The Watchtower — January 1, 1959

Are You Spiritually Alive?

A PERSON who is dead is not capable of activity; yet Jesus said on an occasion: “Let the dead bury their dead.” (Luke 9:60) Why did he make this statement? He knew well enough that dead bodies cannot bury other dead bodies. He knew that dead persons cannot even think, let alone do work. So how can the dead bury the dead?

The explanation is in the fact that a person can be physically alive but spiritually dead. This was pointed out by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians: “Furthermore, it is you God made alive though you were dead in your trespasses and sins.” And to the Romans he said they should present themselves “to God as those alive from the dead.” (Eph. 2:1; Rom. 6:13) A transformation came over those people when they became Christians. Formerly they disregarded the laws of God and were indifferent to his service. They were spiritually dead. From that dead state of inactivity they were made spiritually alive. Evidence of their aliveness was the good fruit they brought forth to the glory of God in the form of a growing number of Christians.

There are many persons in Christendom who firmly believe they are spiritually alive because they regularly read the Bible and attend church. But where is the activity that should be evidence of their aliveness? In what way are they using the knowledge they gain from Bible reading? Can sitting in a church once a week be considered as Christian activity? Can it bring forth the same good fruit that was produced by the first-century Christians?

The well-known clergyman Dr. Robert J. McCracken of the Riverside Church in New York city bemoaned the lack of Christian activity among many of Christendom’s churchgoers. He said: “In too many minds religion is identified exclusively with religious exercises, prayer, Bible reading, church attendance. Overlooked is the fact that religion is, first and foremost, the glorifying of God amid the everyday activities of life. The world is the place where religion needs to be seen in action.”

But what must the action be? Is it participation in political and civic activities? Is it activity in church socials? Is it the building of hospitals or engaging in temperance and reform movements? Is it operating a gambling booth at a church bazaar? Are these the activities that make a person spiritually alive in the eyes of God and that bring forth good fruit to his glory? There can be but one answer and that is an emphatic No!

The early Christians were productive of Christian fruits because they preached the things they had learned. Preaching the truths of the Scriptures is essential for spiritual aliveness. It is a Scriptural requirement: “For with the heart one exercises faith for righteousness, but with the mouth one makes public declaration for salvation.” “All your works will laud you, O Jehovah, and your men of loving-kindness will bless you. About the glory of your kingship they will talk, and about your mightiness they will speak, to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glory of the splendor of his kingship.”—Rom. 10:10; Ps. 145:10-12.

Public declaration of the good news of God’s kingdom, of His purposes and of the many enlightening truths of his Word is the activity a Christian must engage in. Christ set the example by engaging in that activity himself. He expected his followers to do the same. In fact, they were commanded to “follow his steps closely.” (1 Pet. 2:21) To the twelve apostles Jesus said: “As you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.’” And to Peter and Andrew he said: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”—Matt. 10:7; 4:19.

When Jesus demonstrated how to become “fishers of men” he did not do what a clergyman in Muskegon, Michigan, did. After giving a sermon based upon this statement by Jesus the clergyman led about thirty-five parishioners outside, where they spent the morning fishing through the ice. Jesus, on the other hand, led his disciples into the field ministry. There he demonstrated how they could publicly preach the good things they had learned. He was helping them to be spiritually alive through Christian activity. Can as much be said for that clergyman in Michigan?

The question, “Are you spiritually alive?” is a very serious one. It should be given careful thought by all who claim to be Christian. Merely stating that you believe in God and Christ and merely being a church attender does not mean you are spiritually alive. Neither does it mean you are a Christian. There must be action that gives proof of your faith. The Bible writer James said: “But do you care to know, O empty man, that faith apart from works is inactive? Indeed, as the body without breath is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”—Jas. 2:20, 26.

It is activity in the Christian ministry that gives proof of your faith and of your spiritual aliveness. When Jesus said: “Let the dead bury their dead,” he went on to point out how spiritual aliveness is connected with the ministry by saying: “but you go away and declare abroad the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:60) Is this what you are doing? If not, how can you claim to be spiritually alive? How can you say you are following in Christ’s steps?

Whether your existence is divinely terminated or divinely extended for eternity depends upon your obedience to God, your faith and your spiritual activity that gives proof of your faith. Only by being spiritually alive can you hope to be physically alive eternally.

“Stay by These Things”

“Pay constant attention to yourself and to your teaching. Stay by these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.”—1 Tim. 4:16.

1. What is the only worth-while work, and how did Jesus and the apostles demonstrate this?

DOING the divine will and sticking to this course is the only worth-while work. In the time of Jesus Christ it was recognizable that this teacher was doing a worth-while work. He was awake to his privileges of service. He was preaching the good news of Jehovah’s kingdom. He knew that that was the divine will. He stuck to his work from the time of his baptism in the river Jordan by John until his death. He preached incessantly. He taught diligently. He healed the sick both in mind and in body. He found many faithful Jews who would be his disciples. He kept his twelve apostles close to him and trained them daily, and he showed them how to stick to their divinely given work of preaching the Kingdom good news. These faithful Jews were looking for the Messiah, and now they had found him in Christ Jesus and they stayed with him.

2, 3. (a) How did Jesus answer the rich young man who asked him what good he must do in order to get everlasting life? (b) Wherein lay the real secret in gaining everlasting life, and why did Jesus counsel him to ‘sell his belongings’?

² There were many other persons that recognized Jesus’ devotion to Jehovah. One in particular was a rich man who said: “Teacher, what good must I do in order to get everlasting life?” (Matt. 19:16) How many millions of people have asked that same question since then? Living is such a natural desire. One does not want to die. Jesus had often demonstrated that he had the power to give people a more abundant life. He healed the sick, he opened the blind eyes, he even raised the dead from the tombs. He spoke of everlasting life as being within their reach and said that it could easily be had if people would only follow him and live according to his teachings. This particular rich man had observed the Ten Commandments from his youth up, but just how could he get the eternal life he desired? Jesus told him: “If, though, you want to enter into life, observe the commandments continually.” (Matt. 19:17) To the query, “Which ones?” Jesus continued: “‘Why, You must not murder, You must not commit adultery, You must not steal, You must not bear false witness, Honor your father and your mother, and, You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ The young man said to him: ‘I have kept all these; what yet am I lacking?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If you want to be complete, go sell your belongings and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, and come be my follower.’ When the young man heard this saying, he went away grieved, for he was holding many possessions.”—Matt. 19:18-22.

³ This grieved rich man was told: “Sell your belongings and give to the poor.” What a price to pay for life! But is one’s life not worth it? However, there was more to it than just that. Did he hear what the Great Teacher of the divine will said in addition: “Be my follower”? That was the real secret in getting everlasting life. First of all, do not be burdened down with the cares of this world, so that you can walk unburdened in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, preaching the good news of the kingdom of the heavens. Certainly if one were occupied with preaching the good news he would not have time for the care of so many possessions as this rich man had. Neither then, nor now, could a true follower of Christ Jesus be burdened down with so many cares of this old world. If it was necessary for the rich man to dispose of his possessions and follow Christ nineteen hundred years ago to be a Christian, how much more is it true now that an individual who wants to follow Christ Jesus and do Kingdom work must free himself of the anxieties of this present way of living? Christ is no longer with us on earth to give us personal counsel, but Jehovah God has seen to it that his words and those of his faithful followers were written down for the admonition and the learning of us upon whom the end of this system of things would come.

4. What does Christ expect of his followers when he makes his thieflike return, and what does that mean for them?

⁴ The Scriptures show us that Christ has come the second time, invisibly, and when Jesus gave the Revelation to John he pointed out that he, Christ Jesus, was to come also as a thief just before the battle of God Almighty, known as Armageddon. Jesus expects that at that time those who have declared themselves to be Christians will be on duty and be awake and on guard, watching their Kingdom duties. He has the right to expect them to be walking in his footsteps, doing the same thing he advised the rich man to do, “be my follower.” Being a Christian is a full-time occupation, no vacation periods, no change of religion, no stopping for a while. When one really walks in the footsteps of Christ Jesus he will not give all his time to the commercial business of life. The Christian wants to please the one who called him to be his disciple and that means giving Christ and his work first attention.

5. (a) In what way does the apostle Paul illustrate the position of those who are active in Christ’s service? (b) What experiences had Paul had that helped him appreciate what it meant to be a soldier, and how should we view the matter today?

⁵ Paul put the matter very plainly and forcefully, saying that Christians are employed in Christ’s service as soldiers. All Christians must be single-minded. They must look to and obey the one who called them to be soldiers. Being in Christ’s employ and following him, there is only one thing they can do: “As a right kind of soldier of Christ Jesus take your part in suffering evil. No man serving as a soldier involves himself in the commercial businesses of life, in order that he may meet the approval of the one who enrolled him as a soldier.” (2 Tim. 2:3, 4) A soldier of Christ Jesus does not and can not divide his interests. He does not try to run a selfish commercial business and at the same time be a soldier. When one is hired as a soldier, that is his work, and when one is assigned to guard the interests of the king he does not go to sleep. The Christian stays in his assignment. He is awake to his responsibilities. Paul, the former Saul of Tarsus, knew what it meant to be a soldier. When Saul was sent out to persecute the Christians he had an assignment and did it. He followed out orders. When he was converted to be a follower of Christ Jesus and was named Paul he also determined to be a right kind of soldier in the Christian army, putting on the full suit of armor provided by God, suffering any trials or difficulties that would arise because of being a soldier. If to be a Christian in the days of Paul it was necessary to be a faithful and alert soldier, certainly today nothing less is required. Jesus stated it so clearly to the rich man, “Sell your belongings . . . be my follower”; and Paul made it just as plain when he said: “No man serving as a soldier involves himself in the commercial businesses of life.” So how should one who calls himself a Christian today look at the matter? Not differently. He should stay by the things he has learned, be an honest follower, not a hypocrite.

NO CHANGE IN REQUIREMENTS TODAY

6. In spite of the changes in the ways of living and the religious practices of the world, what can be said of the divine requirements for our day, but what is sadly lacking in Christendom?

⁶ Today a Christian must be just as faithful and devoted to his call to service as Christ was to his, the apostles were to theirs and the early Christians to theirs. There is no difference in the requirements for Christians today. They must still stay awake and be alert on duty and carry out their responsibilities. True, this generation is far removed from the days of Christ, nineteen hundred years in fact. The ways of living have changed. The ideas and philosophies of men and the customs of the people have proved to be quite different. Christendom has moved along with the times and does not want to be old-fashioned. Too many clergymen of today have become modernists and have rejected the Bible, saying that the story of Noah and the creation of Adam and Eve are just myths, and that Christ’s dying on the torture stake was not necessary for salvation. The simple faith of Christ Jesus and of the disciples of Christ is a thing wanting throughout all Christendom. But the Bible has not changed since the days of the apostles. The divine will has not changed for the Christian. Jehovah is not one to change. His truth remains forever! So today to be a Christian, one must “be my follower.” Paul was one, but the rich man went away grieved at how to be one. Paul spoke of a falling away that would take place. He said that “the inspired utterance says definitely that in later periods of time some will fall away from the faith.” (1 Tim. 4:1) Today that great falling away from walking in the footsteps of Christ Jesus is at its height. It was so important for Paul to say to the Christians of his time: “Pay constant attention to yourself and to your teaching. Stay by these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.” This is even more applicable today. No individual professing to be a Christian can brush aside the teachings of Christ. The Holy Bible is God’s Word. Jesus believed it and lived it. Every professed follower of his must pay constant attention to himself and to Christ’s teachings so that he may stay awake to his privileges of service.

7. (a) What vital message is this the time to preach, and how has Christendom failed in this respect? (b) How do true followers of Christ Jesus feel about God’s kingdom, its establishment and their obligation in relation to it?

⁷ Nineteen hundred years after Jesus introduced the wonderful message of the kingdom of the heavens it must still be preached. It is still the only hope for mankind. Jesus taught his followers to pray: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matt. 6:10) While Christendom repeats these words in chant and song and sometimes in read prayers, her religionists do not believe it. If they did they would preach it. True followers of Christ Jesus—and Jehovah’s witnesses prove to be such—are still preaching the good news of God’s kingdom as the only hope for mankind and they believe it with all their heart, mind, soul and strength, and they are on the watch as to the time when God’s established kingdom with all its powerful heavenly force will strike at Armageddon. As Christians Jehovah’s witnesses feel their responsibility to look after their Kingdom preaching, not just to the end of the times of the Gentiles, but to the end of all the nations of the Devil’s organization. Whether the world of mankind will take time to find out the importance of the day in which they are living or not, makes no difference. Christ Jesus has come into his kingdom. By him Jehovah reigns. God’s kingdom rules! And the reason the religionists of Christendom have not been declaring his good news is that they are asleep. The warning of the world’s end as being near has been given around the world, and especially in Christendom. We are living in the last days of this system of things and Jehovah’s witnesses, being true to their assignment, have let the world know in all principal languages that God’s kingdom rules and the world’s end is near. Christendom is not left ignorant of the times in which we are living.

8. (a) What interest demonstrated by the apostles of Christ Jesus has Christendom failed to show? (b) In what manner will this old world come to its end, but what work did Jesus say would be done first?

⁸ The apostles of Christ Jesus were very much concerned about the times and the condition of world affairs when Christ would make his second appearance. But Christendom and its religious leaders do not show interest in this matter. “While [Jesus] was sitting upon the mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately, saying: ‘Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the consummation of the system of things?’” (Matt. 24:3) Jesus described clearly the conditions that would exist in the world when the whole system of things would be ending together in a “consummation.” It would not be going down in little bits of pieces, or sections, but this combined ending would “come in upon all those dwelling upon the face of all the earth.” In the very days of the ‘ending together of the system of things,’ Jesus said, “this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.”—Matt. 24:14.

9. What things that Jesus said would mark the “beginning of pangs of distress” have we seen fulfilled in our day, and, despite the world’s hatred, what course of action have Jehovah’s witnesses taken?

⁹ Jesus gave a composite sign, showing many things that would occur, nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom, food shortage, earthquakes in one place after another, all of these things together being the “beginning of pangs of distress.” As far as real Christians are concerned, he stated: “Then people will deliver you up to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be hated by all the nations on account of my name.” (Matt. 24:9) How true this has been! But despite the hatred, Jehovah’s witnesses have been alert, awake, on guard and have seen to it that God’s kingdom was preached and that the warning was given to Christendom and to all the world of mankind concerning these last days. They have not slowed down in this announcement either, nor will they do so until the accomplished end comes.

10. When is it that Revelation 16:15 has its fulfillment, and why do you so answer?

¹⁰ Jehovah’s witnesses do not want to find themselves asleep just before the complete end when, all together, this system of things will go down. They appreciate what Christ Jesus said, at Revelation 16:15: “I am coming as a thief. Happy is the one that stays awake and keeps his outer garments, that he may not walk naked and people look upon his parts of shame.” Being awake, taking care of one’s responsibilities and preaching the good news right up to the complete end at the battle of Armageddon is an essential thing for a Christian. The December 15, 1958, issue of The Watchtower gives the reader a clear and detailed explanation of this text and shows without question that it is just prior to the battle of Armageddon when this scripture has its fulfillment. As the context shows, the three unclean inspired expressions that looked like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the wild beast and the mouth of the false prophet are in fact “expressions inspired by demons” and have a lot to say. With all of this talk they “go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, . . . And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon.” It is when this great gathering work reaches its peak for this final battle that Christ Jesus comes “as a thief,” showing great interest in those who are on guard duty in his temple organization. It is at the same time when this system of things in all its wickedness has been gathered together for the purpose of being brought to a complete end at the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” that this scripture finds application. While this gathering of the nations is going on, Jehovah’s gathered people, the remnant and the other sheep, hear Christ Jesus say, “Look!” Yes, he gains their attention and they hear him say: “I am coming as a thief. Happy is the one that stays awake and keeps his outer garments, that he may not walk naked and people look upon his parts of shame.”—Rev. 16:15.

CHRISTENDOM ASLEEP

11. What happens to those who are indifferent toward their service within Jehovah’s spiritual temple?

¹¹ It is a terrible thing for a person to be indifferent toward his privilege of service, his assignment as a guard within the spiritual temple of Jehovah, and to be found asleep. He deserves to be beaten, stripped of his garments and have people look upon his shame.

12, 13. What recently published statements show how sleepily indifferent Christendom is to the presence of Christ Jesus, in contrast to the fiery zeal and wakefulness of those who are true Christian witnesses?

¹² The newspaper The Advocate, which is the official publication of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark and of the Diocese of Paterson in New Jersey, had something to say under the heading “Arise, Ye Who Sleep,” and in this article we can see just how sleepy Christendom is and how religionists are not alert to the signs of the times, nor to the presence of Christ Jesus, nor to the preaching of the good news. But this paper also recognizes that there is a group that is wide awake and filled with fiery zeal and that there is no complacency or indifference among them. The Advocate says:

When we went to school and studied our catechism, we learned that there are three divisions to the Catholic Church: (1) The Church Triumphant; (2) The Church Suffering; and (3) The Church Militant. With a great deal of justification we might add a fourth division and call it the Church Dormant or the Church Complacent. The people who make up this group are men and women who should in fact be members of the Church Militant, but who seemingly have forgotten the meaning of the word. They are apparently asleep at the switch and nothing seems to bother them. . . . The fantastic story of the Jehovah’s Witnesses attracted world-wide attention during their recent convention in New York. Here was a group of religious-minded people who numbered about 800,000 throughout the entire world. Their doctrine is weird and strange. But they managed to get 250,000 members to their convention. Most people cannot understand what it is that attracts these people, but the fact remains that there is something which brings out this phenomenal attendance.

What they do have is a fiery zeal; there is no complacency or indifference among them, and sacrifice does not deter them. Every one of these people pledges himself to work 12 hours a week at the conversion of his fellow men.

If we had such zeal and perseverance among the rank and file of our Catholic people, we could transform the face of the earth. A famous Catholic preacher once said: “Judged by human, business standards, the Catholic Church is a colossal failure. After 20 centuries two-thirds of the human race is still pagan.”—The Advocate, September 19, 1958.

¹³ The Catholic organization admits they are found asleep. Their unchristian nakedness is exposed. They are not zealous for God’s kingdom, nor are they putting forth any effort at all to preach it. And how about the Protestants? The Litchville Bulletin of North Dakota had this listing in the Want Ads column of its newspaper: “LOST—Over 100 members of the Lutheran Parish. Not seen since Easter. Please return to the North LaMoure, Litchville, or Hastings Lutheran Churches on Sunday morning. No questions will be asked. Pastor Bob Harrison.”

14. How has Christendom’s nakedness been exposed, and why?

¹⁴ What would Christ Jesus do if he came to visit these Catholic and Protestant organizations, representatives of Christendom? He would take off their outer garments and he would expose them and let the people walk naked so that others could see their parts of shame. But this has already been done before the eyes of true Christians. Christendom’s nakedness has been exposed to them. She has neglected the work and failed the people. She has denied the Bible. She does not teach its principal message, that the kingdom of the heavens is at hand, nor does she magnify the great name of the God of the universe, Jehovah. But so much for Christendom. What about the true Christians themselves?

15. What strong admonition, recorded at Luke 21:34-36, does Christ give his followers?

¹⁵ This is no time for Christians to be lax and indifferent. We definitely are living in the last days of this system of things, and in the twenty-first chapter of Luke, where Jesus is describing in detail the composite sign, he gives this very strong admonition to his followers. If the reader claims to be his follower, then listen to his words: “Pay attention to yourselves that your hearts never become weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and anxieties of life, and suddenly that day be instantly upon you as a snare. For it will come in upon all those dwelling upon the face of all the earth. Keep awake, then, all the time making supplication that you may succeed in escaping all these things that are destined to occur, and to hold your position before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:34-36) Here again, we have the expression “pay attention to yourselves.” Why? What could happen? One could easily be weighed down with the cares of this world, the eating and the drinking and the anxieties of life. Or, as the footnote of the New World Translation says: “anxieties over livelihood.”

16. What further advice did Jesus give to aid his followers to avoid becoming weighed down with the anxieties of life, and what is the truly important matter for our attention?

¹⁶ In the time of Jesus he admonished his faithful followers not to be so much concerned about the things of one’s livelihood, “as to what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your bodies as to what you will wear.” (Matt. 6:25) They should be “seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness.” (Matt. 6:33) Is not that what he was telling the rich young man? Get rid of all these things that have made you rich. Give them to the poor, these things whereby you were making your livelihood, and follow me. The important thing is ‘seeking first the kingdom and God’s righteousness.’ In the prayer that Jesus taught his apostles to pray he said: “Give us today our bread for this day.” He did not ask for any more. With food, clothing and shelter we should be content, along with our godly devotion. So never be weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and anxieties of life. And why not? If these become the important things in one’s life, the principal reason for living, as they were in the life of the rich man, then we are not going to have time for walking in the footsteps of Christ Jesus, following him. We cannot be a soldier of Christ Jesus if it is the eating and drinking and the anxieties of life that we are interested in and if we are going to be weighed down with commercial businesses of life in order to get these things in abundance. The two do not go together.

STAYING AWAKE DURING THE CONSUMMATION

17. What is required of each one if he is to succeed in escaping destruction with this present evil world?

¹⁷ Describing living in these last days, in the twenty-first chapter of Luke, Jesus says the complete end will happen so suddenly that that day will be instantly upon us as a snare. Then what is going to happen? Jesus said that it will come in upon all those dwelling upon the face of the earth. He is not making any exceptions. So his very strong advice to the apostles and, of course, to Christians today was: “Keep awake, then, all the time making supplication that you may succeed in escaping all these things that are destined to occur, and to hold your position before the Son of man.” Truly there is a way of escape from going down executed in the battle of the great day of God the Almighty. The way of escape is in staying awake, living as a Christian, making supplication before God. Then you may succeed in escaping all these troubles and distresses that will come upon the Devil’s system of things at one time, completely wiping it out, the political system, the religious system, the commercial system, and abyssing the demons who control this world and even the Devil himself. Being on guard as a Christian at God’s spiritual temple and staying awake there will mean, too, that you will hold your approved position before the Son of man. He will preserve you alive through the battle of Armageddon, which destroys this present evil world, into God’s new world of righteousness.

18. Why was the world destroyed in Noah’s day, and what fine example did Noah and his household set for those living in this time of the end?

¹⁸ This will not be the first time that a world is destroyed. It happened before in the days of Noah, “when the patience of God was waiting in Noah’s days, while the ark was being constructed, in which a few people, that is, eight souls, were carried safely through the water.” (1 Pet. 3:20) Jehovah had good cause for destroying the people that lived in Noah’s day. They paid no attention to God, nor to the message that God had Noah preach to them concerning the end of that world. But they were given to eating and drinking and having a good time, feasting, thinking of just themselves and their own anxieties of life. They were truly weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking. Jesus tells us that it would be very similar in our day just before the battle of Armageddon to what it was in Noah’s day: “For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. For as people were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.” (Matt. 24:37-39) This flood came upon all those dwelling upon the face of the earth during Noah’s day: Identical to what is going to happen at the battle of Armageddon. Christians cannot be asleep. Jesus said, ‘Happy is the one that stays awake and keeps his outer garments.’ Noah was not asleep as to his building of the ark. He kept busy at construction. In addition he kept preaching. With him were his three sons and their wives and Noah’s own wife; all of them kept busy with Noah, and when the flood came they were ready, they were awake, they were in the ark with all the animals and they were preserved alive out of the world that was, into a cleansed earth. Noah and his family stayed on the watch, worked and were ready when the rains came. It pays to stay awake! You do not lose your outer garments of God’s ministry.

19. The Christians in the first century had received what warning about Jerusalem, and so what course did they pursue that demonstrated their wakefulness?

¹⁹ If Noah had not stayed by the things that were committed into his care, he would not have saved himself, and others also, his loved ones. The only sensible thing to do now is stay awake and take care of the responsibilities that fall upon one, just as the early Christians did when destruction was about to befall Jerusalem. Many years before the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 (A.D.), the Christians had received warning through the prophecy that Jesus gave them. “Furthermore, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then understand that the desolating of her has drawn near. Then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains, and let those in the midst of her withdraw, and let those in the nearby regions not enter into her, because these are days for meting out justice that all the things written may be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:20-22) Shortly after the days of Pentecost many persons gained a knowledge of the truth, dedicated themselves to Jehovah’s service and were baptized. In fact, in one day 3,000 persons were baptized. There must have been many assembly places within Jerusalem where God’s people met and studied the Word of God together and prepared themselves for their preaching activity. But all this time while they were studying the Bible they were on the watch, they were awake to the critical situations that were prophesied by Christ Jesus, when Jerusalem would be in for destruction. So in the year 66, when the armies of Rome surrounded the city, it certainly must have brought to their attention that destruction was imminent. When these armies moved away for a short season, all the Christians in Jerusalem fled to the mountains, out of the city gates, over the hills of Galilee, down into the Jordan valley and across the river to Gilead, to the mountains where there was safety. When one is warned, why stay at the place where destruction is going to happen? Why be asleep at this crucial time, when one should be awake and on duty? Those early Christians were awake to their responsibilities. They wanted to preserve their lives so they could continue to preach the good news of the Kingdom after the destruction of Jerusalem. They did.

20. What that demonstrates their spiritual wakefulness is true of Jehovah’s witnesses today?

²⁰ While Christendom is exposed to true Christians today because of not having on its outer garments, and this is due to falling asleep to Christian privileges of service, Jehovah’s witnesses world-wide continue to preach God’s kingdom and pay attention to the divine will. They see to it that those coming within Jehovah’s sanctuary for worship are clean, just as the guard protected the temple of Jehovah when on night watch to see that nothing unclean got in to pollute the temple or to steal from it. In these last days the Kingdom interests have been committed into the care of the “faithful and discreet slave” class, and now joining with them is a “great crowd” of “other sheep” coming from all nations, kindreds and tongues, and these, too, have been given the privilege of guarding these Kingdom interests by preaching even to the ends of the earth. This great crowd now numbering well over 770,000 ministers of the Kingdom are not being weighed down by overeating and heavy drinking and the anxieties of this life. They are alerted to the fact that Christ Jesus will come at Armageddon as a thief, suddenly, instantly, and that when this destruction comes to the earth it will affect all those dwelling upon the face of the earth. So they keep awake, and hold their position before the Son of man, guarding the Kingdom interests, keeping on their ministerial garments, showing that they appreciate their responsibilities. By having on these garments they prove that they have been favored by Jehovah God and have been retained in Jehovah’s holy service in his sanctuary.

Who Really Can Be Saved?

1. Whom do the Scriptures identify to be the “light of the world,” and how does this light affect the judgment of mankind?

THE person that does right and seeks truth will come into the light. John the Baptist introduced the Jews to the one who became the “light of the world.” John the Baptist “came for the purpose of a witness, in order to bear witness about the light, that people of all kinds might believe through him.” (John 1:7) John knew that the light of the world was Christ Jesus. (John 8:12) Jesus, having instructed his disciples concerning truth, said to them: “You are the light of the world.” (Matt. 5:14) So true Christians today are the only light there is. People of all walks of life should examine themselves and ask themselves the questions, “Am I afraid of the light? Am I afraid of truth?” Jesus puts it squarely to everyone: “Now this is the basis for judgment, that the light has come into the world but men have loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were wicked. For he that practices vile things hates the light and does not come to the light, in order that his works may not be reproved. But he that does what is true comes to the light, in order that his works may be made manifest as having been worked in harmony with God.”—John 3:19-21.

2. How is it possible for men to be saved?

² The rich man who came to Jesus seeking life was not seeking truth. He turned away from the opportunity of following Jesus and went to look after his riches. One must really love truth and light in order to work in harmony with God. This is what the disciples of Christ were seeking to do, and Jesus said to his disciples: “Truly I say to you that it will be a difficult thing for a rich man to get into the kingdom of the heavens.” “When the disciples heard that, they expressed very great surprise, saying: ‘Who really can be saved?’ Looking them in the face, Jesus said to them: ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” (Matt. 19:23, 25, 26) One who does the divine will of the heavenly Father will find that it is possible for men to be saved. God makes it possible. He made it possible by sending his only-begotten Son into the world that whosoever believed on him and exercised faith in him might get everlasting life. (John 3:16) If one believes in the Son then he is going to follow his teaching. He is going to walk in his footsteps. He is going to be a minister. It means service, hard work, and keeping at it. Keeping at it means being on the watch continually.

3. What did Jesus’ disciples do after his ascension to heaven?

³ After Jesus left his disciples and ascended to the heavens, the eleven faithful apostles along with other disciples stuck together and stayed on the watch. When Pentecost arrived the holy spirit descended upon them and energized them to further activity. From then on nothing could stop them. They preached. The same holy spirit that energized the disciples then is working on true Christians today. The same active force or holy spirit from God is now stimulating his people to go ahead with the work of preaching the good news. Immediately after Pentecost for three and one half years the disciples traveled throughout Palestine preaching and gathering the remnant of the Jews who were seeking the Messiah. After that the divine will indicated that the message of salvation should go to all nations, kindreds and tongues; and so the disciples went to Asia Minor, Greece, Babylon, Italy and other parts of the world.

4. (a) What things do not deter real Christians from carrying out the responsibility to be teachers? (b) Who are now coming to the mountain of Jehovah, and what motivates them?

⁴ The command given to Christians was: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19, 20) Today nothing stops a real Christian from carrying out that responsibility, not even death itself. Even in these last days, when Christians see the gathering together of the great armies of the earth to the battle of Armageddon, they are not fearful, but they stay on the watch, looking after the things that Jehovah God has put in their care. Their big interest is the Kingdom interest, preaching the good news in all the world for a witness to all nations and gathering the other sheep. The “faithful and discreet slave” class is standing upon the mountain of God crying out to all who have an ear to hear to come and to take of the “water of life” freely. Today hundreds of thousands of persons are coming to the “mountain of Jehovah,” there to learn of his laws and his ways. They do appreciate his undeserved kindness, the gift of his beloved Son, for through him salvation is gained. They love the truth, and because of this they come to the light, Christ Jesus, and, having come, they want to do the works in harmony with God.—Isa. 2:2-4; Rev. 22:17.

5. In the face of persecution, what did Jesus’ disciples continue to do, and to what right course should that encourage true Christians in this time?

⁵ It is not going to be easy for a true Christian to stand out publicly declaring the good news, no more than it was for the early disciples, who stood in the synagogues and in the public forums declaring the good news about the Christ, Jesus. For this, the Bible tells us, the disciples were flogged and frequently they were warned to quit preaching. Did the early Christians quit? No; for concerning the apostles it is reported: “Every day in the temple and from house to house they continued without letup teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ, Jesus.” (Acts 5:42) Those apostles, though imperfect, stayed at their divinely assigned work. They did not pity themselves or make excuses for quitting because the going was hard. They were convinced that what they were doing was the right thing to do. Jesus did it. They had heard their teacher tell them what to do and what to say. They had the holy spirit backing them up now. This was no time for hesitancy, no time for fear. It was a time to keep awake and on the watch. It was then time to preach the good news of God’s kingdom, and it still is the time to preach, yes, now more than ever, because right now we are at the time when Christ Jesus comes as inspector of the guards. Happy is the one who stays awake and keeps his outer garments, so that he may not walk naked and have people look upon his parts of shame. Regardless of what Christendom does—and the evidence shows that Christendom has been asleep as far as looking after Kingdom interests is concerned, and has been stripped naked to Christian eyes—Jehovah’s witnesses must and will stay awake in these last days of the end of this system of things and preach. This is the time to do the divine will of gathering the “other sheep” from all nations, kindreds, tongues, religions and from all walks of life, rich or poor.—John 10:16.

STAYING BY THESE THINGS FOR SALVATION

6. Why is it so important to stay by these things, and how will the old world react?

⁶ It is so necessary for a Christian to stay by these things he was taught in his early Christian life. Paul said to Timothy: “Preach the word, be at it urgently in favorable season, in troublesome season.” (2 Tim. 4:2) Nothing may be allowed to separate a Christian from the love of God no matter how hard the opposition may be. It is no time to be sleepy or to relax or to be eating and drinking and be looking after the anxieties of this life. The persistence on the part of Christ Jesus in preaching God’s kingdom irritated the religious clergy of his day so much that they finally put him to death on the torture stake. They murdered him! The early Christians were just as persistent in their preaching, and by threats and imprisonments the Devil’s crowd of that day tried to get them to stop declaring the good news of Christ Jesus that he had taught them. This failed.

7-9. In what ways has the world tried to break down the faithfulness of Jehovah’s people, but what does a book published in the British Isles in 1957 have to say about the effectiveness of their methods?

⁷ The same religious crowd has been trying to silence Christians in these last days, influencing the political crowd to take action against Jehovah’s witnesses. The totalitarian rulers have tried brainwashing, concentration camps and Communist prisons. The rulers have tried to break down the faithfulness of some of Jehovah’s witnesses so that they would not continue in their service to God. However, when a Christian is determined to keep faithful and on the watch, all the brainwashing that is done will have no effect.

⁸ A book published in the British Isles in 1957, called Battle for the Mind, a Physiology of Conversion and Brainwashing, said: “Those reported as among the best able to preserve their standards and beliefs in the German concentration camps during World War two were members of the sect of Jehovah’s witnesses. This pacifist religious group has many strange beliefs, but these were implanted with such strength and certainty by their religious leaders as to remain operative when continued debilitation and psychological degraduation had reduced most other people of the highest ideals, but no specific loyalties, to accept the very lowest conception of individual and group morality. A safeguard against conversion is indeed a burning and obsessive belief in some other creed or way of life. History shows that well indoctrinated and trained soldiers can be just as brave and stubborn as Jehovah’s witnesses.”

⁹ So must all of Jehovah’s witnesses be today, all Christians, all true followers of Christ Jesus. Through this singleness of devotion to Jehovah through Christ Jesus they can be saved.

10, 11. (a) Where do Jehovah’s witnesses gain the strength needed to maintain exclusive devotion to Jehovah God? (b) Testifying to the fact that they “stay by these things” in the face of severe persecution, where is the largest single group of Jehovah’s witnesses outside the United States located today?

¹⁰ Where do Jehovah’s witnesses gain this strength? Not by anything within themselves. It is by acquiring power from God. Paul told Timothy: “You, therefore, my child, keep on acquiring power in the undeserved kindness that is in connection with Christ Jesus, and the things you heard from me with the support of many witnesses, these things commit to faithful men who in turn will be adequately qualified to teach others. As a right kind of soldier of Christ Jesus take your part in suffering evil.”—2 Tim. 2:1-3.

¹¹ Jehovah’s witnesses must stay alert daily by studying God’s Word, meeting with Jehovah’s people in the congregations, going from house to house preaching the good news. Today the German concentration camps have long been gone, but Jehovah’s witnesses remain, triumphant. The Communist concentration camps are still in operation, but Jehovah’s witnesses are growing rapidly behind the Iron Curtain, as the Yearbook report of Jehovah’s witnesses shows. The greatest single group of Jehovah’s witnesses outside the United States in any one country has been assembled behind the Iron Curtain despite all the brainwashing, propaganda and threats to annihilate and destroy God’s faithful servants.

12, 13. To what must all who will be found faithful pay particular attention, and how?

¹² No matter where anyone lives throughout the world, if he is going to remain a Christian and stay on the watch and be found faithful when Christ Jesus comes at Armageddon as a thief, then he must be paying constant attention to himself and to what he is teaching. The only way that he can do this is to stay close to Jehovah’s organization, study the divine will and live according to it, for if he stays by these things and does them he will save himself and those who listen to him.

¹³ There is the strength of Jehovah’s organization, faith in Jehovah God, in his beloved Son, Christ Jesus, and in his faithful promises. Christian minds must be filled with truth. And those who do the same thing that Timothy, an early Christian, did, ‘paying constant attention to himself and to his teaching, staying by these things, thus saving both himself and those who listened to him,’ will have the same reward as he did. It can be you, if you seek the Light, Christ Jesus, and do the divine will! Endurance brings happiness. Endurance brings reward. Accomplishment through faithful labor brings great joy and boundless happiness.

14. What did Jesus say his “food” was, and so what is the determination of Jehovah’s witnesses now?

¹⁴ Christians today work, are awake, really busy preaching. Even though while they are doing this work it means persecution for all, and death to some, still a Christian must always remember that Jesus said: “My food is for me to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.” (John 4:34) So right up until the very end, to the finish of the battle of Armageddon, Jehovah’s witnesses will continue to be on the watch, staying awake, keeping their ministerial outer garments. They will stay at their assignment declaring the good news of God’s kingdom.

“Let All Your Affairs Take Place with Love”

1. In view of the delinquent condition of the world, how will the Christian conduct himself?

THESE are strenuous times, treacherous. Some people think they live in the peaceful part of the world, but the majority know that they live in a world where a war of destruction could break out at any moment. However, all of us live in a world of idolaters, fornicators, murderers, thieves, greedy persons, a truly delinquent world for young and old. So no matter where anyone lives he is going to be surrounded by difficulties. How will he conduct himself under these influences? For the Christian there is only one way. Paul stated it plainly when he said: “Let all your affairs take place with love.” (1 Cor. 16:14) Regardless of the other individual’s way of life, the Christian should deal with the other person unselfishly and kindly.

2, 3. (a) How is love manifest in one’s life? (b) While loving, why is the Christian no weakling, and how is this demonstrated in the life and ministry of Jehovah’s witnesses? (c) In spite of Paul’s counsel on the need for wakefulness, what has happened to Christendom, and why?

² When Paul defined love in 1 Corinthians the thirteenth chapter he had to compose quite a lengthy expression in order to make it comprehensive, to bring in everything involved in connection with love. He was definite that love is “long-suffering and obliging. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, does not get puffed up.” (1 Cor. 13:4) An individual having true love will not lose his self-control. He will keep on an even keel. That does not mean a Christian could not be firm, strong in his decisions. No, for Paul said: “Stay awake, stand firm in the faith, carry on as men, grow mighty. Let all your affairs take place with love.”—1 Cor. 16:13, 14.

³ Here is strong admonition for all those who are going to carry on their affairs in love that they stay awake and stand firm in the faith. There is no indefiniteness about that. The Christian must be a determined, positive, firm man, yet loving. He must feel the responsibility that goes with the duties of a minister of God. He is no weakling. He carries on like a man, like Christ Jesus, who “went on progressing in wisdom and in physical growth and in favor with God and men.” (Luke 2:52) While in the world and no part of it, just as Jesus was no part of the world, he is noticed because he is a publicity man, an announcer of the kingdom of God. But being Christian today does not mean running away from dangers or threats because of preaching, nor does it mean compromise. The Christian faces all kinds of trouble, even if it means his death. His Christian ministry is his work. Nothing can stop it. He must finish his work, and to do that takes love and firmness. Jehovah’s witnesses, Christians in today’s world, whether behind the Iron Curtain or in the neutral or in the Western bloc of nations, still stand firm in their faith, carry on as men. It is not easy to do, but they cannot back up and quit preaching because some government authority says they must stop talking about God’s kingdom. They love that kingdom, they have faith in it and they will act like men and carry out their ministerial work. This they have done in the past year, preaching the good news. As a theocratic organization Jehovah’s witnesses have been most aggressive in making known the kingdom of God. They fully appreciate that this is a time, not for sleep, but for watchfulness. It is a time to be awake. Paul was alert and said: “So, then, let us not sleep on as the rest do, but let us stay awake and keep our senses.” (1 Thess. 5:6) Christendom has admittedly gone to sleep, for it no longer preaches God’s kingdom but rather preaches that the United Nations is the only light of the world. What happened to their faith in Christ Jesus and his teachings? They put their faith in this old corrupt, dying world. So doing, Christendom has fallen asleep at the post of duty and she has been stripped naked, exposed to all who wish to observe her failure in looking after Kingdom interests. She certainly has no true ministerial garments on.

4. How are faith and love a protection to Christians and what things do they avoid?

⁴ Paul went on further to say: “For those who sleep are accustomed to sleep at night, and those who get drunk are usually drunk at night. But as for us who belong to the day, let us keep our senses and have on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet the hope of salvation; because God assigned us, not to wrath, but to the acquiring of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess. 5:7-9) Here again we see emphasized the importance love plays in the life of a true Christian. His love and faith are a protection to him. This helps him to keep his senses, his balance, his self-control, and to feel his responsibility. His responsibility is always that of being a minister of the good news of the kingdom of God. As a representative of Christ he is not given to drunkenness, overeating and the anxieties of life, but he stays on the watch and takes care of his very important affairs in love.

5. How does the apostle Paul say that Christians should deport themselves, and why?

⁵ Paul also said: “Only behave in a manner worthy of the good news about the Christ, in order that, whether I come and see you or be absent, I may hear about the things which concern you, that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one soul fighting side by side for the faith of the good news.” (Phil. 1:27) Can a true Christian do otherwise? No! He must behave in a manner worthy of the good news. So he shows real love and carries on all his affairs that way.

6. During the past year how many shared each month, on the average, as Jehovah’s witnesses in announcing that God’s kingdom rules, and in how many lands?

⁶ Jehovah’s witnesses have been declaring that “God’s kingdom rules.” This certainly is good news. At the great Divine Will International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 253,922 persons heard what Jehovah’s witnesses believe concerning this kingdom of God, which is the only hope for mankind, and there Jehovah’s witnesses declared themselves as ministers of that kingdom. To see how determined they have been in their standing firm in one spirit and with one soul fighting side by side for the faith of the good news, all one needs to do is look at their year’s field service report. See pages 20-22. This report reveals that there were, on the average, 717,088 ministers preaching from house to house every month during the 1958 service year, conducting their affairs in love one toward the other. Not only toward Jehovah’s witnesses do they act respectably, but to all the world of mankind they feel the responsibility of showing love, and this they do by preaching. These ministers are to be found in 175 countries, islands of the seas, colonies, provinces, right around the world. Every month during the 1958 service year there were, on the average, 63,815 more of Jehovah’s witnesses preaching this good news than during the 1957 service year.

7. (a) What causes so many to associate with the New World society? (b) When they study the Scriptures what things do they learn, and how does this affect their course of conduct?

⁷ With all the trouble and distress in the world is it any wonder that so many people turn away from this old-world living to find something that will really bring them peace? And what was the attraction for them? God’s Word of truth. Jehovah’s witnesses have taken upon themselves the great responsibility of reaching all people world-wide with the comforting, cheerful message from God’s Word the Bible. Those persons showing a sheeplike disposition have pulled away from this old world and have associated themselves with the New World society, there to study and learn and come to an accurate knowledge of the truth. Whenever sheeplike persons do this, they are going to preach this same good news. Studying the Scriptures for a short time, they find that everything indicates that we are living in the last days of this system of things, the time just prior to the battle of Armageddon, and it is not long before they believe what Paul said to the Romans at chapter 13, Ro 13 verses 11 to 14: “Do this, too, because you know the season, that it is already the hour for you to awake from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than at the time when we became believers. The night is well along; the day has drawn near. Let us therefore put off the works belonging to darkness and let us put on the weapons of the light. As in the daytime let us walk in good behavior, not in revelries and drunken bouts, not in illicit intercourse and loose conduct, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not be planning ahead for the desires of the flesh.”

8. (a) Why are many now turning from the old world and its religious systems, but what new peak in number of proclaimers of the Kingdom good news was reached during 1958? (b) What good advice found at 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15 is followed by Jehovah’s witnesses, and with what result?

⁸ Persons seeking truth and righteousness can easily see that this whole world is planning ahead for the desires of the flesh. Christendom, with all its great religious organization, has not stopped the people from going down the broad way to destruction. In fact, Christendom has belittled the Bible and the great name of the One who inspired its writing. The Bible is the true guide for man. So many of those who have lived in Christendom and who had fallen asleep with her are awakening now and fleeing from the religious organizations. Yes, people are fleeing from both Christendom’s and heathendom’s religions. In fact, last year so many turned away from this sleepy condition in the world that during the year a new peak in number of proclaimers of the good news, to the total of 798,326, was reached. This is 81,425 more ministers than the peak number of publishers of the previous year, 1957. Why this tremendous influx into Jehovah’s witnesses’ organization? It is because people are finding salvation. Many people want to live with individuals who are really Christians, those who are letting all their affairs take place with love. They have found an organization that is following the good advice of Paul: “Now we request you, brothers, to have regard for those who are working hard among you and presiding over you in the Lord and admonishing you, and to give them more than extraordinary consideration in love because of their work. Be peaceable with one another. On the other hand, we exhort you brothers, admonish the disorderly, speak comfortingly to the depressed souls, support the weak, be long-suffering toward all. See that no one renders injury for injury to anyone else, but always pursue what is good toward one another and to all others.” (1 Thess. 5:12-15) Because Jehovah’s witnesses follow such instruction, it furnishes one of the reasons why the New World society is growing so rapidly. It is this spirit expressed by true Christians toward one another and to others that attracts good-will sheeplike people.

9. What does the report show as to the pioneer ministry, Branch offices and congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses world-wide?

⁹ A goodly number of those who have come into the organization during the last few years have gone into the full-time service, devoting all their energies to the preaching of the good news. In fact, we find 23,772 persons engaging in pioneer service. Some of these are missionaries away off in foreign lands, working in high mountains, in low deserts, in fertile green valleys, in large and in small cities. Others are special pioneers, working out from the eighty-five Branch offices scattered throughout the world, organizing interested ones into congregations where they could serve God. There are now 17,878 congregations, an increase of 995 over the previous year. In these congregations Jehovah’s witnesses are studying weekly, several times a week in fact, in home Bible studies, congregation book studies, Watchtower studies, all the information thus gained building up their minds so that they may be able to declare more clearly the good news. All this association and study aids them to stand shoulder to shoulder, fighting side by side and not compromising with this old world.

10, 11. What other aspects of the year’s service report show the extent to which Jehovah’s witnesses lovingly performed their ministry and the results that they experienced?

¹⁰ During the Memorial season there was a total of 1,171,789 persons who came together in these congregations, of which 15,037 were of the anointed, that is, believers that they are of the body of Christ and will be joint heirs with Christ Jesus in heavenly glory. The greater number believed that they are of the other sheep who will enjoy everlasting life here upon the earth. But, all together, they must stay awake, be on guard as to the Kingdom interests and show love for one another, letting all their affairs take place with love. These thousands of persons who are associating with Jehovah’s witnesses in such great numbers each year are not just curious religion hunters, looking for something new and different. They are sincere in wanting to know the truth and they find it in God’s Word and then they make a stand for it. They grow strong and carry on as men and are willing to defend their faith. They go so far as to dedicate their lives to the service of Jehovah God, giving him exclusive devotion, and 62,666 of those who associated themselves with Jehovah’s witnesses last year were baptized in water, completely immersed, showing their willingness to do the divine will. As readers of The Watchtower know, Jehovah’s witnesses are not the silent type. They are expressive in their belief, and in the twelve-month period of their service year they devoted 110,390,944 hours to preaching the good news that God’s kingdom rules. This is 10,255,928 more hours spent in the ministry than the previous year. They are anxious for the people to know the good things they know, and that is why during the year these witnesses of Jehovah obtained 1,255,047 new subscriptions for the magazines The Watchtower and Awake! and distributed individual copies in their many languages to the number of 86,498,251. In order for the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in its many printing plants to take care of the demand of its readers it was necessary for the printing plants to publish 86,141,119 copies of The Watchtower in fifty-one languages and 71,431,928 copies of the Awake! magazine in nineteen languages, making a grand total of 157,573,047 magazines published and shipped out. In addition, 4,381,504 Bibles and bound books and 14,125,528 booklets, thirty-two and sixty-four pages in size, were printed.

¹¹ But the love of Jehovah’s witnesses for the peoples of the world and their desire to bring them the message of salvation goes farther than just placing literature. Those 110,390,944 hours that they worked were spent, in part, in calling back on those who have shown interest, and so these 798,326 publishers of the Kingdom made 36,398,025 back-calls. In other words, Jehovah’s witnesses have gone back to persons’ homes where they have found interest and they have explained further the things they believe and have answered these peoples’ questions on Bible subjects. They have shown love to an even greater extent: they have gone back to these peoples’ homes week after week and have spent an hour at a time studying with the people from their Bibles of any translation, Catholic or Protestant, so that these people might learn the truth. How many clergymen do that with their parishioners? These studies Jehovah’s witnesses call home Bible studies. During every week of the year they conducted 508,320 such Bible studies. This is 95,271 more than they were conducting the year before. Think of the time that it takes to conduct that many Bible studies every week for a whole year. That alone would require more than 25,000,000 hours, and, in addition to that, much traveling time to and from the study is involved, but not counted. Would you not say that it takes love to do such kind of work? That is why Jehovah’s witnesses believe the expression of Paul when he said: “Let all your affairs take place with love.” Be interested in people, regardless of race, color, creed, whether it be in good season or in bad season.

12. How have those behind the iron Curtain demonstrated true Christian zeal, and what increase has been realized during the past year?

¹² As you study the chart on pages 20 to 22 of the activity of Jehovah’s witnesses you will see that those of Jehovah’s witnesses behind the Iron Curtain are working just as hard, if not harder, and are having better results in gathering the other sheep than Christians living in the Western bloc of nations or in neutral countries. Look at the report! It is most truly amazing! For eight countries behind the Iron Curtain there has been a 21-percent increase in the number of those taking their stand for the Kingdom. Whereas throughout the whole world the average is 9.8 percent. Who can say Christians are not men? Who can say that they are not willing to fight for truth and for righteousness? Who can say that they will not stay on guard and on duty and take up their ministerial responsibilities? Yes, true Christians of God, Jehovah’s witnesses, stay awake, stand firm in the faith, carry on as men and grow mighty. They have a responsibility and it is Jehovah who has placed it upon them. So with joy and gladness they press on in these last days, knowing that the end of this old system of things is near at hand and that Armageddon is not far distant. So they preach, and with greater zeal and effort than ever before in their lives. What a glorious year they have had! What joy has been theirs! What happiness of heart and mind they possess because they are letting all their affairs take place with love!

[Chart on page 20-22]

1958 SERVICE YEAR REPORT OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES WORLD-WIDE

(See bound volume)

Part 5—“Your Will Be Done on Earth”

Chapter 1 of the book “Your Will Be Done on Earth” posed the challenging question “Whose Will?” and proved that it was the irresistible will of Jehovah God that was to be done on earth as it is done in heaven. Moreover, this gladdening fact meant that this earth, man’s God-given habitation, was never to be destroyed, but it will be a grand experience for humankind to live on earth when the heavenly Father’s will is done here. We have now entered into the book’s second chapter, entitled “Why it Must Be Done on Earth.” Paragraph 6 has already said that “for the survival of man and animal on earth as an everlasting home” the supranational will of God the creator needs to be done here. The fact that it is the Creator’s will for the earth to stay in existence for eternity and remain inhabited can be proved from the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ to God the Creator: “Your kingdom come! Your will be done on earth as well as in heaven!” How so? Let us read on.

9. God’s kingdom will come and his will will be done because of what divine purpose concerning the earth?

⁹ Manifestly, God’s kingdom comes to earth and his will is then done on earth because it is his purpose for the earth to remain forever as part of the universal realm over which he is the King of eternity, the Most High Sovereign. God’s will being done here under his kingdom will make a delightful change on this earth. Why then destroy this territory of his kingdom? Why remove the people doing God’s will on earth from this territory of his kingdom? That is not what God will do, for he inspired wise King Solomon of old to write this proverb: “In the multitude of people there is an adornment of a king, but in the lack of population is the ruin of a high official.” (Prov. 14:28) It was because the first man did not keep on doing the will of his Creator that God sentenced him to die and return to the dust of the earth. (Gen. 3:17-19) When God’s will is done by the people on earth under God’s kingdom, he will give them the right to eternal life on this territory of his kingdom realm. For the sake of this he will preserve this earth to his everlasting glory as its Creator.

10. How does the model prayer prove that the coming of Christianity did not change matters for the earth?

¹⁰ Christendom, however, will argue through its priests and clergymen that the coming of Christianity changed matters for the earth. But how could that be so? Jehovah God used Jesus Christ as the very Leader in Christianity, and it was this Leader of Christianity himself that gave us the prayer for God’s kingdom to come and for God’s will to be done on earth as well as in heaven!

11. What was the hope and desire of ancient holy men of God respecting their future?

¹¹ The Leader of Christianity could not be wrong in what he taught about the earth. He was not wrong. Holy men of God, who were borne along by God’s spirit in order to speak and write prophecy before Christ’s day had no hope or desire to go to heaven’s unknown realm. In fact, they had no invitation from God to go to heaven, nor was the way then open for men to go to heaven. They did not expect, when they died, to go to heaven. They did not look forward to the total destruction of this earth and its moon in a universal conflagration. True, they expected a future life, but not a future life in heaven. Their hope was to return from the dead to a renewed life on this earth, but then when God rules over the Middle East and over all the rest of the earth.

12, 13. (a) Why did Jesus coming to earth not prove that their hope was a mistaken one? (b) In this regard, what did Peter say to confirm what Jesus himself had said?

¹² The coming of Jesus Christ to earth did not prove that their hope was a mistaken one. His coming did not change the future for them and open the way to heaven for them. Long after Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel), Moses, King David, the prophet Isaiah and even the prophet Malachi died, Jesus Christ the Son of God came down from heaven to earth in a miraculous way. He did not say that those holy men of old were up in heaven when he left. Jesus, as the Son of man on earth, said to a Jewish ruler: “No man has ascended into heaven but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man.” (John 3:13) When the Baptizer, John the son of Zechariah, was in prison and soon to have his head chopped off, Jesus said: “Among those born of women there has not been raised up a greater than John the Baptist; but a person that is a lesser one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he is.” (Matt. 11:11) After Jesus himself was put to death on a torture stake but was resurrected from the dead on the third day and later went back to heaven to his Father, the apostle Peter preached to over three thousand Jews and said that the resurrected Jesus was in heaven but King David was not up there.

¹³ Said Peter: “It is allowable to speak with freeness of speech to you concerning the family head David, that he both deceased and was buried and his tomb is among us to this day. Actually David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says, ‘Jehovah said to my Lord [that is, to Jesus Christ], “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a stool for your feet.”’” (Acts 2:29, 34, 35) Those dead men like David still wait for God’s kingdom to come.

14. Why did Jesus speak of himself as going to heaven, and what effect did the invitation to his followers to go to heaven have on God’s purpose toward mankind?

¹⁴ Jesus spoke of himself as going to heaven because he had come down from there only for thirty-three years and a half. He spoke of his congregation of faithful followers, those pictured by the twenty-four “elders” in the Revelation to John, as invited to go to heaven to be with him. To these he gave instructions to prepare them to go to heaven. But this did not mean that Jesus Christ had changed God’s original purpose concerning humankind as a whole.

15. For whose benefit in general did Jesus pray for God’s kingdom to come, and what do confused men need to re-examine?

¹⁵ Jesus did not open the way for all the God-fearing ones of mankind to go to heaven. For the sake of humankind in general, he prayed for God’s kingdom to come to the earth where dead humankind lies buried and for the heavenly Life-giver’s will to be done on earth as well as in heaven. Will King David and John the Baptist want to do God’s will on earth under His kingdom? Certainly. Hence confused men need to re-examine the Bible to learn what the Creator’s will was for man at the beginning. Then they will see that God’s will and purpose have been made more sure because Christ came.

GOD’S PURPOSE FOR THE EARTH

16. By what identification does Jeremiah 10:10-13 point out the earth’s creator, and who therefore is meant in Genesis 1:1?

¹⁶ Earth’s Creator is pointed out to us by name. In the prophecy of Jeremiah we read the difference between him and all the false gods: “But Jehovah is in truth God. He is the living God and the King to time indefinite. Because of his indignation the earth will rock, and no nations will hold up under his denunciation. This is what you men will say to them: ‘The gods that did not make the very heavens and the earth are the ones who will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.’ He is the Maker of the earth by his power, the One firmly establishing the productive land by his wisdom, and the One who by his understanding stretched out the heavens. At his voice there is a giving of a turmoil of waters in the heavens by him, and he causes vapors to ascend from the extremity of the earth. He has made even sluices for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.” (Jer. 10:10-13) Jehovah is therefore the God who is meant when the Holy Bible opens with the words: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”—Gen. 1:1.a

17. How did this planet earth start off, and how does God, according to his own statement, not want it to end?

¹⁷ No proof of creature life on the other planets of our solar system has been established by astronomers and scientists, but the Creator’s direct purpose for our earth was different. In its case he did not desire it to be an empty, lifeless planet at its start; he does not desire it ever to end up in that condition. Let us ask him about this. “This is what Jehovah has said, the Holy One of Israel and the Former of him: ‘Ask me even about the things that are coming concerning my sons; and concerning the activity of my hands you people should command me. I myself have made the earth and have created even man upon it. I—my own hands have stretched out the heavens, and all the army of them I have commanded.’ For this is what Jehovah has said, the Creator of the heavens, He The true God, the Former of the earth and the Maker of it, He the One who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, who formed it even to be inhabited: ‘I am Jehovah, and there is no one else. In a place of concealment I spoke not.’” (Isa. 45:11, 12, 18, 19) He formed this earth to be inhabited for all time.

18. After creating the living creatures lower than human, what further did God say regarding the earth and its then living creatures?

¹⁸ Those inspired words through the prophet Isaiah are in full agreement with the written record about the preparation of this earth for the realizing of God’s purpose. When he had made this earth a most interesting place by putting fish and sea monsters in its waters and birds in its trees and skies and animals and insects of all kinds on its land, he revealed for whom he had really made this earth to be an everlasting home. “And God went on to say: ‘Let us make man [a·damʹ] in our image, according to our likeness, and let them [man multiplied] have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every creeping animal that is creeping upon the earth.’ And God proceeded to create the man [a·damʹ] in his image, in God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen. 1:26, 27) It was not said of the other creatures, all those lower than man, that God had created them in his image and according to his likeness. Only man was thus created.

19. What argues for the perfection of God’s creation of man, and so what did God know could then be done on earth?

¹⁹ While this fact raised man far higher than all the fish, birds and brute beasts, it also argued that man was created perfect, that he was a perfect creature to begin with, fully able to display on earth some image, some likeness, of his perfect Creator. Of course, all the other creatures were also made perfect, each one in its own family kind. The perfection of the inanimate material universe, which is now billions of years old, came from this same Creator. Why should there be less than perfection in the creating of living and intelligent creatures? “For I shall declare the name of Jehovah. Do you attribute greatness to our God! The Rock, perfect is his activity.” (Deut. 32:3, 4) So God gave mankind a perfect start. In that way he knew that his will could be done on earth perfectly by human creatures in his image and likeness.

20. What did God tell man and woman his purpose in creating them was, and why?

²⁰ The Creator did not keep his will concerning mankind to himself, to be guessed at by us. Because man was created in God’s image and likeness he could tell man and woman what his purpose and will regarding them was. He could give them commands that they could understand and fulfill in perfection. “Further, God blessed them and God said to them: ‘Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is creeping upon the earth.’”—Gen. 1:28.

21. What did God’s blessing upon them mean, and why?

²¹ God blessed them; he spoke for their good, not for their injury as if they were cursed. On the preceding day or time-period of creation God had blessed the fish and the winged flying creatures that he had made. That blessing meant for them to multiply in their natural habitat, for “God blessed them, saying: ‘Be fruitful and become many and fill the waters in the sea basins and let the flying creatures become many in the earth.’” (Gen. 1:22, 23) So God’s blessing upon man and woman meant for them to multiply their kind and fill this earth, not fill heaven or provide a population for heaven; no more than God’s blessing upon the fish and flying creatures meant for them to provide fish and winged, flying creatures for angels in heaven. Two human creatures were not enough for this earth of 196,940,000 square miles (510,075,000 square kilometers) of surface. Hence perfect man and woman were to fill earth with their perfect kind to the measure of fullness that fish and birds fill their part of this earth and surroundings with their kinds.

22. When would the need to multiply humankind cease, and what was man to subdue?

²² Since man and woman were created perfect and were put under a blessing and not under a curse or a condemnation to death, the time would come when they would fill the earth to the right, needed, comfortable fullness, with nobody dying but every born child growing up to full growth. Then the need to multiply would pass, and the birth of further children would stop. There was no command to produce further children in order to transplant the surplus human population to the moon or to other planets in our solar system. “Fill the earth and subdue it,” was God’s command to the first human male and female. “Subdue it,” that is, the earth, not the moon, not so-called Venus or Mercury or Mars. But how subdue the earth?

23. In what general location did God situate man’s Edenic home, and for increasing the human race what did he give man?

²³ God created perfect man in a part of the earth near the Middle East of today, for the Bible account associates the rivers Euphrates and Tigris (Hiddekel) with their original home. It was a pleasant location in which to create man, and it was well called Eden, which means “Pleasure.” But more than that. “Jehovah God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. . . . Now there was a river issuing out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it began to be parted and it became, as it were, four heads. . . . And the name of the third river is Hiddekel [Tigris]; it is the one going to the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. And Jehovah God proceeded to take the man and settle him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to take care of it.” (Gen. 2:8-15) Then, in the interest of increasing the human race, God gave this first man Adam a perfect wife. God had built her up from a rib taken from Adam’s body to be his helper, a complement of him.

24. What were the man and woman commanded to do, and what effect would this have upon their Paradise home and the doing of God’s will?

²⁴ To this perfect human pair their Creator gave the command to use their reproductive organs and to produce children and fill the earth with them. But along with this filling of the earth with the human kind they must “subdue it.” All these perfect children were meant to live in an Edenic garden or Paradise. The original one in which Adam and Eve were settled would become too small after a great increase in their family, with children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on, with no one dying because of paying the penalty for sin. So it would become necessary for them all to subdue the earth outside the initial garden or Paradise of Eden by spreading out the garden’s boundaries, gradually cultivating the as yet uninhabited parts until the Paradise garden embraced the whole earth, from east to west and from the North Pole regions to the South Pole. This earth-girdling Paradise would require the constant attention and care of them all. Together with this garden care they were to have in subjection all the living creatures moving through earth’s waters and over its land or through its skies. Thus God’s will, which began to be done in the original Paradise of Eden, would finally be done everywhere on earth.

25. When that glorious climax was reached, what would it be unscriptural for us to think that God would want to do?

²⁵ This was the glorious, God-honoring climax that Jehovah God envisioned for all the earth. When that grand, loving purpose was fully realized, why would God want to destroy the Paradise earth? Or why would he want to depopulate Paradise by taking those doing his will in it somewhere else, leaving Paradise untended and no longer a place where the divine will was done just as it is done up in heaven? It is not Scriptural for us to think of God’s doing that, for it would bring to nothing his grand purpose.

(To be continued)

[Footnotes]

Christianity as Front-Page News

“It should never be forgotten that Christianity did not come into the world through the editorial page; it came through the news columns,” writes Halford E. Luccock, as quoted in Treasury of the Christian Faith. “It was a news event—front-page, stop-the-press news. Something happened. . . . The gospel was first preached as news. Whenever it has been preached with power, it has been preached as news. Whenever it has dwindled down to mere advice, become merely editorial Christianity, it has evaporated into a cloud as vague as fog.”

Christ Jesus showed that the message that God’s kingdom has been established in the heavens is news, the best kind of news, “good news” that must “be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations.”—Matt. 24:14.

Recommending the New Instead of the Old

“WINE . . . makes the heart of mortal man rejoice.” Very true. But for us to experience the greatest and most enduring rejoicing we need spiritual wine, the sparkling and stimulating truths of God’s Word, even as it is true that “not by bread alone does man live but by every expression of Jehovah’s mouth.”—Ps. 104:15; Deut. 8:3.

It was after Jesus had answered the complaint of the Pharisees about his disciples’ not fasting that he gave an illustration in which he likened the comforting and refreshing message of the Kingdom to new wine. And in particular he made the point that “new wine must be put into new wineskins.” He well knew that the truths he was bringing were far too powerful to be contained in the old-wineskin-like organizations of his opposers, ruled by creatures and designed to exalt them instead of Jehovah. Far from appreciating the new wine Jesus served, the Pharisees preferred the old, saying, “The old is nice.”—Luke 5:33-39.

Today, in the time of Christ’s second presence, the same situation prevails. Again God’s servants have an energizing new wine, as it were, to serve to men of good will. “How can it be new,” you ask, “when it is taken from the Bible, all of which is more than eighteen centuries old?” Because it all becomes new by reason of fulfillment of Bible prophecy. And what a vast number of prophecies this generation is seeing being fulfilled! Besides, do we not also read that “the path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established”? Consider the striking demonstration we had of this at our recent Divine Will International Assembly, both in the lectures given and in the publications released.—Prov. 4:18.

Let Christendom’s religious leaders continue to serve to their flocks the insipid, sleep-inducing old wine of higher criticism, musty creeds, ancient traditions of men, fossilized Greek philosophy and the hoary wisdom of this old world. Let those who prefer it say, “The old is nice.” But let those of us who have tasted the sparkling new wine supply ourselves richly with it. How? By diligently availing ourselves of all the instruments that bring us this new wine, the publications of the Society and the congregational meetings. Once having a clear understanding and keen appreciation of this new wine, let us enthusiastically recommend it to all whom we meet as opportunity affords.

In bringing this new message, this new wine, to men of good will shall we try to do so through the sectarian channels of Christendom? Shall we practice interfaith and “brotherhood” and recommend their old organizational wineskins through which to serve this new wine so as to be considered tolerant and broad-minded? How foolish that would be! Those decrepit and dried-out old religious systems could not begin to contain such a powerful, stimulating message! Those old wineskins would burst and the wine would be wasted!

Jehovah in his wise and loving providence has provided us with new wineskins, a new channel or instrument especially adapted for our day, namely, the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses. To all willing to taste of our refreshing new wine let us also by able speech, by continued zealous activity and by right conduct recommend the new world instead of the old world and the New World society instead of Christendom. Yes, help them to appreciate that “new wine must be put into new wineskins.”—Luke 5:38.

Questions From Readers

● In connection with water baptism, why is it appropriate to say that one dies to one’s “past course of life” instead of to one’s “own will”? How could that apply to Jesus’ water baptism?

The word “will” denotes a faculty with which God has gifted intelligent creatures, by which they consciously and deliberately decide upon a desired course of action. It is the God-given power of choosing one’s own actions; it is the conscious process of willing.

When a Bible-instructed believer makes an intelligent, prayerful dedication of himself to Jehovah God through Jesus Christ, he does not die to this faculty of will. In the very act of dedicating himself he had to exercise his will power with great strength and resoluteness in order to make this decision for all eternity. In order to take the step of baptism in water he had to exercise his faculty of will in obedience to the command of God through Christ. After his baptism, which symbolizes his dedication to God, he has continued need of the faculty of will. He does not become a machine without will, an automaton or robot or puppet moved or operated solely by the will of someone else. He has to use his will more consciously than ever before, to make his future decisions in harmony with the written Word of God and oftentimes in agreement with the instructions that come through God’s visible organization. He has to determine what God has willed and then to will in harmony with what God desires. He has to decide in favor of what is to the best interests of God’s kingdom and of God’s organized people and of himself as a Christian.

For example, he may have to decide whether he should get married or not. Hence he has to exercise his will as to what his decision should be. In support of this fact, the apostle Paul wrote: “If anyone thinks he is behaving improperly toward his virginity, if that is past the bloom of youth, and this is the way it should take place, let him do what he wants; he does not sin. Let them marry. But if anyone stands settled in his heart, having no necessity, but has authority over his own will and has made this decision in his own heart, to keep his own virginity, he will do well.” (1 Cor. 7:36, 37) As regards widows, the apostle says: “If her husband should fall asleep in death, she is free to be married to whom she wants, only in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 7:39) She has freedom of will, but not without limitation. She has a freedom to will to remarry only to the extent of marrying a man who is in union with the Lord.

Hence it is that, when a grateful Bible student lovingly makes a dedication of himself to God and symbolizes that dedication by water baptism, he dies to his past course of action, not to his faculty of will. In the past his course of action was designed to please himself or creatures whom he liked, respected or feared. After his dedication, as symbolized by water baptism, he pursues a new course of action, that of pleasing Jehovah God by doing that which God has willed. Wisely, then, he trains his conscious will power to make decisions conformable to what God wills.

Of course, the word “will” has also the meaning of that which is willed; a desire or wish. It is in harmony with this meaning of will that we pray: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matt. 6:9, 10) From this standpoint, when we take the step of dedication, we come to do God’s will and no longer our own. But to do God’s will henceforth we must always keep in mind what it is or we must determine and learn what God’s will is. Then we must will consciously, intelligently, deliberately to do it without fear of creatures.

Jesus always did God’s will, even as a carpenter at Nazareth, even as long as he “continued subject” to his earthly parents. He said: “I have come down from heaven to do, not my will, but the will of him that sent me.” (John 6:38-40) When Jesus, about the age of thirty years, came to do Jehovah’s will in fulfillment of Psalm 40:7, 8, he died to his past course of life on earth. He quit leading the life of an obscure citizen of Nazareth out of the public eye; he laid down his carpenter tools; he stepped out from any subjection to an earthly parent, whether Joseph or Mary; he left home where he had certain responsibilities as the oldest and firstborn son of the family. He undertook to carry out certain vital fulfillments of God’s law through Moses as pertaining to the priesthood, as to the prophethood like that of Moses, etc., and especially as to the kingship to which he was an heir through King David of Jerusalem. He devoted himself to the interests of the kingdom that John the Baptist was announcing.

After taking this step and being baptized in water to testify to his step, Jesus still had his conscious will power. He had not died to it. His will had always been to do God’s will, whatever God’s will was at the time. He kept on doing God’s will, just as he had in the past. However, in doing God’s will after his water baptism, he had to exercise his will more firmly than ever before. Why? Because it was Jehovah’s will to make this Chief Agent of human salvation “perfect through sufferings.” This required the exercise of Jesus’ will to decide to face sufferings and go through them. “He himself has suffered when being put to the test.” And under test he had to will to hold true, loyal and obedient to God. (Heb. 2:10, 18) “Although he was a Son [of God], he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” To keep on willing right he had to offer up “supplications and also petitions to the one who was able to save him out of death, with strong outcries and tears, and he was favorably heard for his godly fear.” (Heb. 5:7, 8) When he was in an agony and his sweat became as drops of blood falling to the ground, he prayed to God: “Let, not my will, but yours take place.” (Luke 22:41-44) That required the strenuous exercise of will power.

After Jesus was baptized into death and was raised from the dead, he still had his will power. When Peter asked him concerning the future of the apostle John, Jesus replied: “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.” (John 21:22, 23, AS) Consequently, the glorified Jesus Christ in heaven is now exercising his will power in harmony with his dedication and in full accord with his model prayer to God: “Let your will come to pass, as in heaven also upon earth.”

It therefore remains appropriate to say concerning the water baptism of the dedicated candidate: “It means his past course of life is buried (as by the immersion in water) and he comes up from the water to do only God’s will and walk in newness of life thereafter.”—The Watchtower, July 1, 1955, page 403, paragraph 8.

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

During January Jehovah’s witnesses worldwide will be offering to persons of good will a year’s subscription for The Watchtower, with three Scriptural booklets, for $1. Watchtower readers are invited to share in this activity. For further information, write us or go to the nearest Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s witnesses.

A QUARTER OF A MILLION COPIES

This year a quarter of a million copies of the 1959 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses are being printed. No reprints are scheduled. Have you received your copy? You will want to begin reading at once this thrilling report of the world-wide preaching work done during 1958 as well as the Scriptural information included to provide inspirational reading for every day of the year. Send 50c today. Add 25c to your order and receive also the beautifully illustrated calendar for 1959.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

February 1: “Stay by These Things.” Page 5.

February 8: Who Really Can Be Saved? and “Let All Your Affairs Take Place with Love.” Page 13.