day I made an important decision—that on getting home I would attend the meetings regularly and seriously investigate this “truth.” I carried out my intention and soon volunteered for house-to-house work. Methods then were primitive. On my first attempt, a cold, wintry day, I was given a few booklets and a street to work by myself, but I placed twelve booklets and went home happy and encouraged. I found out then that doing Jehovah’s service under difficulties brings a special joy. Little did I realize then how much I would need the strength that comes from the “joy of Jehovah.”—Neh. 8:10.

I soon had ambitions of entering the pioneer service, but as the idea horrified my father I postponed it. In May, 1931, came a real turning point for me—an international assembly in Paris. The joy of association with foreign brothers, the frequent appeals for pioneers, the remarks of so many I met—“a young chap like you should be a pioneer”—climaxed by an appeal for volunteers for Spain (and I was taking Spanish at school) forged in me a determination to enter the pioneer service as soon as possible. So in August, 1931, at the age of eighteen, I took up my lifetime career. My brother Eric joined me and we started in France. Before we left home Dad said: “After six months you will be wanting to come back and take up a decent job.” We nearly did. Mother died very suddenly and relatives made every effort to make us stay home; but the deep conviction that pioneer service was our true vocation kept us going.

In July, 1932, I went to Spain. The method then was to cover ground fast, and the literature went out well. It was a tough life with rough lodgings, much cycling over mountainous roads and five or six hours of solid “door-knocking” every day. By 1935 political upsets began and in some places Communists, mistaking us for fascists, gave us a rough reception! But my brother and I were experiencing the joys of finding the “other sheep.” We started a little group in Barbastro, and in Saragossa two young men came nightly to our room for study and later joined us in pioneer service. Unfortunately the Spanish Civil War soon broke out. My brother and I just escaped it. We returned to England for a vacation on July 12, 1936, and the fighting started on the 18th.

Our next assignment was Ireland (Eire), where we were to witness with a special leaflet. But it was too strong for the fanatical people and caused a tremendous stir. Priests accused us of being Communists (the opposite of what we had been accused of in Spain!), and twice Catholic Action gangs burned our literature and escorted us out of town. At the third place, within a matter of hours, I was arrested, rushed through court and put in Dublin gaol. It was quite a relief to be there after what we had been through! But I was out again after several days.

In 1937 I returned to France and was sent to Bordeaux. Home Bible studies were just beginning then, so when, in 1939, Brother Knecht, the Branch servant, paid a visit, my French partner and I were thrilled to gather twenty-five people for his talk. But war intervened again—World War II—and news came that the Society was banned. Immediately I dispersed our stock of literature, so when the police questioned me I could say I had none in my room. Then I lost my partner, poor Pierre Dijeau, who was imprisoned for refusing to fight, and died later. But his courageous stand strengthened us all. Came June, 1940—a tragic month for France. The nation just folded up before the Nazi advance. All English residents were advised to leave, but I was reluctant to go. However, Nazi tanks were approaching fast; it was unwise to stay. I cycled out the day before the Nazis came in. At Bayonne, farther south, there was such a crowd trying to get on the ship for England that I failed to get aboard. It was just as well, as that vessel was sunk. The rest of us were finally evacuated and landed safely at Plymouth. My first nine years of foreign service had ended.

After a few months in a pioneer home in Derby, where a tribunal granted me exemption from military service (they were impressed with my work in foreign fields; sticking it out paid dividends), I was assigned to Newcastle-on-Tyne as city servant, and there I gained experience in congregation organization. In December, 1942, a letter came from the Society that overwhelmed me—an appointment as servant to the brethren. I felt very unworthy but asked Jehovah to help me. Duties as convention servant came my way. I especially remember an assembly in London in 1944 when bomb explosions were hourly occurrences. So it was a great sight to see a London theater, empty for weeks, packed with calm, happy publishers and persons of good will. Another outstanding assembly I attended was in Holland, just after the Nazis had gone. The Dutch brothers were just emerging from their “underground” activity and their spirit was magnificent. Walking miles to meetings, breakfast on bread and water, or sleeping on straw was nothing to them. Theirs was the unspeakable joy of a theocratic organization just freed from fetters!

A few months later there was big excitement in London. Brothers Knorr and Henschel were making their first visit after the war, and I volunteered for Gilead. After a couple of months the invitation arrived. I shall never forget the thrill that gave me. So in June, 1946, I crossed to the United States and spent eighteen months there packed with privileges: several months in Bethel, the Cleveland convention, and then the eighth class of Gilead, where I passed the six most profitable months in my life. Words cannot describe that marvelous fellowship and training; one never forgets Gilead. Next came six months on a New Jersey circuit, where I found the brothers very kind; indeed, they paid for both my brother (also in the eighth class) and me to travel to the Los Angeles convention in 1947. Soon, later, my brother left for Africa, while my assignment was Portugal and Spain. Brothers Knorr and Henschel were going there too, so in December, 1947, I had the privilege of flying over with them. In Madrid we found there was only one seat available on the plane to Barcelona. Said Brother Knorr: “You’ll have to go alone, John!” Knowing of serious trouble in the Barcelona group, my heart sank. On arrival I found two completely separate groups—expecting the president and his secretary. It was the first of many difficult moments!

Yes, those first months were a real test, as is often the case. The brothers were disorganized, doing no real field service, and I had to restore harmony and get things started. To make things worse I fell seriously ill. The temptation to go home was strong, but I stayed on; and for my having put Kingdom interests first, material needs were added: all medical expenses were paid by the Barcelona brothers, who also nursed me night and day for two months—a real manifestation of brotherly love. And it was a thrill to find, after my illness, a united Barcelona congregation some forty in number. Working in Spain had changed much now that all meetings and activity were prohibited. For example, while on a visit to Barbastro the congregation servant and I went to see an isolated publisher in a mountain village. We were met by a priest and four armed guardia civil. One of them drew a revolver—“¡Manos arriba!” (“Hands up!”) The priest then disappeared, while we were taken to police headquarters and questioned until four o’clock next morning. They charged us with holding an illegal meeting, even though they had arrested us outside the village! However, after a couple of days in a rough jail we were released.

August, 1948, found me in Lisbon. My visa was for three weeks, but as the need was great I prayed that I might stay. And I did—for five years. The work is a little easier in Portugal than in Spain, and one is able to work more freely and hold small meetings. But the position was very uncertain and we often wondered what would happen next. However, good increases took place.

In 1951 two more missionaries came (ending my partnerless period of over three years) and we opened a small home. In July that year the Society’s vice-president paid us a visit and I had the real privilege of traveling with him through Spain before flying to the London Wembley Stadium assembly. A few months later, after a much-needed rest, I was back in Spain again visiting the congregations with Brothers Knorr and Henschel. During my absence dissension had broken out in the Lisbon congregation, so Brother Knorr held an investigation and the unruly elements were removed. I also received a rebuke; but “reproofs . . . are the way of life,” and it did me a lot of good. Progress in Lisbon was more rapid after that. The following year the same visitors came again and were pleased with the improvement made, and on this occasion I was appointed Branch servant for Portugal and Spain. The same year (1953) came a trip to New York, the privilege of attending the Branch servants’ meeting and then the marvelous New York assembly. Back in Lisbon I organized an “underground” assembly, giving the high lights from New York. Next day I left for Madrid but was refused entry at the frontier. Fortunately I was able to re-enter Portugal and carry on until my visa expired in May, 1954. I tried Spain again but was once more stopped at the frontier. My instructions then were to proceed to Bordeaux. It was my first visit there since June, 1940, so you can imagine my delight at being met by a couple with whom I had had studies fourteen years before! It was good to be in France again and note the progress made. I spent several happy months in Bordeaux and then left for my next assignment—Africa!—a special mission to the Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique.

I landed in Luanda, capital of Angola, on January 24, 1955. My mission was a delicate one—to investigate an unusual group of one thousand Africans who had received a smattering of the truth from two of the Society’s booklets found years previously, and who had been deported from the Belgian Congo accused of being Mau Mau elements and were now dispersed throughout Angola under close supervision. I began inquiries cautiously. I was able to make friends with a high official and contact some of the group members. On a difficult assignment like this, one frequently turns to Jehovah in prayer. Rarely have I felt his guidance so close as in Angola. For example, I had to see some Africans situated in a penal colony in the south where entry was impossible without special permission. I not only got permission but a free round trip by plane as well. Can you imagine a Watchtower representative having expenses paid by a Catholic government to visit a few Africans? This group was the most advanced in the truth and they showed me an old exercise book, which was a translation into their own language of the two booklets that were found. Copies of these, written out by hand, were their only Kingdom textbooks for years; and yet here they were, in custody for their faith! I had many interesting experiences in Angola, but after five months my visa expired and I had to leave. However, the foundations for a New World society nucleus had been laid.

Next came ‘operation ‹Lourenco› Marques,’ the capital of Mozambique, to try to help a few hundred African publishers, some of whom had been harshly treated by the Catholics. Caution made me avoid African contacts and start with Europeans. I had suspicions that the police were watching me (they were), and I found it hard to start. But I asked Jehovah to strengthen me and had an interesting time. One call was on a young man who had heard the truth in Lisbon years before; he subscribed for The Watchtower in Portuguese and French and Awake! in Portuguese, all three for five years each, and made a generous donation as well! When I left he continued one or two of the studies I had started. I avoided trouble for five months, but was eventually called up for a grueling interview by the Secret Police and given forty-eight hours to quit. It was just as well since the climate did not suit me. I arrived at the South African Branch in a very weak state and was sent to a hospital. However, there was nothing seriously wrong, and a few weeks later I was out on European circuit work in the Transvaal.

What a change! How easy the work seemed after Catholic territory and ‘underground’ activity! The months rolled quickly by until April, 1957, and then I got three shocks all in one week—very pleasant ones! A very generous brother presented me with a little car; I was appointed as district servant; and I fell in love with a sweet little missionary girl of the sixteenth class of Gilead! We were married in December, 1957, and have had a wonderful time together in the district work. What an interesting and varied life! One week, a European assembly in the Town Hall; next week, meetings with the Africans in a little tin hut. Most of the time we are with the Africans, who much appreciate brotherly help from Europeans. Many of the native locations are rough places and unsafe after dark. At one assembly a defense squad had to be organized to keep the native gangsters at bay. But in spite of that and the language problem we thoroughly enjoy our ministry. Bechuanaland is in our district and there we often get unusual experiences—stuck in a river for three and a half hours with water flowing through the car, or interviewing hostile chiefs. The literature is banned there, but many officials appreciate our work, and the New World society is growing.

Thanks to the warm generosity of my wife’s parents, we both attended the New York Divine Will assembly of 1958 and noted the vigorous growth of the organization and the manifestation of the “fruits of the spirit.” What a joy to meet old friends and get a wider vision of Jehovah’s people—happy, united, expanding on every side and advancing victoriously.

“So, Dad, those six months you prophesied have grown to twenty-eight years! And I am so glad that your attitude toward the New World society is now more friendly.”

“And you fellow New World society citizens, I hope that these few experiences will help you to feel something of what I feel—that Jehovah is by far the best Master to serve. Why get involved with worldly concerns, where one serves in a dead-end street? I can look back on many happy privileges in twenty-eight years of pioneer service, but the future is infinitely more glorious! Take up the pioneer service and enjoy that cup of future blessings to the last drop!”

Part 19—“Your Will Be Done on Earth”

Our semimonthly progress through the book “Your Will Be Done on Earth” has now brought us into its Chapter 8, entitled “The ‘Little Horn’ in Opposition.” This horn of world importance comes into view in Daniel’s prophecy, chapter seven, where Jehovah’s prophet describes the terrifying dream that he had in the first year of Belshazzar, the last king of the Babylonian world power. In this prophetic dream there rose up out of a sea stirred up by the four winds of heaven four unusual wild beasts, the first like a lion, the second like a bear, the third like a leopard, and the fourth like a terrible, strong animal that was different. Among the ten horns on its dreadful head there came up a little horn before which three of the other horns were uprooted; and, “behold,” says the prophet, “in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.”—Dan. 7:2-8, RS.

4. What did the angel tell Daniel that the four wild beasts pictured, and with what other symbolisms do these four correspond?

⁴ The world of today is familiar with the British “lion,” the American “eagle,” the Russian “bear,” the Chinese lung or “dragon,” and the imperial German two-headed “spread eagle.” But what do the four different beasts of Daniel’s dream prefigure historically? In anxiety Daniel asked an angel for us that we today might know the “truth concerning all this.” Daniel tells us: “So he told me, and made known to me the interpretation of the things. ‘These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth.’” Ah, then, the four beasts correspond with the four metals of the dream image that Daniel had interpreted to King Nebuchadnezzar more than fifty years previously. (Dan. 7:15-17; 2:31-45, RS) By means of two heaven-sent dreams the march of world powers from 607 B.C. down to modern times was to be made doubly sure, as by two witnesses.

5. In this vision, what does the sea picture, and what do the four winds picture?

⁵ Up out of a churning sea the four beasts arose, in the same way that hundreds of years later the apostle John saw in vision the seven-headed, ten-horned wild beast ascend out of the abyss of the sea, it being like a leopard, but having the feet as of a bear and a mouth as of a lion. (Rev. 13:1, 2) In Bible symbology the sea is used to picture “peoples and crowds and nations and tongues,” the vast body of mankind that cover the habitable earth as the waters cover the sea basins. They are all the people alienated from Jehovah God by sin and by the “ruler of the authority of the air,” Satan the Devil. (Rev. 17:15; Isa. 57:20, 21; Eph. 2:2) The four winds of the heavens stirring up the great sea to cause the four beasts to arise picture the “wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places” together with Satan, “the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience,” as all these together play their forces upon the sea of humanity exploited by Satan and raging against Jehovah God, in order that they may bring forth the world powers symbolized by the four vicious beasts.

6. How did this first symbolic beast arise, and how did it act like a lion?

⁶ Genesis 10:8-10 makes it plain that Babylon, which became the third world power, symbolized here by the lion that had eagles’ wings, arose, not from Jehovah’s people, but from Nimrod the “mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah.” Hence this symbolic beast “came up out of the sea.” The king for which it stood was the dynastic line of Chaldean kings of Babylon, from Nebuchadnezzar to Belshazzar. This Babylonian kingly power devoured nations and peoples like a lion, including Jehovah’s nation of ancient Israel.—Jer. 4:5-7; 50:17.

7. How did the plucking of its wings, the standing of it on two feet and the giving to it the heart of a man affect this symbolic lion?

⁷ As if aided with eagles’ wings, this symbolic lion speeds forward in aggressive war for conquest. (Lam. 4:19; Hab. 1:6-8, AV) Toward the end of its dynastic rule in King Belshazzar, Babylon had its wings plucked. It lost its speed to the attack and its lionlike ability to continue as king of the beastly world powers. It became relatively weak, like a man with no more rapidity of movement than that of two legs. It was given the “mind of a man” in a beast’s body and was not able to act like king “among the beasts of the forest”; it no longer had the “heart of the lion.” (Mic. 5:8, AS; 2 Sam. 17:10) It went down in defeat before the symbolic bear. It yielded world domination to Medo-Persia.

8. What was symbolized by the bear, its being raised up on one side, and its having three ribs in its mouth?

⁸ The ‘king’ symbolized by the bear was the line of Medo-Persian rulers from Darius the Mede to Darius III the Persian, from 539 B.C. to 331 B.C. This line of world rulers was symbolized by the silver breast and arms of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image. This symbolic bear was “raised up on one side,” either to attack in order to seize, spread and maintain world power or else to show that the Persian line of rulers would take the ascendancy over the Median king, Darius, who was the first and only Mede in the Medo-Persian world rulership. The symbolic bear had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. These may denote the three directions in which the Persian world power pushed its conquests, to the north to humble Babylon in 539 B.C.; to the west through Asia Minor and across into Thrace; and to the south to conquer Egypt. The number three being also a symbol of intensity or emphasis, the three ribs may also emphasize the greed of this symbolic bear for territorial conquests.

9. What resulted from its obeying the command to arise and devour much flesh?

⁹ It hungrily lunged against the nations in response to the command: “Arise, devour much flesh.” By devouring Babylon according to the will of Jehovah God, this fourth world power was in position through Cyrus the Great, Darius I the Persian and Artaxerxes I to let Babylon’s Jewish captives go home, and to help and encourage them to rebuild the temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem and to build and repair the walls of the holy city. Like a bear, this world power became fat with “a hundred and twenty-seven jurisdictional districts,” so that Ahasuerus or Xerxes I, the husband of the Jewish Queen Esther, was “king from India to Ethiopia.”—Esther 1:1.

10. What did the third wild beast symbolize, how did it have speed, and how was it true that dominion was given to it to rule over all the earth?

¹⁰ Under invisible active force of the demons the agitated sea of mankind produced another symbolic beast of world domination, the four-winged, four-headed leopard. The ‘king’ that it symbolized was the Macedonian or Grecian line of world rulers, beginning with Alexander the Great. The speed with which Alexander conquered the Persian world power, moving through Asia Minor, then down into Egypt and finally eastward to the western borders of India, can well be likened to the speed of a leopard, what with four wings to increase its bounding agility and speed. (Hab. 1:8, AV) His dominion was greater than that of the symbolic bear. It included not only the domains of the Persian Empire but also Macedonia and Greece as well as Thrace. Alexander set out to conquer the Persian Empire in 334 B.C. He still had ambitious plans when he died June 13, 323 B.C., at Babylon. Daniel’s prophecy was correct in saying of this symbolic leopard, “Dominion was given to it”; it “shall rule over all the earth.”—Dan. 7:6; 2:39, RS.

11. How did the symbolic leopard become four-headed?

¹¹ The symbolic leopard became four-headed when Alexander died and four of his military generals sought to establish themselves as successors (Diádochi) over sections of his domain. Finally, General Seleucus was holding Mesopotamia and Syria; General Ptolemy, the domains in Africa; General Lysimachus, Asia Minor and Thrace; and General Cassander, Macedonia.

12. How was this symbolic leopard finally tamed and subjected?

¹² Peaceful relations did not obtain between these divisions of the Macedonian Empire. A new menace arose from the west, from Rome; and this rising political, military power interfered more and more in the affairs of the Hellenic political divisions of the empire. One by one they were taken over by the western power, till at last the symbolic leopard was tamed and subjected to a stronger master.

13. What did the fourth wild beast symbolize, and what features did Daniel ask the truth about?

¹³ By the year 30 B.C. the symbolic fourth beast was in complete undisputable control as the sixth world power of Biblical history. This ‘king’ was the line of political world rulers, beginning with Emperor Caesar Augustus of Rome and ending with the dominant worldly rulers of today. Daniel was interested to know the identity of this decidedly different beast, just the same as God-fearing Bible students of today are. Said Daniel: “Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrible, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze; and which devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up and before which three of them fell, the horn which had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and which seemed greater than its fellows. As I looked, this horn made war with the saints [the holy ones; qaddishín], and prevailed over them.”—Dan. 7:19-21, RS.

14. What interpretative information did the angel then give Daniel?

¹⁴ The angel gave Daniel interpretative information, which is really for guiding our understanding today. “Thus he said: ‘As for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and it shall devour the whole earth, and trample it down, and break it to pieces. As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them; he shall be different from the former ones, and shall put down three kings. He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, two times, and half a time.’” (Dan. 7:23-25, RS) Recorded facts of history bear that prophecy out.

15. With what did this symbolic fourth beast begin, and in what way was its first development different from the beasts before?

¹⁵ Repeatedly it is stated that this symbolic fourth beast is different from the three before. This “beast” began with the Roman Empire, and of it H. G. Wells, in A Short History of the World, says:

Now this new Roman power which arose to dominate the western world in the second and first centuries B.C. was in several respects a different thing from any of the great empires that had hitherto prevailed in the civilised world. It was not at first a monarchy, and it was not the creation of any one great conqueror. It was not indeed the first of republican empires; . . . But it was the first republican empire that escaped extinction and went on to fresh developments. . . . it was never able to maintain itself in central Asia or Persia because they were too far from its administrative centres. It . . . presently incorporated nearly all the Greek people in the world, and its population was less strongly Hamitic and Semitic than that of any preceding empire . . . So that the Roman Empire was essentially a first attempt to rule a great dominion upon mainly Aryan lines. It was so far a new pattern in history, it was an expanded Aryan republic. . . . The Roman Empire was a growth, an unplanned novel growth; the Roman people found themselves engaged almost unawares in a vast administrative experiment. . . . It was always changing. It never attained to any fixity. In a sense the [administrative] experiment failed. In a sense the experiment remains unfinished, and Europe and America today are still working out the riddles of worldwide statecraft first confronted by the Roman people.—Chapter 33, “The Growth of the Roman Empire,” pages 149-151. Published 1922.

16. How did this sixth world power expand itself, but into what was it dissolved in fulfillment of prophecy?

¹⁶ The Roman world power extended itself all around the Mediterranean Sea, to include also Morocco and Spain. It spread northwestward across Europe and leaped across the English Channel into Britain itself. In 55 B.C. the first Roman invasion of Britannia took place under Julius Caesar, the granduncle of Caesar Augustus. In 120 (A.D.) Emperor Hadrian himself visited Britain and built the Roman wall from the Tyne River to the Solway inlet. In 204 (A.D.) the Romans subdued southern Britain and divided it into two provinces. But Jehovah’s prophecy marked out for this greedy, domineering sixth world power to go the way of its predecessors. It, too, was dissolved. The pieces into which it was broken up were symbolized by the ten horns on the head of the terrible and dreadful fourth beast. Their number ten symbolizes allness as to our earth.

17. What was symbolized by the other horn that overthrew three, and how does The Encyclopædia Britannica describe it as different?

¹⁷ Daniel specially wanted to know what the other horn that came up and caused three of the horns to fall meant. Today that horn is known and identified by unerring historical records. It arose as the British Empire, notably from the seventeenth century onward. The angel explained concerning the ‘king’ pictured by this victorious horn: “He shall be different from the former ones.” On this difference The Encyclopædia Britannica (eleventh edition of 1910), Volume 4, pages 606a and 610a, says as of the year 1910:

BRITISH EMPIRE, the name now loosely given to the whole aggregate of territory, the inhabitants of which, under various forms of government, ultimately look to the British crown as the supreme head. The term “empire” is in this connexion obviously used rather for convenience than in any sense equivalent to that of the older or despotic empires of history.

The vast congeries of states, widely different in character, and acquired by many different methods, holds together under the supreme headship of the crown on a generally acknowledged triple principle of self-government, self-support and self-defence. The principle is more fully applied in some parts of the empire than in others; . . .

18. How does a British historian describe that horn as different?

¹⁸ Says British historian H. G. Wells:

We may note here briefly the varied nature of the constituents of the British Empire in 1914 which the steamship and railway had brought together. It was and is a quite unique political combination; nothing of the sort has ever existed before. First and central to the whole system was the “crowned republic” of the United British Kingdom, . . . It will be manifest, therefore, that no single office and no single brain had ever comprehended the British Empire as a whole. It was a mixture of growths and accumulations entirely different from anything that has ever been called an empire before. . . . Like the Athenian Empire, it was an overseas empire; its ways were sea ways, and its common link was the British navy. Like all empires, its cohesion was dependent physically upon a method of communication; . . .—Pages 365, 366, 368 of A Short History of the World, Chapter 64, “The British Empire in 1914.”

19. In what way did this symbolic horn “devour the whole earth,” and what did part of it become to add further to its power?

¹⁹ The British Empire did “devour the whole earth” in that it became global, so that the sun never set upon its possessions and territories. It embraced one fourth of the land surface of the earth and one fourth of the earth’s population. It was the greatest empire of world history. But more than that: In 1775 the thirteen British colonies in America revolted and established their independence after eight years of fighting. The kingless American republic, with a president as chief of government, fought, expanded and spread across the North American continent from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Coast. It purchased Alaska and gained possession of various islands of the sea. By force of compelling circumstances it became the ally of the Mother Country; and together Britain and America fought their painful way to victory through two world wars. From the second world conflict the American republic emerged as the dominant nation of the world, but still holding strong bonds and still co-operating in vital matters with Britain.

20. So, in its latest development, what did that horn symbolize, and what three horns did it cause to fall?

²⁰ The foretold “horn which had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and which seemed greater than its fellows,” is identified by history as being the Anglo-American dual world power, the seventh world power foretold in Bible prophecy. The three horns or “three kings” that this mighty “horn” put down before 1914 were the naval powers of (1) Spain, (2) The Netherlands, and (3) France.a

21. In what way does this symbolic horn have eyes, and how has its mouth spoken great things and even words against the Most High?

²¹ This Anglo-American seventh world power is very observing, astute, diplomatic and worldly-wise; it is the “horn which had eyes.” It has a “mouth that spoke great things,” dictating the policy for a great part of the world, acting also as the mouthpiece or prophet for the world. (Rev. 16:13; 19:20) Nations have pricked up their ears at what it has had to say, before shaping their course. Like the preceding world powers of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, it has used its mouth against Jehovah God and has had to do with Jehovah’s faithful witnesses, his “holy ones,” in the earth. “He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law.” (Dan. 7:25, RS) In spite of all this “he” claims to be Christian!

22. Of what is this symbolic horn a part, and how has it not worked for God’s kingdom or spoken according to God’s will?

²² The Anglo-American dual world power is undeniably a part of this unchristlike world. It is a part of “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory,” which Satan the Devil offered to Jesus Christ in the mountain of temptation but which Jesus refused, saying: “Go away, Satan! For it is written, ‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’” (Matt. 4:8-10) In its conscienceless striving for world domination this symbolic horn with eyes and mouth has not worked in the interests of the promised Kingdom of God. In expressing its aims for leadership in this world its talkative mouth has not been without sin or without diplomatic falsities. It has spoken against the will and purpose of the Most High and has refused to recognize that “thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.”—Ps. 83:18, Authorized Version of 1611.

(To be continued)

[Footnotes]

[Maps on page 473]

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BABYLONIAN EMPIRE (607-539 B.C.)

Boundaries ---

Cities and towns °

SCALE OF MILES

0

100

200

300

Byzantium

(Black Sea)

ARABIA

Elath

Dumah

Tahpanhes

BABYLONIAN EMPIRE

(Persian Gulf)

Ur

CHALDEA

Babylon

River Euphrates

Carchemish

Haran

River Tigris

Assur

Tadmor

Damascus

Sidon

Tyre

Jerusalem

Gaza

THE GREAT SEA

KITTIM

CAPHTOR

LYDIAN EMPIRE

Sardis

River Halys

PISIDIA

CILICIA

Tarsus

SCYTHIANS

(Caspian Sea)

MEDIAN EMPIRE

Urartu

Ararat

Lake Van

Lake Urmiah

Nineveh

Ecbatana, Achmetha

Susa, Shushan

ELAM

PERSIA

[Map]

PERSIAN EMPIRE (539-331 B.C.)

Boundaries ---

Cities and Towns °

SCALE OF MILES

0

100

300

500

(Caspian Sea)

SCYTHIANS

(Black Sea)

SCYTHIA

GREECE

Athens

THE GREAT SEA

CAPHTOR

KITTIM

Odessus

(Thrace)

Byzantium

River Granicus

Sardis

LYDIA

CILICIA

Tarsus

Issus

SYRIA

Tadmor

Damascus

Sidon

Tyre

Jerusalem

EGYPT

River Nile

Memphis

Thebes

Syene

LIBYA

Cyrene

ARABIA

Red Sea

MT. SINAI

Elath

Tema

ARMENIA

Phasis

River Euphrates

Babylon

River Tigris

Gaugamela

Arbela

Nineveh

MEDIA

Ecbatana, Achmetha

Susa, Shushan

Persian Gulf

PERSIA

Pasargadae

Persepolis

GEDROSIA

(Indus River)

(Jhelum R.)

(Chenab R.)

(Ravi R.)

(Sutlej R.)

INDIA

DRANGIANA

ARACHOSIA

PARTHIA

(BALKH) BACTRIA

ARIA

SOGDIANA

Samarkand

HYRCANIA

[Map on page 474]

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GRECIAN EMPIRE (331-30 B.C.)

Alexander’s Route ...

Cities and Towns °

SCALE OF MILES

0

100

300

500

(MEDITERRANEAN SEA)

MACEDONIA

Philippi

Pella

THESSALY

GREECE

Chalcis

Athens

Sparta

CRETE

CYPRUS

THRACE

Byzantium

(Black Sea)

Ilium

River Granicus

BITHYNIA

Sardis

Tarsus

CILICIA

Issus

Seleucia

Antioch

Tadmor (Palmyra)

Damascus

Byblus

Sidon

Tyre

Jerusalem

Gaza

EGYPT

River Nile

Alexandria

Memphis

LIBYA

Oasis of Ammon

Red Sea

ARABIA

Elath

PONTUS

ARMENIA

MESOPOTAMIA

River Euphrates

Babylon

BABYLONIA

River Tigris

(Persian Gulf)

MEDIA

Gaugamela

PERSIS

Susa

Persepolis

Pasargadae

Ecbatana

PARTHIA

Hecatompylus

(CASPIAN SEA)

ASIA

HYRCANIA

Alexandropolis

ARIA

DRANGIANA

ARACHOSIA

BALKH

BACTRIA

SOGDIANA

Alexandria

(Indus River)

(Jhelum R.)

(Chenab R.)

(Ravi R.)

(Sutlej R.)

(Karachi)

GEDROSIA

CARMANIA

[Map on page 475]

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ROMAN EMPIRE at its greatest extent (in the days of King Trajan)

Cities and Towns °

SCALE OF MILES

0

100

200

300

400

(Atlantic Ocean)

EIRE

BRITANNIA

York

Antonine Wall

Borcovicium

Hadrian’s Wall

(U.S.S.R.)

POLAND

GERMANY

Rhine River

FRANCE

Tours

PYRENEES MOUNTAINS

SPAIN

PORTUGAL

Tartessus R.

Cadiz

(Strait of Gibraltar)

(Mediterranean Sea)

BALEARIC IS.

CORSICA

SARDINIA

ITALY

Rome

SICILY

MELITA

MALTA

CRETE

CYPRUS

MACEDONIA

Corinth

Athens

Actium

Danube River

AUSTRIA

Vienna

HUNGARY

ROMANIA

(Black Sea)

Yalta

YUGOSLAVIA

BULGARIA

TURKEY

Constantinople, Istanbul

Nicaea

Ancyra

Ephesus

Magnesia

ARMENIA

CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS

(Caspian Sea)

PARTHIA

IRAN

PERSIA

Tigris River

Baghdad

BABYLONIA

Euphrates River

(Persian Gulf)

SAUDI ARABIA

IRAQ

SYRIA

Antioch

Emesa

Palmyra

Damascus

Jerusalem

Petra

Red Sea

EGYPT

Nile River

Alexandria

El Alamein

Syene (Aswan)

LIBIA

Cyrene

Tripoli

Carthage

Algiers

MOROCCO

Expressing Loyal Love to God and His Kingdom Heir

LOYAL love is one of the remarkable traits of Jehovah God. In fact, it might be said that he is the very personification of always-proved loyalty. Ever since he began to create he has been expressing his loyal love toward his righteous principles, toward his faithful creatures and toward the covenants he has made with them. And he has continued faithful in his loyal love regardless of how often and how severely circumstances have put his loyal love to the test.

Thus we note that King David was once overtaken in a set of shocking sins and that the majority of his successors on the throne of Jehovah proved unfaithful. Yet through it all Jehovah kept giving proof of his loyal love to that most important of all his covenants, his Kingdom covenant made with David, so that it could find fulfillment in David’s chief descendant, the King-Priest Jesus Christ. No wonder David was caused to exclaim: “Loyal love belongs to you, O Jehovah.”—Ps. 62:12, margin.a

Jehovah’s loyal love for that covenant has continued to our day. Even though the remnant of Kingdom heirs were overtaken by lack of knowledge, negligence and fear of man during the World War I years, Jehovah’s loyal love did not forsake them but sustained them, even as it was foretold: “It is the acts of loyal love of Jehovah that we have not come to our finish, because his mercies will certainly not come to an end. They are new each morning. Your faithfulness is abundant.”—Lam. 3:22, 23, margin.

Do we appreciate this remarkable, heart-cheering trait of our God Jehovah? If so, then we will be spurred on to make expression of our loyal love to God and his Kingdom Heir. In what ways? First of all by taking advantage of all opportunities to witness to God’s name and kingdom. More than that we will then make opportunities by buying out the opportune time, knowing that the days are wicked and our safety lies in always having plenty to do in the work of the Lord.

Let us bear in mind that this message we bring is no joke, neither is it anything stale even though it has been preached for forty years. It is ever new, ever fresh, growing ever grander, for the light on our path grows ever brighter. What increased understanding and appreciation we have gained in just the last twelve months! Likewise what improved instruments to make our preaching ever more effective!

Loyal love to God and his Kingdom Heir also requires us to be on guard against temptations to become materialistic, or to rebel against theocratic rule in the local congregation or to grow lax in conduct. It further requires of us that we stand firm in the faith so as to successfully resist the efforts of opposers to slow us down or to make us prove disloyal to our God and King.

Today Christendom, although having taken Christ’s name, is not expressing loyal love to God and his Kingdom Heir. Instead of remaining neutral, it has taken sides in the East-West struggle for world domination, sharing in this world’s materialism and militarism. It will therefore perish with this old world at Armageddon.

The test is on. To go counter to the whole world is not easy. To do so with success we must lean heavily on Jehovah’s loyal love. For our assurance he has caused to be recorded twenty-six times in Psalm 136 alone that “his loyal love is to time indefinite.” (Margin) But we must do our part, for as we read elsewhere: “All the paths of Jehovah are loyal love and truthfulness for those observing his covenant and his reminders.”—Ps. 25:10, margin.

[Footnotes]

Questions From Readers

● When Jesus said, as recorded at Matthew 5:5, “Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth,” of whom was he speaking?—H. S., U.S.A.

Jesus here applied the expression “mild-tempered” or “meek” to his disciples of that time who were in line for the heavenly kingdom. He was the chief meek one among them and their example. Hebrews 1:1, 2 and Heb 2:5, 6 show that Jesus inherits the earth or takes over the possession of it. His disciples were made his joint heirs in the Kingdom and enter into this inheritance or possession of the earth with him. Hence Matthew 5:5 does not strictly apply to the “other sheep.” However, it has been quoted in connection with them and properly so because they must be meek or mild-tempered ones in imitation of Jesus Christ, and it is only because of being such that they will be allowed to live on the earth in the new world. They do not take over possession of the earth any more than Adam did in the garden of Eden, but Matthew 5:5 can nevertheless be given a general application in that they hold the earth in trust for the chief Heir, the Lord Jesus Christ. To this extent they enter into an inheritance. They enjoy the realm of the King. As Jesus said in the parable of the sheep and goats: “Come, you who have my Father’s blessing, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the world’s foundation.” (Matt. 25:34) So it is not wrong to use this scripture in a general sense in speaking of the blessings that await the “other sheep” in the new world.

● Is it right for Christians to invite others to their home or to accept an invitation to the home of another person for a meal on a worldly holiday?—G. B., U.S.A.

There is nothing Scripturally wrong with Christians’ enjoying a meal in their own home or as guests in the homes of friends or relatives on any day of the year. It may be that on such a worldly holiday is the only time when several are free from their jobs at once so they can take time to enjoy a meal with their friends. Of course, to meet together specifically for the purpose of celebrating the worldly holiday and eating a meal in recognition of it would not be Scriptural or Christian. While it is true that some make a religion on certain days out of actions that would be ordinary on other days, it is not necessary for us, on the other hand, to make a religion out of avoiding on certain days of the year what we would ordinarily do on other days.

In this connection it is good to keep in mind the counsel found in the Scriptures: “Food will not commend us to God; if we do not eat, we do not fall short, and, if we eat, we have no credit to ourselves. But keep watching that this authority of yours does not somehow become a stumblingblock to those who are weak.” “Therefore, whether you are eating or drinking or doing anything else, do all things for God’s glory.”—1 Cor. 8:8, 9; 10:31.

● Why is it that the New World Translation, at Luke 11:2, omits from the model prayer that Jesus taught his disciples the part that says: “Let your will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth”?—R. M., U.S.A.

At Luke 11:2 some translations include the words: “Let your will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth,” because certain of the old Greek manuscripts contain those words. However, the oldest of the most authentic Greek manuscripts, namely, Vatican Manuscript 1209, omits the words. Hence the Greek text by Westcott and Hort, which is the text upon which mainly the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures rests, and the Greek text by the German scholar D. Eberhard Nestle omit the words. For this reason the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures does not contain the words even though they are found in Jesus’ formula of the prayer as given in Matthew 6:9-13. Why Luke omitted the words in Lu chapter 11 verses 2-4 of his account, according to the Vatican Manuscript, we do not know, but the first verse of the chapter Lu 11:1 shows that this rendering of the model prayer was given on a different occasion from that of Matthew chapter six, when Jesus delivered his sermon on the mountain. So on the occasion recorded by Luke when Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them to pray, he gave a shortened form of the prayer. The foremost things were to pray for God’s name to be sanctified and also for his kingdom to come. When this would be fulfilled, then, of course, the other part would follow, that God’s will should be done on earth as it is up in heaven, and there would be no need to specifically utter a petition to this latter effect. It was implicit in the sanctifying of God’s name and of the coming of his kingdom.

● In connection with the ark constructed by Noah, Genesis 6:16 makes reference to an “opening for illumination” and Genesis 8:6 refers to “the window.” Are they the same? Also, what was the “covering of the ark” spoken of in Genesis 8:13?—E. F., U.S.A.

The “window” of the ark and the “opening for illumination” are one and the same thing. This opening for illumination also provided for the ventilation of the ark, so it must have extended all around the ark at the top under the eaves, which protected the ark from having the heavy downpour of water get inside. The “covering of the ark” mentioned in Genesis 8:13 was doubtless something on top of the ark. Whether it was the whole roof or part of the roof we do not know. But when this covering was removed from the top it would afford ample way of escape for the birds to fly out of the ark, soaring into the air above the ark. The other animals would have to make their exit through the door, which was the only other opening in the ark besides the window or opening for illumination.

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

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“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

September 13: Be Filled with Spiritual Discernment, ¶1-20. Page 457.

September 20: Be Filled with Spiritual Discernment, ¶21-23, and Spiritual Discernment—an Evidence of Christian Maturity. Page 462.