The Watchtower — May 15, 1959

“Feed My Little Sheep”

IN A Christian congregation the one who exercises authority as overseer has the responsibility like that of a shepherd. What Jesus said to Peter applies to all such overseers: “Feed my little sheep.” (John 21:17) This means that an overseer must see to it that the congregation is fed spiritually, that it worships the Creator in a Scriptural manner and that it follows a course that brings divine approval.

The sheep do not belong to the overseer. He is merely a caretaker of the flock. As such he is obligated to give the sheep loving care, doing his utmost to build up the flock’s faith and love for its heavenly owners.

But what is a congregation to do when its spiritual shepherd is not only confused and uncertain about his beliefs, but fails to teach Scriptural truths and may even lack faith? Among the religious congregations of Christendom this is not an uncommon problem. For example, the congregation of the All Souls’ Church in Washington, D.C., was confronted one Sunday with an expression from their pastor that showed him to be without Christian faith. The Washington Post and Times Herald reported him as saying that he had “rethought his position, and his ‘personal beliefs’ now ‘exclude the possibility of my being a Christian.’” The paper went on to state: “Mr. Stutzman’s reasons for breaking with Christianity were that he disagreed with some of Jesus’ teachings and no longer wished to emulate his life.” It also said: “In renouncing Christianity, Mr. Stutzman joined a movement in Unitarianism now particularly popular among [its] ministers.”

How can an overseer who has lost faith fulfill the Scriptural obligations of a spiritual shepherd? How can he build up faith in others when he lacks it himself? How can he lead them in the way of true worship of God and in the course of obedience to the supreme Sovereign? How can he give spiritual help to the congregation at this time when it is so badly needed?

We might ask the same questions about seminary students who are studying for the ministry. Many of them are uncertain about what to believe. Regarding them the New York Times stated, in an article that appeared in its Magazine section on November 30, 1958, that seminary students are “skeptical but hope to find belief through experience and a sense of purpose through service. . . . They are—paradoxically—somewhat skeptical of a call by God and the strength of their own Christian beliefs.” The article quotes one student as saying: “‘I am not really a Christian, for I really cannot commit myself to the Christian faith’ is the thought that runs through my mind. Can I desire to understand the Christian faith when I doubt whether I can commit myself to it?”

Such uncertainty did not exist among the Christians of the first century. They did not seek belief from experience but from a study of the Scriptures. No one in such a weak spiritual condition would have been given the responsible position as overseer in a Christian congregation. Yet such are the ones congregations in religious Christendom are receiving as spiritual shepherds.

From the Scriptural viewpoint it is difficult to see how skeptical and uncertain theological students, who lack strength for Christian beliefs, can be considered as good and able candidates for being spiritual shepherds. Henry P. Van Dusen, president of New York’s Union Theological Seminary, stated: “Many of them seem without joy, and I wonder if they really know what it means to be happy. . . . Yet taken together, they are the ablest, finest, most deeply earnest and most consecrated generation of candidates for the Christian ministry any of us has known.”

Happiness is inseparably connected with the Christian ministry. There is happiness in gaining a knowledge of God’s purposes and there is happiness in feeding the sheep by giving that knowledge out to others. In fact, gospel means good news, good news of God’s kingdom and its King. Is not good news a reason for happiness? Should it not bring joy to a person’s heart to learn that God’s kingdom is going to destroy the wicked forces that now rule earth and usher in a righteous new world of peace and life? Should not such news uplift a person and give him hope for the future, especially when he learns that this generation will live to see the change?

Why, then, should seminary students appear to be without joy? Why should any feel as some said they did—“shattered almost to the bottom,” “completely apart,” or “beat to my socks”? How can anyone feeling like that fulfill Jesus’ command to “feed my little lambs”?

But what is a congregation to do when its overseer is spiritually famished and unable to build up their faith? There is only one thing they can do and that is to look elsewhere for spiritual leadership and instruction. Thousands of persons who were affiliated with Judaism in the first century turned from the spiritual husks given them by their religious leaders to the life-giving words of Scriptural truth spoken by Christ’s followers. They found in the Christian organization shepherds who were truly feeding the flock of God.

As it was in the first century so it is today. Multitudes of spiritually famished people are turning to the New World society of Jehovah’s modern-day witnesses. By means of Bible-study aids and free home Bible studies Jehovah’s witnesses build up their faith, strengthen their Christian beliefs, clarify their view of the future and enlarge their understanding of how to serve God and their fellow man. They realize the fulfillment of Jesus’ statement: “Happy are those who are conscious of their spiritual need, since the kingdom of the heavens belongs to them. Happy are those hungering and thirsting for righteousness, since they will be filled.”—Matt. 5:3, 6.

It is in the New World society that a person experiences the uplift and happiness that comes when spiritual hunger is satisfied. He has hope, spiritual contentment and a desire to serve God, because the spiritual shepherds of the New World society obey Jesus’ command to “feed my little sheep.”

Christians Need Accurate Knowledge

“This is right and acceptable in the sight of our Savior, God, whose will is that all kinds of men should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth.”—1 Tim. 2:3, 4.

1. Why is knowledge of the right kind so important to Christians?

AN INSPIRED proverb recorded long ago in the Word of God says: “That the soul should be without knowledge is not good.” (Prov. 19:2) Especially now in this time of the end of the wicked world is it vital to have divine guidance. If a person is going to please God, he must know what God wants him to do. Only by gaining the required knowledge will he be able to make straight paths for his feet, avoiding the delinquent course of the world, and taking hold of the promise of everlasting life in God’s new world.

2. (a) What provisions to fill man’s need for knowledge has God made? (b) In this regard what earnest desire should everyone associated with the New World society have, and why?

² Jehovah God has made every provision to fill man’s need for proper knowledge. “If anyone of you is lacking in wisdom, let him keep on asking God, for he gives generously to all and without reproaching, and it will be given him.” Knowledge of himself and of his purposes he has made available in abundance in his inspired Word, the Bible. And, lovingly, he has provided his organization to draw to the attention of God-fearing persons the fulfillment of prophecies that were written for our day, to point out what the divine will is for us and to set the example in conforming to that divine will. Everyone who associates with Jehovah’s New World society now or later should have an earnest desire to learn, to gain accurate knowledge of the divine will. So doing they will prove that they are included among the “many peoples” who are now saying: “Come, you people, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will instruct us about his ways and we will walk in his paths.” Association with the New World society is important, but it is not enough. Each one must become educated in the divine will and then do it.—Jas. 1:5; Isa. 2:3.

3. What is God’s will respecting us, and how can we show proper respect for his Word, the Bible?

³ Expressing very clearly what God’s will respecting us is, the apostle Paul said: “This is right and acceptable in the sight of our Savior, God, whose will is that all kinds of men should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth.” For one to neglect a study of God’s Word or to read it over hurriedly without grasping the sense of it shows disrespect for the One who is its Author. It shows a failure to conform to the divine will that we “come to an accurate knowledge of truth.” It is important to “acquire wisdom, and with all that you acquire, acquire understanding.” Thus equipped, one has a solid basis for enduring faith and he is in position to share his faith with others.—1 Tim. 2:3, 4; Prov. 4:7.

WHAT ABOUT CHRISTENDOM?

4. When people turn to the religious organizations of Christendom, to what may they find that their thoughts and activities are being directed, and in what ways are those organizations failing their members?

⁴ Much has been said in recent years about the progress of religion, and no doubt there have been many persons who have been greatly distressed by the world conditions and who have turned to the religious systems for comfort. But are they there finding that hope? Are they being pointed to God’s kingdom as man’s hope and given a sound Scriptural foundation for that belief, or, rather, are they being told that the United Nations is man’s “last, best hope”? Are they finding in the churches the answer to their spiritual need, or, rather, the answer to their social need, as indicated by an article in the Saturday Evening Post of October 4, 1958, which says: The churches “are not only sanctuaries but also complex meeting places with Sunday schools, auditoriums for plays and dances, social rooms with dating parlors and hi-fi. Some have bowling alleys, table tennis and outdoor tennis courts. Most have kitchens to serve social gatherings”? How many of those associated with the religious systems of Christendom really know what hope there is for mankind and believe it? Are they equipped to do as the apostle Peter counsels them: “Sanctify the Christ as Lord in your hearts, always ready to make a defense before everyone that demands of you a reason for the hope in you, but doing so together with a mild temper and deep respect”?—1 Pet. 3:15.

5. How is membership in Christendom’s religious organizations determined?

⁵ It is interesting to consider briefly the membership of the churches. The basis for counting members varies considerably, but it is not dependent upon whether the individuals are following in the footsteps of Christ Jesus and obeying his command to be his witnesses. (Acts 1:8) In the Roman Catholic Church one is counted as a member when he is baptized as an infant. The infant has nothing to say about it, but he is counted as a member. Other churches may not count them as members until they are confirmed. Since the age of confirmation may vary from five or six to the midteens, the child may or may not know such things as the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the answer to questions found in the Church Catechism. In this way one becomes a member of a church, but it is not necessary to follow in the footsteps of Christ Jesus to remain a member of it. Otherwise the jails in the United States would not be filled with criminals, 85 percent of whom profess membership in some religious organization.

6. In reviewing figures for membership in the Catholic Church, what sheds considerable light on their meaning?

⁶ According to figures contained in the World Almanac from 1955 to 1956 the Roman Catholic Church realized a 2.8-percent increase in membership worldwide, bringing the total to 484,077,000 members. Of course, that includes increases that result from natural population growth, which for the same period is reported as 1.7 percent for the world. How many of the remaining number have become Catholics because they have personally chosen that religion? It would be difficult to say, but the following facts cast some light on the extent to which there is any actual growth of the organization. As reported in Time magazine, Catholic Bishop Stephen S. Woznicki of Saginaw, Michigan, shows that large numbers of the Catholic population are not practicing members. Further he said: “There has been great progress in the physical condition of dioceses, but the spiritual condition is an entirely different question.” And the 20th Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, in its comments on Spain, where the Catholic Church is the state church, says: “According to canonical law, everyone who has been baptized belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, even if afterwards he dissents.” The practice is unmistakable in Italy, as an example. In the Italian elections a few years ago the Communist party and its allies took 35 percent of the votes, although Catholic voters have been warned that it is wrong for them to vote for the Communist party. Yet according to the Catholic Register of September 29, 1957, the country was still 99.5 percent Catholic.

7. (a) As to figures for membership in the Protestant churches, what facts help one to appreciate the true condition of those organizations? (b) What does the prophecy recorded at Zechariah 8:23 foretell for our day, and is it being fulfilled upon Christendom?

⁷ What of the Protestant churches? The 1959 Yearbook of American Churches, published by the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., shows that in 1956 there were 60,148,980 Protestants in the United States; in 1957, 59,823,777. The loss is explained as due to the fact that one group included in 1956 did not report 1957 figures, and it suggests a 2.1-percent increase as better representing the situation. In evaluating what this means, the following points are of interest. According to figures presented in the book The Church of England, of those who are members of the Church of England, it is estimated that less than 8 percent are even present to share in communion services at Easter. And speaking of America, Time quotes Dr. Liston Pope, dean of Yale Divinity School, as saying: “There is no great religious revival in America, and probably will not be in the accepted sense . . . At this time of the greatest need, the influence of religion on human affairs appears to be indirect, and, all told, rather minimal.” And as to the value of statistics that show large numbers of members, the World Christian Handbook says: “In certain areas . . . religious censuses are carried out by the Governments concerned . . . They reveal wide disparities from some of the figures which the Churches themselves claim and these differences are something of an embarrassment to the Churches. Fortunately or not, such census figures are not available on a world-scale.” The book also states: “In most countries Christians form a very small minority, and it is likely to become even smaller since, generally speaking, the churches of the world are not increasing in proportion to the growth of population.” Clearly it is not upon Christendom that the prophecy is being fulfilled that says: “In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”—Zech. 8:23, AS.

GROWTH OF THE NEW WORLD SOCIETY

8. (a) Who are God’s servants in the earth today, and what work are they accomplishing? (b) What is Jehovah’s judgment against the false shepherds, and why? (c) To whom do the “sheep” really belong?

⁸ Regardless of the failure of Christendom, Jehovah God does have his witnesses on the earth, and they are sharing in the most important educational work being done today, that foretold by his Son Christ Jesus: “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) The religious clergy of Christendom may protest that Jehovah’s witnesses are invading their pastures and taking away their sheep. But Jehovah God views the matter differently. To those false shepherds who have caused their flocks to forget the name of Jehovah God, and who have directed their confidence to governments of men instead of the kingdom of God, and who have not instructed and equipped them to make public declaration of their faith in imitation of Christ Jesus, but have kept them for their own selfish advantage, Jehovah says: “Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.”(Ezek. 34:10, AS) They are Jehovah’s “sheep,” and he is gathering them into his New World society.

9. By what means has the number of Jehovah’s witnesses increased?

⁹ When one observes the tremendous growth of the New World society he cannot help but feel the responsibility that falls upon Jehovah’s witnesses. During the past few years there have been hundreds of thousands of newly interested persons leaving their old way of life and making their association with Jehovah’s witnesses. It is of interest to note that this increase is due to the fact that grown-up people who have a mind of their own are taking their stand for truth and righteousness. They have not become part of the organization through infant baptism or some other meaningless ceremony. Those individuals that increase the numbers associated with Jehovah’s witnesses have done their own thinking and have made their own decisions.

10. How many new ones began to share in the preaching work with Jehovah’s Witnesses during 1958, and why?

¹⁰ In just the past year of 1958 there were 81,425 more persons who associated themselves with Jehovah’s witnesses and preached the things that they had heard and learned. They were so enthusiastic about the new way of life set forth to them in God’s Word that they wanted to tell others. But with this great influx of persons coming into the New World society it places a responsibility upon all other members of this Society to see that these new ones get an accurate knowledge of the truth. These new ones appreciate the Kingdom, love it, and they see the possibility of everlasting life as a prize to be gained through Christ Jesus, their Lord. They have come to appreciate that Jehovah God, their Life-giver, should be given exclusive devotion and that one cannot serve two masters, God and the Devil.

11. (a) For these new ones to stay with the organization, what do they need, and how are they going to get it? (b) What pointed counsel on the matter did Peter give?

¹¹ All these beginners need help as far as further knowledge is concerned. If all these new publishers of the Kingdom are going to stay in Jehovah’s theocratic organization, continually praising his name, they must be assisted. Paul wanted to give that assistance and did so, and that is why he stated: “Become imitators of me, even as I am of Christ.” (1 Cor. 11:1) It is a challenge to all who have been Jehovah’s witnesses for years, and a responsibility placed upon them, to see to it that all the 798,326 who are now associated with the organization grow to maturity and become strong, hardy Christians. All who are in the organization should feel just as Peter felt when he said: “Certainly if, after having escaped from the defilements of the world by an accurate knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they get involved again with these very things and are overcome, the final conditions have become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them not to have accurately known the path of righteousness than after knowing it accurately to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. The saying of the true proverb has happened to them: ‘The dog has turned back to its own vomit, and the sow that was bathed to rolling in the mire.’”—2 Pet. 2:20-22.

12. Why did Peter say he was writing to those who had accepted the truth, and what good counsel did he give?

¹² Peter helped early Christians by talking to them plainly about God’s Word and showing them what course had to be taken. Christians of today must do exactly the same. When writing to those who had accepted the truth Peter said: “Beloved ones, this is now the second letter I am writing you, in which, as in my first one, I am arousing your clear thinking faculties by way of a reminder, that you should remember the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.” (2 Pet. 3:1, 2) They needed accurate knowledge, and Peter was anxious to help them to get it. He warned them against wrong thinking and impressed on their minds a proper appreciation of their service. Peter expressed the same idea that is found in Revelation 16:15, our yeartext, which emphasizes the need for staying on the watch, as otherwise one will be stripped naked because he has fallen asleep at his post of Christian duty. Peter emphasized this point when he said: “Since you are awaiting these things, do your utmost to be found finally by him spotless and unblemished and in peace. . . . be on your guard that you may not be led away with them by the error of the law-defying people and fall from your own steadfastness.” (2 Pet. 3:14, 17) How necessary, then, it must be for each one to be on guard and awake prior to the battle of Armageddon! This is just as necessary for all the new ones as it is for the older ones in the truth. Each must keep his outer garments of the ministry.

13. With a great crowd of “other sheep” coming into the organization now, what does it mean for those who are already Jehovah’s witnesses?

¹³ If one does not keep his ministerial garments on, it shows that he has returned to the defilements of the old world from which he was saved. Certainly no one who has an accurate knowledge of the truth wants to see himself, or anyone else, slip back into that condition. As Jehovah’s witnesses draw ever closer to the final battle and the time for the complete vindication of Jehovah’s name, it makes our hearts rejoice because of the great crowd of “other sheep” that are coming into the organization. But with the coming of that great crowd it means greater work, harder work, on the part of those who are already Jehovah’s witnesses. These new ones must be provided with good spiritual food. They must have accurate knowledge. Therefore everyone who is dedicated to Jehovah God should feel the responsibility that falls upon the whole organization of Jehovah’s witnesses to help one another, and especially these 81,425 that have just come into the organization during the past year.

14, 15. (a) During the past decade what growth has been seen in the New World society? (b) In what respects particularly do the new ones need assistance?

¹⁴ This heavy responsibility is not a new one. This great crowd has been making itself manifest year by year, as the following chart shows.

THE GROWTH OF THE NEW WORLD SOCIETY

1948 to 1958

Service Average Inc. over Percent Peak of

Year Publishers Prev. Year of Inc. Publishers

1948 230,532 49,461 27 260,756

1949 279,421 48,889 21 317,877

1950 328,572 49,151 18 373,430

1951 384,694 56,122 17 442,380

1952 426,704 42,010 11 456,265

1953 468,106 41,402 10 519,982

1954 525,924 57,818 12 580,498

1955 570,694 44,770 8.5 642,929

1956 591,556 20,862 3.6 640,347

1957 653,273 61,717 10 716,901

1958 717,088 63,815 9.8 798,326

¹⁵ During the past decade there has been a constant ingathering of the “other sheep” and this ingathering has increased year by year, from 40,000 a year up to over 60,000 a year. When we look at the average yearly increase in the number of those who are publishing the good news of the Kingdom, it is evident that the growth has been rapid. Now in the last year, 1958, the difference between the average number of publishers and the peak number is over 81,000. This throws an even greater responsibility upon Jehovah’s organization. Knowing of the great work of preaching and teaching that it is necessary to accomplish during this time of the end, we want all of these and many more lovers of righteousness to come to an accurate knowledge of the truth and to have a regular share in the ministry every month during the 1959 service year and the years to follow. That means that they are going to need the help of the more mature ones in the congregation. Are you willing to do as the apostle Paul, extending a helping hand to your Christian brother and encouraging him to “press on to maturity”? (Heb. 6:1) These new ones must develop good habits of Bible study, both privately and congregationally, and they must continue to grow in appreciation of their privilege as witnesses of God. These newly active persons are close neighbors of ours now, and we must show love for our neighbors as for ourselves by helping them to get a full appreciation of Jehovah’s righteous principles and of how one walks in the footsteps of Christ Jesus.

16. (a) How many more shared regularly in publishing the good news last year, and how many were baptized? (b) Of those who are already sharing in the preaching work how many still need to progress to the point of water baptism, but what is necessary first?

¹⁶ In looking at the chart showing the growth of the New World society, you will observe that there were 63,815 more who shared regularly each month in publishing the good news than during the previous year and that those who were baptized in water this year to symbolize their dedication to Jehovah God totaled 62,666 persons. Here we find a difference of only 1,149, if we assume that those who became regular publishers were the ones baptized. And that means that in our peak number of publishers there are still well over 82,000 persons throughout the world that need to come to a full appreciation of God’s Word and be baptized. But before they are baptized they should know the Word of God and the course of action that it is proper for them to take. They should appreciate the high standard that God requires for Christians. This information is available for all, but it is the responsibility of the mature Christian to see that they get the information and read about it before they are baptized, not necessarily afterward, because that often is too late.

17. Before one is baptized, what changes in his way of life must take place, and what if he is baptized before making those changes?

¹⁷ Jehovah wants a clean, peaceable, wholesome organization, people who are wholly devoted to him and who know their responsibilities as ministers. If one has not escaped from the defilements of the world but is still carrying on its wrong practices, then he is still asleep as Christendom is. When one takes on the responsibilities of a Christian he must stay awake; only persons who are awake, clean and alive to their responsibilities are acceptable for baptism as Jehovah’s witnesses. Otherwise their dedication is not true to Jehovah God. It is hypocritical, and so could not be accepted by the God of holiness.

18. What things should one learn, and in what way should he show his sincerity before presenting himself to be baptized?

¹⁸ So before a person ever presents himself for baptism in symbol of his dedication he should have studied more than the promises concerning God’s new world of righteousness. He may want life, but does he want to conform to Jehovah’s righteous requirements? Is he thoroughly convinced that the Bible is the Word of God? Does he know what it says about drunkenness, proper relationships between the sexes, and separateness from the old world? Has he studied long enough to appreciate the difference between true religion and false doctrines? Does he really want to be a minister of God, following in the footsteps of Christ Jesus by preaching publicly and in the homes of other people about the Kingdom? Is it just a passing fancy, or has he demonstrated his sincerity by going along in the work and by attending the congregational meetings where training in the ministry is provided? He should thoroughly appreciate what he is doing before he is baptized.

19, 20. (a) How much instruction did the Ethiopian eunuch and those baptized at Pentecost have before they were baptized, and wherein is the situation different today? (b) Before one takes the step of baptism, what should he clearly appreciate?

¹⁹ Perhaps the question will arise: Just how much advance training and instruction did the three thousand who heard Peter on the day of Pentecost and were baptized that very day have? What about the Ethiopian who was an official in the service of Queen Candace and who was baptized after just a brief discussion on a chariot ride? Were they properly instructed before they were baptized? The answer must be Yes. Remember, they were all Jews or proselytes to the religion practiced by the Jews. As such they had been instructed in the Word of God, because they heard it read regularly in their synagogues. In fact, those baptized at Pentecost were in Jerusalem for a celebration that had been commanded in the Law given by God through Moses. Jesus himself said: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the seat of Moses. Therefore all the things they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds, for they say but do not perform.” (Matt. 23:2, 3) So they knew the contents of the Scriptures then available, but there was something else that they learned before being baptized, and that was that Christ Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the one through whom Jehovah had made provision for salvation. Hearing the evidence of this and being persuaded of its truthfulness, they realized that they could no longer be a part of an organization that did not believe it and, worse, that was responsible for putting to death the Son of God. They repented of the guilt that rested upon them because of belonging to the religious system whose leaders and whose followers had shouted for Jesus to be impaled. They unreservedly expressed their faith in Christ Jesus and were ready to tell others about it.

²⁰ However, in this time of the end the majority of members of the religious systems of Christendom have not been instructed in the Bible. Surveys show that few of them can even name the four Gospels, let alone know what they contain. They are badly in need of careful instruction in even the elementary truths, and until they learn these things they are not in position to make a dedication. They should clearly know what they are doing, that they are not simply joining a church, but that they are entering into a sacred relationship to Jehovah God, that they are going to be teachers of the truth to others and that, regardless of the consequences, they must continue to walk in their integrity. They should be wide awake to the significance of Christian baptism, and determined with the help of God to live up to it, before taking that step.

21. How can we assist those who want to be with the New World society to progress to the point of baptism and then to continue in their progress to maturity?

²¹ The responsibility rests upon all dedicated persons possessing an accurate knowledge of the truth to help these who have not got rid of all the defilements of the world, but who want to be with the New World society, to clean up and to clothe themselves “with the new personality which through accurate knowledge is being renewed according to the image of the one who created it.” (Col. 3:10) Let them appreciate fully what Jehovah’s requirements are. They should receive personal instruction from a mature person in studying the books “Let God Be True” and “This Means Everlasting Life.” They should also know the contents of the latest books “Your Will Be Done on Earth” and From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained. Even after they have made a dedication someone should continue to study with them to help them to gain this information that is so important to their continued advancement to maturity. “Really, then, as long as we have time favorable for it, let us work what is good toward all, but especially toward those related to us in the faith.” (Gal. 6:10) As we give them this continued assistance, we will be pleased to see them shoulder their responsibility as Christian witnesses and become capable teachers of the truth. They will take hold of added privileges of service, seeking first the Kingdom and God’s righteousness.

Expanding Our Ministry

1. What responsibility falls upon those learning the truth, and how did Jesus show this?

WHEN an individual studies the Bible he soon learns that a true Christian does not keep his belief to himself. The truth has enlightened his mind, filled his life with hope, and proved to be ‘a light to his roadway’ so that he is able to walk in Christian integrity. If he appreciates the light he is not selfishly going to keep it to himself. “You are the light of the world,” said Jesus. “A city cannot be hid when situated upon a mountain. People light a lamp and set it, not under the measuring basket, but upon the lampstand, and it shines upon all those in the house. Likewise let your light shine before mankind, that they may see your right works and give glory to your Father who is in the heavens.”—Ps. 119:105; Matt. 5:14-16.

2. (a) In what way did Jesus and Paul set the example for us in service, and what is it that makes one want to have a share in the preaching work? (b) How did the psalmist describe the activity of Jehovah’s people, and how can they improve their ability?

² When Jesus was with his disciples on earth he trained them to be preachers of the truth, and after they had learned the truth and observed how he carried on the ministry, he sent them out to preach to others. Before ascending to heaven Jesus told his disciples: “You will be witnesses of me . . . to the most distant part of the earth.” The apostle Paul appreciated the privilege that was open to him and he said: “I did not hold back from telling you any of the things that were profitable nor from teaching you publicly and from house to house.” And he urged others: “Become imitators of me, even as I am of Christ.” So those who pay attention to the counsel of God’s Word do not hold back the truth or keep it to themselves. As soon as they see the work that has to be done, love of God causes them to talk about him and about his loving purposes. When they realize that this old world of wickedness is going to go down in destruction at the battle of Armageddon but that those who conform to the divine requirements will survive into the new world, love of neighbor makes them feel an urgent need to get out and tell others about it and point them to God’s provision for preservation. The psalmist accurately described them when he said: “About the glory of your kingship they will talk, and about your mightiness they will speak.” They are witnesses of the things that they know; they associate with Jehovah’s organization, and they want to take advantage of every arrangement made through the organization to help them improve their ability as ministers of God.—Acts 1:8; 20:20; 1 Cor. 11:1; Ps. 145:11.

3. As one’s appreciation of the truth deepens, what is he going to want to do, and what opportunities are open?

³ As their appreciation of the truth deepens they are going to want to have a fuller share in the service. Having become established in the truth and appreciating the responsibilities that go with dedication, in a little while they will want to go on to greater service. And so it has been that many have entered the pioneer service. They may continue to live and work in their own home territory, but now they arrange their affairs to spend at least a hundred hours each month in teaching the truth to others, thus having a greater share in the work that has come to be so close to their heart. As Jesus said, they say: “To do your will, O my God, I have delighted, and your law is within my inward parts.” Some of these who are in position to do so may be invited to move out into territories where the witness is not being given to continue their full-time ministry, now perhaps as special pioneers. Or they may be used to open up new fields in other lands as missionaries, to carry on their ministry at a Bethel home, or to serve as a traveling representative of the Society, visiting congregations and isolated groups as a circuit servant or a district servant. Full-time service in any of these fields brings much joy to an individual.—Ps. 40:8.

4. (a) During 1958 how many were in the pioneer service, but how great is the need for pioneers? (b) To whom is the invitation to be a pioneer extended, and what have many found to be an excellent way to get started?

⁴ The report for the past year shows that 23,772 brothers and sisters are now in the pioneer service. This is 3 percent of all the publishers. There is room for many more. “Lift up your eyes and view the fields, that they are white for harvesting.” Jesus told his disciples: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. Therefore, beg the Master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” (John 4:35; Matt. 9:37, 38) Have you ever asked yourself the question, Can I be a pioneer? It is a wonderful field to enter. While the ministers in the congregations are doing a marvelous work and are gathering in the “other sheep” in the larger communities, there is still plenty of room for ministers who can expand their service within Jehovah’s organization. Just how many of the 693,316 regular congregation publishers have prayerfully thought about getting into the pioneer service? Have you ever considered the vacation pioneer work? That is a good way to start and it affords one the opportunity to taste how good it is. It may lead you on into the regular pioneer ministry.

5. How do our brothers behind the iron Curtain feel about their ministry, and how have they responded to the call to pioneer service?

⁵ In a recent letter from Poland the brother in charge of the work said: “After those in prominent positions were released from prison and again had freedom they informed the brothers that now while the pressure has been relaxed and the work can go on, why not everyone get at it as though Armageddon was going to come tomorrow?” And the brothers took that attitude. Of all the countries in the world Poland is one of the few that has had over a 30-percent increase in publishers. They feel the responsibility that is theirs, and even though they do not have all the publications that other brothers have throughout the world, our brothers in Poland are excited and anxious and alert, on the watch, keeping their ministerial garments on, and are preaching with tremendous success. They meet together and study together so as to help the new ones. All we need to do is look in the 1959 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses at the report for the countries behind the Iron Curtain and see what a marvelous increase has been made by them. This is being done by congregation publishers too. It is hard to be a pioneer, because everyone must work at some secular occupation. But there are many of our brothers behind the Iron Curtain who become vacation pioneers. Together as a congregation of ministers of Jehovah they have searched and hunted for the other sheep and are bringing them into the organization until whole villages are Jehovah’s witnesses. This is a marvelous spirit and it is the spirit energizing the whole organization of Jehovah’s witnesses throughout the world. There is nothing better to talk about than the truth. Everyone should feel the urgency of being on the watch and be looking for the other sheep before Armageddon strikes.

6. Who are the ones that most often succeed in taking up pioneer service, and to what further privileges may it lead?

⁶ During the past year 1958 there were 18,857 ministers, on the average, in the regular pioneer service. This is better than the year before, but we should observe, too, that there has been a great increase in the number of congregation publishers. It may be that thousands of these could engage in the pioneer service. If a person’s heart is set on a thing, if he really wants to do it, very often he will succeed in organizing his affairs to do it. It takes planning; it requires an organizing of one’s affairs, and, above all, it calls for a mature appreciation of the truth. Pioneer service can be a steppingstone to special pioneer work, missionary work, circuit and district work, and Bethel service. Capable men and women who are wholly devoted to Jehovah God are needed in all these fields. There are wonderful opportunities that await those with the spirit of faithful Isaiah, who said: “Here I am! Send me.”—Isa. 6:8.

7. (a) In what way are special pioneers and missionaries helped to stay in the work, and how has this been made possible? (b) How many are now engaging in these special fields of service?

⁷ The Society is pleased that the congregation publishers have made such generous contributions to the Society to help those who have been appointed to special pioneer work and to missionary activity. During the year it was possible for the Society to help those serving in these capacities to the extent of $1,662,428.01. Just as long as these contributions continue to come in from all parts of the world the Society will want to put on more special pioneers and more missionaries to reach out into new fields. By Jehovah’s undeserved kindness the Society has been able to increase the number of special pioneers in the world from 3,859 in 1957 to an average of 4,915 during 1958. But there are more special pioneers needed in all parts of the world. In some countries we have sufficient to take care of the work, but in other places special pioneers are still needed. The missionaries, too, have done wonderful work in opening up new fields, and of the 2,176 graduates of Gilead who are still on special assignments 815 are in the missionary field. Many of the other graduates of Gilead are in the circuit work, district work and in Bethel homes. Pioneer service is a grand privilege. Seek it.

8. Who may apply for Bethel service, and how should such service be viewed?

⁸ Remember, too, there is Bethel service. Any young, healthy, dedicated man who really wants to work full-time in a Bethel home and who wants to make it his life’s work should write to his Branch office and request an application. What a joy to be in a Branch office and to be serving the brothers throughout the whole world with the things that they need so much in order to preach the good news of the Kingdom!

SERVING WHERE THE NEED IS GREAT

9. In response to Jesus’ instructions to carry the good news to people of all nations, what did the first-century Christians do?

⁹ “The field is the world,” Jesus told his disciples, and he further instructed them that they go to all the nations and make disciples. What was his reason for giving this instruction? It was so that this good news of the Kingdom could be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations. When one reads the Acts of the Apostles, he can follow the expansion of the preaching work then. We learn how the message reached persons who lived on the north coast of Africa, and those from Mesopotamia, Greece, Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean. When persecution arose over Stephen, those who found it necessary to move took advantage of the situation to get out into territories where the need was great. “Consequently those who had been scattered by the tribulation that arose over Stephen went through as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, but speaking the word to no one except to Jews only. However, out of them there were some men of Cyprus and Cyrene that came to Antioch and began talking to the Greek-speaking people, declaring the good news of the Lord Jesus.” Others, such as Paul and his traveling companions, made missionary tours into territory that needed attention, staying as long as necessary, even as he spent eighteen months in Corinth to get things well established before he went on to other places. They were anxious to carry out the command of Jesus to make disciples of people of all the nations.—Matt. 13:38; 28:19; Acts 11:19, 20.

10. What does history show to be the earnest desire of early Christians, and what did they do about it?

¹⁰ The zealous first-century Christians were not content to settle down in the place where they had always lived, profess the Christian faith, and wait for the kingdom of God. They saw that there were places where the good news was not yet being preached and they wanted to have as full a share in the work as possible. The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus speaks of the zeal of the Christians and adds: “Leaving their country, they performed the office of evangelists to those who had not yet heard the faith, whilst with a noble ambition to proclaim Christ, they also delivered to them the books of the holy Gospels. After laying the foundation of the faith in foreign parts as the particular object of their mission, . . . they went again to other regions and nations.” And, as the Scriptural account indicates in the case of Aquila and his wife, in the various places where they lived they opened their own home as a meeting place for those who would begin to associate with them.—Rom. 16:3-5.

11. What similar work is being done today, and especially since when?

¹¹ It is wonderful to see how today the Scriptures are being fulfilled by more migration on the part of Jehovah’s witnesses around the earth. Many of Jehovah’s witnesses have left their own countries and have gone into new fields. The Society encouraged this work on a large scale in 1943 when it opened the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead. Since then thousands of persons have been sent into foreign fields for missionary activity. But this kind of work is not confined just to persons who are trained at Gilead School. Going “to all nations” and making disciples can be done by any dedicated person, young or old, so it is of great interest to all of Jehovah’s witnesses to know that many families wanting to work where the need is great have moved away from their homeland and have gone to other nations. This is something that everyone within Jehovah’s New World society can give prayerful thought to. Maybe your greatest blessing is going to be somewhere else in the world.

12. (a) What is it that moves Jehovah’s people to go out to new fields, and to what extent has it been done recently? (b) How should this opportunity to expand one’s ministry be viewed?

¹² It is their love for Jehovah God, their giving him exclusive devotion, their interest in the truth, their desire to preach the good news, that makes God’s people move on to new fields. A report comes from Australia that in the past twelve months fifty-one persons have gone out to six islands of the South Pacific. Twenty-eight of Jehovah’s witnesses have gone abroad from Britain. Two have left Canada. Five have gone out from New Zealand. Ten have left France and a goodly number have moved out from the United States, going to South America and Asia. Other persons have left Germany, Liberia, South Africa, and Finland for the purpose of preaching in other nations. These brothers have packed their belongings and have moved out into a territory where the need is great. That takes love and faith. There are still many places that need more publishers of the Kingdom, and you will find them listed on page 286 of the 1959 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Prayerfully consider this opportunity to expand your ministry. Rich blessings await those who can move out into these fields where the need for workers is so great.

13. (a) Right in one’s own country what opportunities for expanded ministry are there? (b) How did Paul set a fine example for us in opening up new territory, and what counsel did he give?

¹³ There is the matter of one’s own country too. If the need is great in your own country, stay there. You do not need a passport, you do not usually need permission to travel, but all you need to do is find out from the Branch office of the Society what part of the country needs more ministers and then make arrangements to go there and take up your own occupation and continue preaching. Remember, Paul used to work at making tents to sustain himself, but he went where the need was great to do it, and while there he made his chief interest the preaching of the good news. Whether just one individual or an entire family, by thus being willing to move out to places where there is an urgent need for workers, Jehovah’s people have showed how willing they are to follow the counsel recorded at 1 Corinthians 10:24. “Let each one keep seeking, not his own advantage, but that of the other person.” And at the same time many blessings from Jehovah are in store for them, for “he that sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”—2 Cor. 9:6.

14. In order to grow to maturity, what should each one of us do?

¹⁴ Let all of Jehovah’s witnesses grow to maturity. Do as Paul counseled Timothy: “Ponder over these things, be absorbed in them, that your advancement may be manifest to all persons. Pay constant attention to yourself and to your teaching. Stay by these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.” A Christian does not want to drift back into the world to die with it at Armageddon; so he must stay with his Christian ministry and progress in it. He wants to keep his ministerial garments on, preaching the good news of God’s kingdom and thus saving himself and others also. How long Jehovah is going to have us preach this good news, how patient he will be toward the Devil’s organization before he brings destruction upon it, we do not know. But until that time comes we want to watch and be alert to all privileges that might come our way. Wherever we are, no matter what the circumstances, whether in favorable season or in troublesome season, we want to continue to preach the word.—1 Tim. 4:15, 16; 2 Tim. 4:2.

Is It Wrong to Change Religions?

CHANCES are you did not choose the religion you profess but you inherited it from your parents. Comparatively few persons actually make their own choice of a form of worship. Most stay with the religion in which they were reared, very often being afraid to make a change even if dissatisfied. This is particularly so in communities that are predominantly of one religion. The person who makes a change may become the object of popular hatred and be deprived of the means of earning a livelihood.

But what should a person do when he becomes convinced that the religion he inherited is the wrong form of worship, that its teachings are untrue and that its leaders are blind guides who are leading him into the way of divine disapproval? Would it be wrong for him to go against the wishes of his parents and of the community by changing his religion? Or would it be wrong for him not to change? This is a serious decision, and certainly neither the opinions of others nor emotions should be allowed to influence it, because it has to do with his relationship with God.

A favorable relation with the Creator is of far greater importance than the favorable opinion of relatives, friends and neighbors. If a person’s worship is wrong, his eternal welfare is in jeopardy. But how is he to know whether his worship is right or wrong? That is determined by whether it is in harmony with God’s written Word. He cannot take someone’s word for it. He must go to the Bible himself and study what it says. Just because the religious leaders in his religion as well as his parents and others say it is the true form of worship, that does not make it so. It must measure up to the Bible’s standard of true worship. God provided the Bible as a measuring rod of true faith and intended us to use it as such. By doing so we follow the counsel: “Make sure of all things; hold fast to what is right.” (1 Thess. 5:21) If a form of worship is not right, a change should be made.

WHAT HAVE OTHERS DONE?

In the first century the people who were born into the religion of Judaism assumed that they had the true religion. Not only were they told by their religious leaders and relatives that they had it, but they learned from Bible history that their forefathers had worshiped God in an acceptable manner. Those people, with few exceptions, overlooked the fact that the true religion of their forefathers had become corrupted in the course of time. That meant that the religion of Judaism was not acceptable to God. It was not the same undefiled worship practiced by Moses, Samuel and David.

Christ and his disciples preached to these people with the purpose of changing them, of turning them back to the true, uncorrupted worship of Jehovah God. They had a difficult task because they were talking to people who were just as adverse to changing religions as are many people today. Today we might wonder why Christ did not go to the pagans instead of preaching to those who were members of Judaism and worshipers of the true God. Jesus explained this when he said that he was sent forth “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”—Matt. 15:24.

Like sheep that have strayed from their shepherd, so the nation of Israel had strayed from the true worship of the Great Shepherd, Jehovah God. Their religion had become corrupted by human philosophies and traditions. Because the religious leaders had become like blind guides Jesus said: “Blind guides is what they are. If, then, a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matt. 15:14) Those religious leaders were well entrenched in their positions of authority and did not welcome the efforts of Christ to change the religious thinking of the people. Yet change was necessary for those people to gain the favor of God.

On the day of Pentecost three thousand members of Judaism changed to Christianity after being convinced by Peter that this was the divinely approved religion. They did not permit the fear of what angry relatives and neighbors might say or do to cause them to hold back. They considered the approval of God more desirable than the approval of men. The same was true with the two thousand who were persuaded to change to Christianity shortly after this. “However, many of those who had listened to the speech believed, and the number of the men became about five thousand.”—Acts 4:4.

It was not wrong for those people to change from Judaism to Christianity, because they were turning from a defiled form of worship to the undefiled worship of the living God. Instead of allowing human philosophy and tradition to govern their worship and thinking, they were allowing the written Word of God to do it. They began worshiping him in spirit and in truth. How could such a change be considered wrong except by the false shepherds of Israel?

NOT AGAINST THE COMMAND OF MOSES

The change these people made in their religion was not against the command given by Moses on the plains of Moab. When he said, “You must not walk after other gods, any gods of the peoples who are all around you,” he was warning them against changing to a false form of worship. The people of Canaan did not worship the living God, Jehovah, but instead venerated dumb idols. For the people of Israel to turn from the true God to the nonexisting gods of Canaan, it would be disastrous for them. Moses warned them that it would. “And it must occur that if you should at all forget Jehovah your God and you do walk after other gods and serve them and bow down to them, I do bear witness against you today that you people will absolutely perish.”—Deut. 6:14; 8:19.

As time passed, that nation became indifferent to these warnings. They turned to the gods of Canaan. “And they went mingling with the nations and took up learning their works. And they kept serving their idols and these came to be a snare to them.” (Ps. 106:35, 36) Because they changed from the true religion, they suffered greatly under the harsh rule of pagans. But the change they made to false religion cannot be compared with the change made by followers of Judaism who became Christians in the first century. By turning to Christianity they were not turning to false worship but were returning to the true and undefiled worship of Jehovah.

As for a person who remains in a religion that has become defiled in the eyes of God and one who has turned to false gods, both have God’s disfavor. The person who wants divine approval must first change from such a religion. It was with good reason, therefore, that Christ and his apostles told the followers of Judaism to repent. Those who did turned around or changed from the course of defiled worship that they were following as members of Judaism.

WHY CHANGE IS NECESSARY TODAY

It should be evident that all religions professing to be Christian today cannot be the same true religion to which people turned in the first century. It is written that “God is a God, not of disorder, but of peace.” (1 Cor. 14:33) Yet disorder is what prevails in Christendom, where hundreds of different religions claim to be Christian but teach conflicting doctrines. All these contradictory teachings cannot be Scriptural truth.

Christendom is in the same position that the nation of Israel was. The worship of her professing Christians has become corrupted. This began centuries ago when all those who professed Christianity were still worshiping God in an undefiled manner. The apostle Paul foretold the falling away from true worship when he said: “I know that after my going away oppressive wolves will enter in among you and will not treat the flock with tenderness, and from among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves.”—Acts 20:29, 30.

As time passed the drift from undefiled worship became greater. Traditions, human philosophies, as well as teachings and practices adopted from pagan religions became intermixed with Scriptural truths. This corrupted form of worship that claimed to be Christian could no more bring God’s approval than could the corrupted Jewish religious system of Jesus’ day.

Now what should a person do who has inherited by birth one of Christendom’s defiled religions? If he takes the attitude that it is wrong to change and that since he was born in that particular religion he should die in it, how is he any different from the members of Judaism who refused to listen to Christ and change to undefiled worship of God? He can no more take for granted that his religion is the true one, the one approved by God, than could those people. He must prove it for himself by studying the Scriptures.

Those who became Christians in the first century and came in line for the divine gift of eternal life were those who were willing to listen to what Christ and his followers had to say. They did not turn a deaf ear to them. Like the people of Beroea, “they received the word with the greatest readiness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:11) The same must be done today by all who want God’s approval.

The person who values his relationship with the Most High is willing to change his religion when he is convinced that the religion to which he belongs does not measure up to the Scriptures. It is only by changing that he can escape God’s adverse judgment.

That a change from Christendom’s defiled religions is the right thing to do is indicated by the divine command: “Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.” (Rev. 18:4) Do not, therefore, close your ears to Jehovah’s witnesses when they call at your door. Listen to what they have to say and examine the Scriptures carefully to see whether it is so. Your eternal welfare depends upon your making a wise decision about the way you want to worship.

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God.—Ps. 143:10.

Tyre—City Where Mammon Was God

A PHOENICIAN ship of ancient times—picture one in your mind. Picture it as the most magnificent ship afloat. Constructed of the finest materials, it is manned by a crew renowned as the most skilled sailors in the world. The ship is heavily laden with a cargo of costly merchandise. This proud ship, described in the twenty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel, represents the ancient city of Tyre, market of the world and city where commerce reigned supreme. The future for this resplendent ship, God’s prophet foretells, is shipwreck.

Tyre was a city whose inhabitants were materialists; they worshiped Mammon. The Greeks called these Canaanites with whom they traded “Phoenicians” (purple red) because of the purple dye and cloth that made up an important item of their merchandise.

The city’s religion, then, was the Canaanite false religion. Tyre’s inhabitants worshiped a female deity called Ashtoreth. Like that of Baal, the corresponding male divinity, the name is often found in the Bible. The Baal of Tyre was called Melkarth, the city’s patron deity. Tyre thought she worshiped Ashtoreth and Melkarth; she primarily worshiped Mammon.

God’s Word describes Tyre as having “abundant wealth of every kind.” (Ezek. 27:12, AT) The city itself was an exposition of the finest products; it was the commercial center of the ancient world. Tarshish sent silver, iron, tin and lead. Armenia furnished Tyre’s markets with horses of a celebrated breed. Dedan sent ivory and ebony. Edom sent emeralds, embroidered work, fine linen and coral. Judah and Israel supplied Tyre with wheat, honey and balm. From Damascus came the famous Helbon wine. Arabia sent lambs and goats, the finest of all kinds of spices and the finest of all kinds of precious stones and gold. Tyre’s markets abounded with exquisite articles of finery; there were cedar chests of rich apparel.

PROUD METROPOLIS OF THE SIDONIANS

That ancient Canaanite city of Sidon mothered Tyre. Sidon stamped her coins with the legend, “Mother of Kambē, Hippo, Kition, Tyre.” Since a colony from Sidon founded Tyre, Tyre’s inhabitants continued to call themselves Sidonians. The Bible calls Tyre the “virgin daughter of Sidon” and its commercial inhabitants “the merchants from Sidon.” (Isa. 23:12, 2, AS) On its coins Tyre called itself “the Metropolis of the Sidonians.” In time this “daughter of Sidon” eclipsed its mother in glory and grandeur.

This Sidonian metropolis exulted in its wealth, its strength, its fame and its antiquity. In the eighth century B.C., Isaiah spoke of Tyre as a city “that was exultant from days of long ago.” (Isa. 23:7) It was a strong city even as early as Joshua’s time; Joshua called it “the fortified city of Tyre.”—Josh. 19:29.

With the rich and costly things of the earth within her walls, Tyre’s pride knew no bounds. Puffed up with pride, Tyre trusted in her own wisdom, her riches, her alliances and her military strength. Most of Tyre’s male inhabitants were too busy worshiping at the shrine of Mammon to serve in the army. So Tyre used its wealth to hire soldiers from foreign lands to do its fighting: “Men of Persia, Lud, and Put were in your army, serving as your soldiers.” (Ezek. 27:10, AT) Tyre believed herself impregnable. For five years the Assyrian king Shalmaneser besieged Tyre; yet he failed to take the city. Little wonder that Tyre, on her coins, described herself as “sacred and inviolate.”

TYRE’S SINS AND JEHOVAH’S DECREE

In three chapters of Ezekiel (twenty-six through twenty-eight) we read of God’s decree upon Tyre. God’s prophet says that Tyre is like a ship that will be caught in a tempest and sunk with total loss of cargo and crew. What had Tyre done to provoke the wrath of the true and living God, Jehovah? To the king of Tyre God said: “Because of your wealth you are puffed with pride.”—Ezek. 28:5, AT.

It was more than Mammon-produced pride that provoked the wrath of Jehovah. Tyre’s greediness for wealth led to another sin: Tyre sold Israelites as slaves. It had not always been that way. When Hiram was king of Tyre, relations between Jerusalem and Tyre were friendly. Hiram sent David timber and workmen for his palace and material to Solomon for Jehovah’s temple. But after the division of the kingdom, relations deteriorated, primarily because Mammon-minded Tyre “did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.” God’s prophet Amos said this because Tyre filled its slave markets with Jews, selling them to distant heathen countries. Declared Jehovah through the prophet Joel: “The people of Judah, and the people of Jerusalem, you have sold to the Greeks. . . . I will requite your deed upon your own head.” Tyre’s punishment would be a severe one. Said Jehovah: “I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour her palaces.”—Joel 3:6, 7; Amos 1:9, 10, AT.

There was even more to Tyre’s guilt in God’s eyes. Again it was the love of Mammon that led to Tyre’s undoing. When the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 607 B.C., the Tyrians rejoiced! Jerusalem had attracted many merchants. Now with Jerusalem out of the way Tyre expected more trade for herself. Tyre exulted: “Aha! the gate of the peoples is broken, she is thrown open to me; I shall be filled, while she is laid waste.”—Ezek. 26:2, AT.

Feeling herself impregnable and feeling certain that increased commercial trade was coming her way, Tyre expected a glorious future. But the God of heaven had determined Tyre’s future. At a time when Tyre could envision only prosperity ahead, Jehovah said through his prophet: “I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth its waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. She shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.”—Ezek. 26:3-5, AS.

What an awful future for Tyre—to be scraped so thoroughly as to be like a bare rock and to become a place upon which fishermen would spread their nets to dry!

What was the first of the “many nations” that God would cause to come against Tyre? “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.”—Ezek. 26:7, AS.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S LONG SIEGE

True to the prophecy, not long after the fall of Jerusalem, the king of Babylon came against Tyre. But Tyre was confident. Had not the city resisted Shalmaneser for five years, causing that king to give up the siege? Nebuchadnezzar attacked confident Tyre, and the siege was on. Five years passed but Nebuchadnezzar did not give up the siege. Seven years passed, ten years, and still Tyre resisted. Surely the king of Babylon would give up the attempt and go home, so the Tyrians must have thought. But the siege went on. Twelve years passed. Tyre still resisted. Finally, after thirteen years, the siege engines of Nebuchadnezzar prevailed. Tyre fell. The city was razed.

How costly was that campaign to the king of Babylon! What hardships for the soldiers: “Every head was rubbed bald, and every shoulder was pealed bare; yet neither he nor his army won any return from the campaign which he directed against Tyre.” (Ezek. 29:18, AT) The treasures of Tyre eluded Nebuchadnezzar. How so? During the long siege the bulk of the treasures had been transferred to a small island about half a mile from the mainland.

Was Nebuchadnezzar to go unpaid? No. He had performed services for Almighty God in destroying Tyre. So Jehovah foretold how he would compensate the king of Babylon: “Behold, I am giving the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon; and he shall carry off her abundance, and shall despoil her and prey upon her, to pay his army. As a return for the campaign which he directed against Tyre, I am giving him the land of Egypt, because they rendered a service to me.” (Ezek. 29:19, 20, AT) Shortly afterward the king of Babylon conquered Egypt and received the spoils as payment for reducing proud, Mammon-worshiping Tyre to a heap of rubble.

NEW TYRE, THE ISLAND CITY

The mainland city was no more. The Tyre that existed now was an island city of about 150 acres. To get as many people on the island as possible the Tyrians built their houses several stories high. In time Tyre again became a strong and prosperous city. And again Tyre’s god was mainly Mammon. What riches poured into the city! Describing new Tyre, the island city, God’s prophet Zechariah said: “Tyre built herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the mud of the streets.”—Zech. 9:3, AT.

Tyre once again felt proud and secure. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus wrote: “Tyre had the greatest confidence owing to her insular position and fortifications, and the abundant stores she had prepared.” But the wrath of Jehovah was still upon Tyre. God’s prophet made this pronouncement upon the wealthy island city: “The LORD, however, will dispossess her, and smite her wealth into the sea, and she shall be consumed by fire.”—Zech. 9:4, AT.

The time came for Jehovah Most High to smite Tyre’s “wealth into the sea.” In the year 333 B.C. Alexander of Macedon defeated the Persian king Darius at the battle of Issus. Alexander now turned his attention to Tyre. When Alexander arrived Tyre sent out an embassy with presents. Alexander asked to enter the city to offer sacrifice in the great temple of Melkarth. The Tyrians refused. They were willing to have the Macedonian monarch as friend but not as master. Alexander, enraged at the stubbornness of the Tyrians, determined to take the city. But how? Tyre was an island.

ALEXANDER BUILDS A CAUSEWAY

So as to attack Tyre’s walls, Alexander put his army to work building a causeway to the island. Where did Alexander find materials to build his causeway? Why, from the massive ruins of old Tyre. Alexander’s men salvaged stones and timber and began building a causeway about 200 feet wide. When more construction materials were needed, Alexander ordered all the debris of the ruined city scraped up and dumped into the water. Alexander, as the historian Arrian relates, scraped off the very dust of old Tyre to build his causeway. Thus old Tyre, the mainland city, completely perished, even as God had long before foretold through the prophet Ezekiel: “I will scrape her very dust from her, and will make her a bare rock. . . . Your stones and timber and dust shall be sunk in the heart of the waters.”—Ezek. 26:4, 12, AT.

Alexander continued work on the causeway. Progress was made difficult by repeated attacks by Tyrian naval vessels. Sometimes the Tyrians fired a hail of missiles; sometimes they taunted Alexander’s soldiers, saying that it was a most noble sight to see these conquerors carrying burdens on their backs like so many beasts. Inflamed by the taunts and inspired by the presence of Alexander, the soldiers exerted themselves strenuously. Eventually Alexander realized he could not succeed without a navy.

From Cyprus and Sidon, from Aradus (Arwad) and Byblus, Alexander obtained many naval vessels. Finally the Macedonian conqueror amassed an armada of some 200 ships. He now had a navy stronger than Tyre’s. With the Tyrian navy bottled up in the harbor, Alexander went to work in earnest.

Soon the causeway was extended to the city walls, walls that towered to a height of 150 feet. The battering rams went to work. The battle was tremendous. Both sides fought like lions. Continually the Tyrians hurled red-hot sand down upon the attackers. Alexander brought up siege engines to hurl arrows, stones and burning torches upon the besieged. Alexander constructed enormous towers about twenty stories high; the topmost platforms towered to a height of more than 160 feet. These towers bristled with weapons. At last, after seven months of besiegement, in August, 332 B.C., Alexander’s soldiers scaled the walls, his battering rams breached the walls and his navy forced its way into Tyre’s harbor. Tyre fell.

Because of its stubborn resistance Alexander set the city afire, put 8,000 Tyrians to the sword, impaled 2,000 of them and sold 30,000 into slavery. Thus with the destruction of the island city by Alexander the Great, the words of God’s prophets concerning the downfall of ancient Tyre attained complete fulfillment—nearly two hundred years after Zechariah foretold it, nearly three hundred years after Ezekiel and Jeremiah foretold it, more than three hundred years after Joel foretold it and more than four hundred years after Amos and Isaiah foretold it!

VISITORS TO TYRE

In the years that followed Alexander’s conquest of Tyre, the island city managed to rebuild itself a number of times, only to be conquered by many nations. The last trace of Tyre’s independent existence was taken from it by the Roman emperor Augustus. A.D. 638 Tyre was captured by the Moslems, and in 1124 Tyre was taken by the crusaders. The crusaders lost it in 1291, when the city was razed almost to a heap of stones. After its capture by the Turks in 1516, Tyre soon became a desolation. When Sandys visited Tyre about 1619 he said: “This once famous Tyre is now no other than a heap of ruins.”

In 1697 Maundrell said of Tyre: “Its present inhabitants are only a few poor wretches harbouring themselves in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly upon fishing, who seem to be preserved in this place by Divine Providence as a visible argument how God has fulfilled his word concerning Tyre, viz., That it should be as the top of a rock, a place for fishers to dry their nets on.”

In 1751 the Swedish naturalist Hasselquist visited Tyre and said: “Here are about ten inhabitants, Turks and Christians, who live by fishing.”

In 1838 Dr. Robinson visited Tyre and later wrote in his Biblical Researches: “I continued my walk along the whole western and northern shore of the peninsula, musing upon the pomp and glory, the pride and fall, of ancient Tyre. Here was the little isle once covered by her palaces and surrounded by her fleet. . . . But alas! . . . Tyre has indeed become ‘like the top of a rock, a place to spread nets upon!’ The sole remaining tokens of her more ancient splendour—columns of red and gray granite, sometimes forty or fifty heaped together, or marble pillars—lie broken and strewed beneath the waves in the midst of the sea; and the hovels that now nestle upon a portion of her site present no contradiction of the dread decree, ‘Thou shalt be built no more.’”

Today the inhabitants of Tyre are not many more than when Dr. Robinson made his visit. Called Es Sur (the old name in Arabic), Tyre is a mere village of about 5,000 people and is built around the north end of the former island. Alexander’s causeway is still there; and the ancient island, now a peninsula, is connected right with the mainland by a tongue of land almost half a mile broad. Once a center of world commerce, Tyre now carries on an insignificant trade in cotton and tobacco; and its fishermen have acres of desolate space to spread out their nets to dry.

The Bible reader looks upon Tyre with great interest, for few cities afford more striking evidence of the absolute certainty of Jehovah’s prophetic Word. “Who has been ruined like Tyre in the heart of the sea?” spoke God’s prophet when Tyre was market of the world and mistress of the seas. “Now you are wrecked in the seas, in the depths of the waters; your cargo and all your crew are sunk in the heart of you. . . . You have come to an awful end, and shall be no more forever.”—Ezek. 27:32, 36, AT.

[Map on page 308]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

Probable site of the mainland city of Tyre

Mediterranean Sea

TYRE (Island City)

Causeway

Loose drift sand

Probable line of ancient sea coast

Scale

yards

0

500

North

Confirmation of the Bible

“It has been said that science is opposed to, and in conflict with revelation. But the history of the former shows that the greater its progress, and the more accurate its investigations and results, the more plainly it is seen not only not to clash with the latter, but in all things to confirm it. The very sciences from which objections have been brought against religion have, by their own progress, removed those objections, and in the end furnished full confirmation of the inspired Word of God.”—Tryon Edwards.

Part 14—“Your Will Be Done on Earth”

The “march of world powers” from the days of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was foretold by means of a symbolic metallic image shown in a dream to this mighty world ruler. In interpreting the dream Jehovah’s prophet Daniel explained that the gold head of the image pictured the dynasty or line of Babylonian kings beginning with Nebuchadnezzar; the silver breast and arms pictured the Medo-Persian Empire as represented by its line of kings; the bronze (copper) belly and thighs pictured the succeeding world power, the Macedonian or Grecian, established by Alexander the Great; and the legs of iron pictured, first of all, the Roman Empire, that swallowed up the several Hellenic empires that Alexander the Great left behind him. The Roman Empire thus became the sixth world power of Bible history. But does the fulfillment of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image terminate with the Roman Empire?

34. Why was the Roman not the only world power symbolized by the iron legs?

³⁴ The sixth world power, the Roman, was not the only world power symbolized by the iron legs. Within the centuries of existence of the ironlike system of world power there arose the greatest and mightiest in all the line of march. This was the seventh world power, which was foretold in Bible prophecy. It was the British Empire, the mightiness of which was increased in course of time by the co-operation of the United States of America in the North American continent. This resulted in a dual world power, the strongest and most far-reaching of all history down till A.D. 1914.

35. What was the completing part of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image, and what interpretation did Daniel place on this final part?

³⁵ But there was a final or completing part of the symbolic image, namely, “its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.” On this the prophet Daniel made the following inspired comment: “And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken [brittle]. And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with [by] the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay.”—Dan. 2:41-44, AS, margin.

36. What would the iron of the image suggest, and what is pictured by the ten toes of the image?

³⁶ As the iron section of the symbolic image started off with the Roman Empire and led on to the Anglo-American dual world power, the firmness and strength of the iron would represent the hardness and toughness of their world control and rule. But what of the ten toes in which the symbolic image terminated? This feature showed that at the time of the end of this symbolic image the remnant of the Roman or sixth world power would vie with the Anglo-American or seventh world power and that there would be other independent political governments associated with those competing powers. The number ten being a Biblical number symbolizing earthly completeness, the ten toes picture all such coexisting powers and governments.

37. What part did the Roman Catholic Church play in a section of the Roman Empire?

³⁷ But how did these symbolic ten toes come to be part of iron and part of miry clay? It came to be that way because “they shall mingle themselves with [by] the seed of men.” It is true that the pagan Roman Empire was partly converted into the Holy Roman Empire, anointed by the religious pontiffs of the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy tried to dominate this Holy Roman Empire, and a struggle for power arose between the political rulers of this empire and the pope and his religious clergy. There was a marriage of Church and State, except in the United States of America.

38. On the part of the political rulers, what mingling of themselves with or by the seed of men has there been in a strictly political way, and with what result?

³⁸ However, a mingling of rulers or political heads with the “seed of men” would mean a combining with one another and producing a political offspring; or it would mean a popularizing, a democratizing or a socializing of the forms of government. In the nineteenth century the socialist movement made great strides in Christendom. In the year 1848 the Communist Manifesto, giving a brief, clear statement of scientific socialism, was issued by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and revolutionary movements swept through Europe. Even Pope Pius IX was obliged to flee from Rome, not to return till 1850. The socialist element, when sharing to any extent in government, has aimed at weakening and overthrowing so-called capitalistic government; whereas democratic elements in government have weakened the power of imperial, absolute monarchs. There has been no cleaving together in love or kindredness between these more modern, radical elements and the older imperial types of world domination. It has been like trying to mix iron with clay.

INDESTRUCTIBLE KINGDOM WITHOUT SUCCESSORS

39. How did Daniel interpret the climax of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream?

³⁹ At this stage comes the dramatic climax of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and its fulfillment! The prophet Daniel continued his interpretation: “In the days of those kings the God of the heavens shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people; it shall break in pieces and annihilate all these kingdoms, but it shall stand forever, as you saw how a stone was hewn from a mountain without hands, which broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God makes known to the king what shall be in the future; the dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.”—Dan. 2:44, 45, AT.

40. How was the symbolic stone cut out without hands. and what is the mountain out of which it was thus cut?

⁴⁰ A.D. 1914 the “seven times” or the “appointed times of the nations” ended. In the fall of that year, according to the Bible’s time schedule, the God of the heavens set up his promised kingdom, enthroning and crowning his anointed Son, the glorified Jesus Christ, to be the King of kings and Lord of lords. (Rev. 12:1-5; 17:14; 19:16) Thus this establishment of God’s kingdom was by no human hands. It was as if a stone had been cut out of a mountain without human hands. Jehovah God’s universal sovereignty is symbolized by the mountain; and this kingdom in the hands of his anointed King who fulfills the kingdom covenant with David is simply an expression of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty. It is the “kingdom of our Lord [God] and of his Christ.”—Rev. 11:15.

41. In what way was it “in the days of those kings” that God’s kingdom was thus born?

⁴¹ This birth of the Kingdom occurred “in the days of those kings,” not merely the kings pictured by the ten toes but also those pictured by the iron, bronze (copper), silver and gold parts of the image. Although the Babylonian, the Persian, the Grecian and the Roman Empires had long ago passed away as world powers, yet there were the basic remnants of those previous world powers still in existence in 1914 (A.D.), the Turkish Ottoman Empire occupying the territory of ancient Babylonia, whereas national governments operated in Persia (now Iran) and in Greece and in Rome, Italy.

42. Why will the power of that kingdom not be left to another people, and when will it strike the symbolic image?

⁴² This heavenly kingdom set up by the God of the heavens will never be destroyed. It will therefore not leave its sovereignty to any new world power as a successor, nor will it ever be trodden down or trampled on by any worldly nation. There will be no nation or worldly power on earth to which to leave such sovereignty, for God’s kingdom by his anointed King will break all these kingdoms pictured in the metallic image to pieces and bring them to an everlasting end. That heavenly kingdom, brought forth like a newborn babe from God’s universal organization over which he exercises sovereignty, is now speeding on its mission to strike the symbolic image on its feet of iron and clay. At the time for the final Armageddon war, “the war of the great day of God the Almighty,” that symbolic Stone will strike the symbolic image with crushing impact.

43. How thoroughly will the symbolic image be disposed of, and how will the stone become a mountain filling all the earth?

⁴³ The literal destruction of the symbolic image will rapidly go forward, without a hand being raised by any of Jehovah’s witnesses on earth. The symbolic image of world domination by rulers of this old world will be ground to powder, and the wind of God’s storm will sweep the powder away like the chaff of the threshing floor, never to be brought together again on earth. Like the image-smashing stone that grew to mountain size to fill our entire earth, God’s kingdom will become the governmental mountain that will fill the whole earth and dominate all human affairs forever. “They will not do any harm or cause any ruin in all my holy mountain; because the earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.” (Isa. 11:9) The will of the great God will then be done on earth as well as in heaven. The long march of ungodly world powers will have ended forever.

CHAPTER 6

THE KING FOR ENFORCING THE SUPREME WILL

1, 2. During the sway of what world power was the heir of the promised kingdom born, and according to Gabriel’s announcement what was he to have precede him?

WHEN the Roman Empire was holding sway as the sixth world power of Biblical history, the heir to the long-promised kingdom of God was born among men, about October 1 in the year 2 B.C. This heir of the heavenly kingdom really came down from heaven. What events in heaven preceded his birth on earth have not been made known to us, but there were important preliminaries to his birth here on earth. Quite fittingly for a king, he was to have a forerunner to introduce him among men. About fifteen months before the birth of the promised King of the family line of David, the angel Gabriel appeared to the father of the future forerunner. He appeared inside the first holy compartment of Jehovah’s sanctuary in Jerusalem, or in so-called Herod’s temple, where priest Zechariah was offering incense to Jehovah while the worshipers were praying outside in the courtyard. Gabriel said:

² “Have no fear, Zechariah, because your supplication has had acceptance, and your wife Elizabeth will be the mother of a son to you, and you are to call his name John. And you will have joy and great gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth; for he will be great before Jehovah.a But he must drink no wine and strong drink at all, and he will be filled with holy spirit right from his mother’s womb, and many of the sons of Israel will he turn back to Jehovahb their God. Also he will go before him with Elijah’s spirit and power, to turn back the hearts of fathers to children and the disobedient ones to the practical wisdom of righteous ones, to get ready for Jehovahc a prepared people.”—Luke 1:13-17.

3. When did Gabriel appear to Mary, and what were her circumstances?

³ After his week of temple service was up, old Zechariah went home and his aged wife Elizabeth conceived the child to be named John. During the sixth month of her pregnancy the angel Gabriel was sent about sixty miles north of Jerusalem, to the city of Nazareth in the province of Galilee. He appeared to a virgin Jewess named Mary, the daughter of Heli, of the family line of King David. (Luke 3:23-31) She was engaged to marry a carpenter named Joseph, who also was of the family line of King David but through the second-last king of Jerusalem, Jeconiah or Jehoiachin. But before finally merging in King David, the ancestral lines of Joseph and Mary meet in Zerubbabel and his father Shealtiel, descendants of David. Thus Mary’s coming offspring would have fleshly descent from King David through both his son King Solomon and his other son Nathan. Luke 3:34-38 gives that part of Mary’s ancestry that reaches back from Abraham to “Adam, the son of God,” as follows: 1. Adam. 2. Seth. 3. Enos. 4. Cainan. 5. Mahalaleel. 6. Jared. 7. Enoch. 8. Methuselah. 9. Lamech. 10. Noah. 11. Shem. 12. Arphaxad. 13. Cainan. 14. Shelah. 15. Eber. 16. Peleg. 17. Reu. 18. Serug. 19. Nahor. 20. Terah. 21. Abraham. From Abraham Joseph’s ancestry and Mary’s run as follows:

Joseph’s Mary’s

Matthew 1:2-16 Luke 3:23-24

21. Abraham Abraham

22. Isaac Isaac

23. Jacob Jacob

24. Judah Judah

25. Perez Perez

26. Hezron Hezron

27. Ram Arni

28. Amminadab Amminadab

29. Nahshon Nahshon

30. Salmon Salmon

31. Boaz Boaz

32. Obed Obed

33. Jesse Jesse

34. David David

35. Solomon Nathan

36. Rehoboam Mattatha

37. Menna

38. Melea

39. Abijah Eliakim

40. Asa Jonam

41. Jehoshaphat Joseph

42. Jehoram Judas

43. [Ahaziah] Symeon

44. [Jehoash] Levi

45. [Amaziah] Matthat

46. Uzziah Jorim

47. Jotham Eliezer

48. Ahaz Jesus

49. Hezekiah Er

50. Manasseh Elmadam

51. Amon Cosam

52. Josiah Addi

53. [Jehoiakim] Melchi

54. Jechoniah Neri

55. SHEALTIEL SHEALTIEL

56. ZERUBBABEL ZERUBBABEL

57. [Hananiah, according to 1 Chron. 3:19, 21]

58. Rhesa

59. Joanan

60. Abiud Joda

61. Eliakim Josech

62. Semein

63. Mattathias

64. Maath

65. Naggai

66. Azor Esli

67. Nahum

68. Amos

69. Zadok Mattathias

70. Achim Joseph

71. Eliud Jannai

72. Eleazar Melchi

73. Matthan Levi

74. Jacob Matthat

75. Heli (Mary’s father)

76. Joseph Joseph (son-in-law of Heli)

77. JESUS (foster son) JESUS (Mary’s son)

4. What was the information that Gabriel gave to Mary, and how did she respond to it?

⁴ Oh what news Gabriel brought King David’s distant granddaughter Mary! “Have no fear, Mary, for you have found favor with God; and, look! you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you are to call his name Jesus. This one will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and Jehovah God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will be king over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of his kingdom.” Mary, not yet united to the carpenter Joseph, asked how this birth could be without a human father. Gabriel answered: “Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason also what is born will be called holy, God’s Son.” Submissively Mary said: “Look! Jehovah’s slave girl! May it take place with me according to your declaration.”—Luke 1:26-38.

(To be continued)

[Footnotes]

Worship of the Devil

SATANISM is the direct religious worship of Satan the Devil as god. Sects of Satanism have existed as base forms of false religion. Sacred Scriptures admit the fact that Satan by deception has become the god of this present evil system of things. (2 Cor. 4:4) While striving for such a distinction Satan has had the insatiable desire to be worshiped directly as a world god. (Ezek. 28:2) However, he has never succeeded in inducing most of mankind to religiously serve him other than indirectly by means of deceptive devices such as idols or the trinity concept. It is of interest to note that down through the ages glimpses have come to the surface of secluded sects worshiping Satan outrightly as their god. What sort of religious performance do these sects present?

From Nimrod’s time to the present there have been those who have been interested in the occult, dealing with satanic mystical things of the spirit realm. Such ones have become known as sorcerers, magicians and astrologers. Their practices of magic and communicating with the uncanny invisible powers are condemned in the Bible. (Lev. 19:26; Ex. 22:18; 1 Sam. 15:23) Like the fictitious Faust who sold himself to the Devil, so these practicers of divination and demonism are said to bind themselves in secret worship and service to Satan. Many are the exaggerated tales of their witchcraft rites and grotesque antics of Devil worship.

Out of the old pagan Chaldean religion of the past, including Magianism, there exists today a relic of an ancient sect of Satan worshipers known as the Yezidis. They are found mostly in the mountains of modern Iraq, although some of them have been scattered to Turkey and Soviet Armenia. Sir Austin Layard in his excavations of Nineveh in the nineteenth century came across the Yezidis. Of these he writes: “The mysteries of the sect have been traced to the worship introduced by Semiramis, a worship which, impure in its forms, led to every excess of debauchery and lust. . . . They believe Satan to be the chief of the Angelic host, now suffering punishment for his rebellion against the divine will; but still all-powerful, and to be restored hereafter to his high estate in the celestial hierarchy. He must be conciliated and reverenced, they say, for as he now has the means of doing evil to mankind, so will he hereafter have the power of rewarding them.” A report in 1946 said the “Yezidis believe the Supreme Being delegated worldly power to Satan for 10,000 years.”

History records that toward the end of the fourth century after Christ there was a glimpse of a sect by the name of “Satanians.” Among other things it is said that they believed the Devil to be extremely powerful. For this reason it was much wiser to respect and adore him than to curse him. They held that, in view of the power Satan wielded over men, it makes it right for them to pray that he will not exercise it to their harm.

Later, during medieval times, there comes to view “the Sabbat,” a midnight assembly of sorcerers and witches who performed rites of Devil worship. One writer claims human sacrifices of children were made to Satan on such occasions.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century a group called “Luciferians” come to the surface. Says the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics: “They were said to adore Lucifer, the equal and foe of Adonay, or Jahweh. He was in their view the God of light, the good principle, while Adonay was the God of darkness, the evil principle. In short, he was Satan himself.” This blasphemous sect could not more completely copy 2 Corinthians 11:14, which reads: “And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light.”

The nineteenth century presents to view another sect designated “Satanists.” The book The Worship of Satan in Modern France has this to say: They [the Satanists] have always existed in Paris. Their temples are in the Rue Jacob, the Rue Rochechouart and within a few yards of the Pantheon. Only the initiated are admitted. The most noteworthy feature of the downright Satanism of today [1896] is that it necessarily symbolises an acceptance of revealed dogma and of a personal devil. The followers actually profess that the being whom they describe as the vanquished foe of the archangels Michael and Raphael actually manifests himself to them on certain occasions.”

What about recent times? In 1922 a press article said the “black mass” was being celebrated again for a short time following World War I. “The new devil worship has more women than men among its devotees. Its high priestess is a woman. The ‘Temple’ where the devil is worshiped is a fair-sized Parisian salon, capable of accommodating perhaps fifty ‘worshipers.’ A place is kept clear on the ‘altar’ on which the devil is supposed to make his incarnate appearance, and it will be easily believed by those familiar with postwar psychology that quite a number of his ‘flock’ profess to have seen and held converse with him. Clothes are not worn either by the ‘celebrant’ or the ‘congregation.’ It is an expensive matter to become a devil worshiper, even allowing for the chaotic state of the exchange. To become a neophyte, it is stated, costs you 100,000 francs. You have to pay as much more for your initiation when you are raised to the degree of actually holding converse with the devil. Every time you attend a service you have to contribute another 1,000 francs to the ‘Temple’ expenses. That the cult will be suppressed in the more or less near Future is certain—as soon, that is to say, as its excesses cease to be a carefully guarded secret in the hands of the few.”

All will agree that these sects of Satanism present performances that are degrading. They reveal the extent of the fallen state of mind of Satan, who inspires such low religions. Furthermore, these sects can have an appeal only to those humans who have become reprobates like their father the Devil. (John 8:44) These glimpses expose the filthy thinking and base mentality of the one who now is worshiped indirectly by most of mankind as their god, namely, Satan, the fool opposer of Jehovah God.

Questions From Readers

● In the Chronological Chart of World Powers on page 365 of the book “Your Will Be Done on Earth” (August 2, 1958) it lists the kings of the Medo-Persian Empire (539-331 B.C.) as Darius the Mede; Cyrus the Great (Persian); Cambyses; [Usurper Magian Gaumata, pretending to be Smerdis, 522/1 B.C.]; Darius I (Persian) (Hystaspes), 521-485 B.C.; Xerxes I (Ahasuerus); Artaxerxes I (Longimanus); Xerxes II; Darius II (Ochus; Nothus) ; Artaxerxes II (Mnemon); Artaxerxes III (Ochus); etc., etc.

The above does not agree with what is stated in the chapters on Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther in the book “Equipped for Every Good Work” and in Chapter 14 on “A Faithful Few Come Back to Build the Temple Again” in the book From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained. How can this seeming discrepancy be explained?

There is no real discrepancy between the books “Equipped for Every Good Work” and From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained on the one hand and the later book “Your Will Be Done on Earth” on the other hand. During the reign of Darius the Persian, not the Mede, the temple to Jehovah was rebuilt at Jerusalem. The earlier book “Equipped” calls him Darius II, because it recognizes Darius the Mede as a historical Biblical character and hence counts this Median Darius as being the first ruler named Darius in the Medo-Persian Empire.

However, the later book “Your Will Be Done on Earth” lists the first Persian Darius (Hystaspes) as Darius I because the Chronological Chart of World Powers in the Appendix of the book follows the secular histories of this world, which cannot account for Darius the Mede and hence which list the Persian Darius Hystaspes as Darius I. When speaking of the purely Persian Empire, or the empire in which Persia had the dominance, Darius the Mede would not figure in the line of kings inasmuch as he was not Persian, but merely the Median uncle of the Persian Cyrus the Great. Because of publishing the Chronological Chart in its Appendix the book “Your Will Be Done on Earth” harmonizes the comments on the world powers and their rulers in the main text of the book with the Chronological Chart in its Appendix. Accordingly it differs from the book “Equipped” in naming Darius Hystaspes during whose reign the building of the second temple to Jehovah at Jerusalem was authorized and completed as King Darius I of the Persian Empire.

Now as regards the Persian kings named Artaxerxes. The two earlier books “Equipped” and Paradise speak of the Persian king during whose reign both Ezra and Nehemiah came to Jerusalem as being Artaxerxes III, and not Artaxerxes I, from the following standpoint.

As already stated in a previous issue of The Watchtower, that of March 15, 1954, page 191, the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew book of Ezra calls the Persian ruler who caused the building of Jehovah’s temple at Jerusalem to be stopped Arthasasthá, but the English translations call him Artaxerxes. (Ezra 4:7-23) It appears that in reality this Artaxerxes was the Magian Gaumata, who pretended to be Smerdis and who got the throne by imposture and usurpation for about eight months. Following the Greek translation of the Hebrew text, this one would be the first Artaxerxes, or Artaxerxes I.

After this usurper there came Darius I the Persian (Hystaspes) and then Xerxes I. It appears that this Xerxes I married the Jewess Esther, but the Hebrew book of Esther calls him Ahasuerus. However, the Greek Septuagint translation calls him Artaxerxes. (Esther 1:1 to 2:23, NW, margin) So from the Greek presentation of the matter, this Xerxes the Great was the second Artaxerxes, or Artaxerxes II.

After him there came a ruler surnamed Longimanus. The Hebrew Bible speaks of him as Artakhshásta (the same name as that given the ruler at Ezra 4:7). During the reign of this Longimanus or Artakhshásta the Jewish priest Ezra and the Jewish governor Nehemiah, for two separate reasons, were permitted to go to Jerusalem. (Ezra 7:1-28; Neh. 2:1-18; 13:6) However, the Greek Septuagint version speaks of this Longimanus as Arthasasthá, and the English versions speak of him as Artaxerxes. Hence, from this standpoint Longimanus would be Artaxerxes III.

Concerning this Persian king McClintock & Strong’s Cyclopædia, Volume I, page 440, column 1, says: “He is the same with the third Artaxerxes, the Persian king who, in the twentieth year of his reign, considerately allowed Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem for the furtherance of purely national objects, invested him with the government of his own people, and allowed him to remain there for twelve years . . . It is almost unanimously agreed that the king here intended is Artaxerxes Longimanus . . . ”

Now the later book “Your Will Be Done on Earth” in publishing the Chronological Chart sets forth the world-power rulers beginning with the rulers of the Babylonian Empire and running through those of the Eastern Roman Empire; and this book does so according to the listing of these rulers given in the secular histories of the world. These do not follow the list of Artaxerxes that is given in the Holy Scriptures according to the Hebrew text and the Greek version. They list the Artaxerxes during whose reign Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem as Artaxerxes I, and the second ruler following him as Darius II.

So, then, in publishing the list of world rulers according to the secular history in the Chronological Chart, the book “Your Will” must consistently refer to the various world rulers in agreement with this chart. For this reason it refers to Artaxerxes Longimanus as Artaxerxes I, and not as Artaxerxes III as the earlier books “Equipped” and Paradise do. Since the book “Your Will” lists Artaxerxes Longimanus as Artaxerxes I, it consistently lists the later Artaxerxes Mnemon as number II and his successor Artaxerxes Ochus as number III.

Thus, in reading the above-mentioned books published by the Watch Tower Society, one must consider each one’s contents according to the background against which it was written. Then what, on a mere superficial comparison of them, might appear as discrepancies are not really such. The identities of kings under discussion prove to be the same according to their dating, characteristics and exploits, although the numbering of them in dynasties may differ according to the order of listing that each book followed.

Announcements

1959 DISTRICT ASSEMBLIES

All arrangements for the 1959 assemblies are now consummated. These cities are listed along with the rooming headquarters address for each city. This will enable you to write for proper accommodations in the event that you have not received the information through your local congregation. Address your mail to Watchtower Convention.

JUNE 4-7: San Diego, Calif., 4312 Rialto St., San Diego 7.

JUNE 18-21: Fairbanks, Alaska, P.O. Box 1004, Fairbanks; Tampa, Fla., 601 E. Lake Avenue. Tampa 3.

JUNE 25-28: Des Moines, Iowa, 702 3rd Street, Des Moines 14; Philadelphia, Pa., 3951 Lancaster Ave. Philadelphia 4; Stockton, Calif., 564 E. Cleveland St., Stockton 4.

JULY 9-12: Eugene, Oreg., 95 N. Washington St., Eugene; Evansville, Ind., 2717 Covert Ave., Evansville 14; Flint, Mich., 2731 Clio Road, Flint 4; Fresno, Calif., 4629 E. Belmont Ave., Fresno 2; Winnipeg, Man., 1338 Main Street, Winnipeg.

JULY 16-19: Albuquerque, N. Mex., 333 Pennsylvania NE., Albuquerque; Cincinnati, Ohio, 1414 Sycamore St., Cincinnati 10; Rapid City, S. Dak., 920 LaCross. Rapid City.

JULY 23-26: Boise, Idaho, 808 N. 29th Street, Boise; Chattanooga, Tenn., 2611 E. 40th Street, Chattanooga 7; Ottawa, Ont., 405 Gladstone Ave., Ottawa 1; Rochester, N. Y., 274 Merchants Rd., Rochester 9.

AUG. 6-9: San Jose, Calif., 246 N. 7th Street, San Jose 12; Wichita, Kans., 227 Pattie Ave., Wichita 7.

AUG. 13-16: Charlotte, N. C., 2816 Hutchison Ave., Charlotte 6; Halifax, N. S., 7 Almon St., Halifax; Providence, R. I., 22 Plainfield St., Providence 9; Tacoma, Wash., 6722 S. Yakima Ave., Tacoma 4.

AUG. 20-23: Corpus Christi, Tex., 1202 14th Street Corpus Christi; Saskatoon, Sask., Queen St. & Second Ave. North, Saskatoon.

AUG. 27-30: Calgary, Alta., 804 12th Avenue SE., Calgary.

SEPT. 3-6: New Westminster, B. C., 120 10th Street, New Westminster.

ASSEMBLY CHANGES

There will be no district assembly in Jackson, Miss., as was announced in the March 15 Watchtower. The assembly in Philadelphia, Pa., June 25-28, will be held at Connie Mack Stadium instead of Convention Hall. Additionally, there will be an assembly at Fairbanks, Alaska, at the Kingdom Hall (Carpenters Hall on Sunday), June 18-21. Keep these changes in mind in making your arrangements to attend an assembly this summer.

FIELD MINISTRY

For the first time the easy-to-understand and beautifully illustrated book From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained will be distributed from house to house by Jehovah’s witnesses during May. The contribution for it will be 75c, and a free booklet will be given with it. Arrangements will be made to call back on those accepting the offer to start home Bible studies.

ARE YOU HELPED BY BIBLE READING?

Are you getting the most from your Bible reading? Are you getting the understanding? Take your Bible off the shelf and read it in the living language of today. The New World Translation of the Holy Bible is available in the Christian Greek Scriptures and four volumes of the Hebrew Scriptures (one more volume to be printed). Send $1 for each volume or $3 for each volume of the deluxe edition.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

June 28: Christians Need Accurate Knowledge. ¶1-18. Page 293.

July 5: Christians Need Accurate Knowledge, ¶19-21, and Expanding Our Ministry. Page 299.