The Watchtower — July 15, 1960

The Truth Shall Stand

WHAT determines the truth? Is it merely how you view something? Can it be said that what is truth to you is truth and what is truth to your neighbor is also truth although a contradiction of views may exist? Or can it be said that truth is what is popularly accepted and believed? Rather than being determined by personal impressions, imagination and popularity, truth is determined by the One who created man. He created the material universe according to certain physical truths that he established in it. They remain although man may believe one theory or another. Before any theory can be accepted as true, it must be proved by observation to agree with these truths.

The standard for spiritual truth was also established by God and is found in his written Word, the Holy Bible. His Word is the standard with which human beliefs must agree in order to be the truth. More than 1900 years ago Jesus Christ said to God: “Your word is truth.” (John 17:17) Today it still is, notwithstanding contradictions of that by men who are wise in their own eyes.

God’s truth is not altered or caused to fall because mighty propaganda machines succeed in regimenting human minds to think according to the twisted views of some political rulers. It does not cease to exist because popular religious belief in a country may contradict it or claim that human tradition is also a standard for truth. It does not lose any debate with well-educated men who put forth clever arguments against it. Although counterarguments from less educated persons may seem puny and unimpressive, God’s truth stands and, in the long run, wins the debate. Time proves it right and the worldlywise ones wrong.

It is like a seed that falls on good soil. The sprout that comes forth can withstand the torrid heat of the sun and the buffeting of storms. It is strong enough to crack a rock. So the truth of God’s Word weathers heated opposition and eventually cracks and demolishes popular falsehoods that have appeared to be as solid and immovable as rocks. Propagandists, worldly intellectuals and powerful religious groups can lash at it and seemingly demolish it, yet it persistently grows up again and again and again. Long after they have ceased to be, it is still in the hearts of many godly people.

Because you may belong to a popular religious organization, perhaps the dominating one in your country, do not conclude that its teachings must be the truth, that its popularity, size and age are assurance of this. Its teachings must match God’s Word to be true, just as scientific theories must match the truths God established in the physical universe in order to be true. Check the beliefs of your religion with God’s written Word and see whether they stand or fall. If you are confident they can stand, you should not be reluctant to talk about them when Jehovah’s witnesses call at your door. If the teachings do not match God’s Word, but are nothing more than human philosophy and traditions, they cannot stand. In due time they as well as those who trust in them will fall. “If, then, a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”—Matt. 15:14.

God’s truth is not any more popular today than it was in Jesus’ day. At that time it conflicted with popular religious views, and today it does the same. Out of hatred for it the world persecuted Christ and his followers; today the world shows the same dislike for proclaimers of it. The apostle Paul foretold that the truth would not be popular when he said: “All those desiring to live with godly devotion in association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted. On the other hand, wicked men and impostors will advance from bad to worse, misleading and being misled.”—2 Tim. 3:12, 13.

Although Christendom claims to be Christian and claims to hold to the truths of God’s Word, her actions belie her claims. She has drawn near to God with her mouth but her heart has been far from him. “It is in vain that they keep paying respect to me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.” (Matt. 15:9) In times past she has tried to stamp out God’s truth by destroying copies of the Bible, by torturing and killing Bible translators and Bible readers, and by trying to muzzle anyone who proclaimed it. By their works the leaders of Christendom have shown themselves to be wicked impostors pretending to be followers of Christ. “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.”—2 Cor. 11:13.

Despite efforts to destroy God’s written Word and to silence those speaking its truth, God’s truth has prevailed. It has continued to spring up in the good soil of godly hearts to bring forth good fruit to the honor of God. It is being proclaimed world-wide today in the face of much opposition from the political and religious leaders of Christendom. It does not harmonize with political ambitions and practices, and it does not agree with many popular religious customs and teachings.

Do not make the mistake people in the first century did who rejected the truth Jesus Christ preached, because it was not in harmony with popular belief at that time and was condemned by their religious leaders. Do not make the mistake of thinking that size, age and popularity of a religious organization assure the truth of what it teaches. Instead, use the standard of truth God has given you—his written Word. Be suspicious of religious leaders who try to discourage your reading it. If their teachings are true, they would have no reason to fear the reading of God’s Word by anyone.

Despite the efforts of this world to stamp out God’s Word of truth or to corrupt it with popular traditions and philosophies, it continues to stand as the measuring rod of spiritual truth. It will still be standing, and so will those who bring their lives into harmony with it, long after this world and its lovers are nothing but dust and its popular beliefs are fantasies of the past. “The word itself of our God will last to time indefinite.”—Isa. 40:8.

The Gathering Storm of Armageddon

A HURRICANE is a frightening force of nature. It batters everything in its path. Terrifying, high-velocity winds rush violently over land and sea, smashing anything not solidly constructed. Warnings are issued days in advance to protect life and property. Even hydrogen bombs cannot duplicate the powerful forces unleashed in such a storm.

However, a far greater storm approaches, one that will encompass the entire inhabited earth. No one will be able to elude it or be unaffected by it. Titanic, awe-inspiring forces will be loosed at that time, dwarfing any yet experienced by man. This storm is Armageddon.

Many have been the opinions as to the nature, participants, location, time and effect of this war. Some conclude that it refers to events in past history. Others believe Armageddon to be the continuous battle between the forces of good and evil, whether world-wide or in one’s mind. Theodore Roosevelt once applied it to a political battle in which he was involved, saying: “We stand at Armageddon and we battle for the Lord.” A great number feel that Armageddon will be a nuclear war between communism and the Western world.

Are any of these views supported by the Scriptures? If not, then just what is Armageddon? Who fights it? Where will it be fought? What weapons will be used? How will we know when it has begun? What will be the results? Is there hope for survival?

WHOSE WAR?

The word “Armageddon” is derived from the word used at Revelation 16:16, which states: “And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon.” The context tells us what kind of war it will be: “Expressions inspired by demons . . . go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty.”—Rev. 16:14.

Thus, Armageddon, from the word Har–Magedon, is a Greek transliteration or equivalent of the Hebrew expression Har Megiddo, and is inseparably linked with “the war of the great day of God the Almighty.” This precludes its application to mental conflicts, political battles, past wars, nuclear or space wars between Communist and democratic blocs. Armageddon is God’s war.

A battle or war indicates the joining in conflict of opposing sides. On Jehovah’s side is a vast army of invisible spirit forces, led by Jesus Christ. “And I saw the heaven opened, and, look! a white horse. And one seated upon it is called Faithful and True, and he judges and carries on war in righteousness. Also the armies that were in heaven were following him.” (Rev. 19:11, 14) Revelation 9:16 mentions the use of heavenly armies numbering 200,000,000 on one occasion, showing the huge invisible forces at God’s disposal.

Arrayed in opposition are Satan the Devil and his demon hosts, the invisible enemy. A visible, earthly part also stands opposed to God: “the kings of the entire inhabited earth.” Not only world rulers, but the people they govern are involved: “Jehovah has indignation against all the nations, and rage against all their army.”—Rev. 12:9; 16:14; Isa. 34:2.

WHY FOUGHT

The battle is fought because of Jehovah’s righteousness. No longer can he tolerate wickedness in the universe. Satan and his demonic and human organization, responsible for 6,000 years of increasing woe, must be destroyed. Jehovah’s universal sovereignty and good name must be cleared once and for all. Then the way will be paved for restoring the Paradise originally founded in the garden of Eden, fulfilling God’s purpose for earth and man on it.

Men, despite their lofty claims and promises, have proved incapable of righteous, peaceful rule. They have brought misunderstanding, hostility, hate and war. Our generation finds the whole world out of kilter, beset by worry and strife, plagued with the worst distress of nations in human history.

Only the God of the universe can clear out this global weed patch and its sower, Satan the Devil. He does so at Armageddon in harmony with his attributes of wisdom, justice, power and love. His fight is righteous because he comes to “execute judgment against all and to convict all the ungodly concerning all their ungodly deeds that they did in an ungodly way and concerning all the shocking things that ungodly sinners spoke against him.” “As regards the wicked ones, he must give them to the sword.”—Jude 15; Jer. 25:31.

WHERE FOUGHT

Since “Armageddon” comes from the Hebrew expression Har Megiddo, meaning “Mount of Megiddo,” some have concluded that the battle would be fought at the location bearing that name. However, there is not, and never has been, a place called Armageddon, Har–Magedon, or Har Megiddo. There has never been a mountain named Megiddo. But a place used to exist called Megiddo, a hill city southeast of Mount Carmel and some sixty miles northwest of Jerusalem. Megiddo also had its dependent towns. (Josh. 17:11) The broad valley that it overlooked was called the “valley plain of Megiddo.”—2 Chron. 35:22.

Clearly, then, Armageddon is symbolic, but it draws some of its significance from Megiddo and what was done there.

Megiddo was blood-saturated ground. Crucial, decisive battles were fought there. Under Judge Joshua the Israelites defeated the king of Megiddo. (Josh. 12:21) Judge Barak inflicted a crushing defeat on the Canaanite King Jabin and his military forces under General Sisera. (Judg. 5:19) In this neighborhood Gideon and his small band routed the enemy Midianites.—Judg., chaps. 7, 8.

What made these victories highly significant was the fact that they were not achieved by Israelite strength of arms alone. Help came in a manner explained at Psalm 44:1, 3: “O God, with our ears we have heard, our forefathers themselves have recounted to us the activity that you performed in their days . . . For it was not by their own sword that they took possession of the land, and their own arm was not what brought them salvation. For it was your right hand and your arm and the light of your face.” Because Jehovah fought in behalf of his name people, these pagan armies were defeated.

Also, in the vicinity of Megiddo Kings Ahaziah and Josiah were killed in battle and the backsliding forces of Jerusalem met with defeat, leading to foreign domination of her.—2 Ki. 9:27; 23:29.

For these reasons, then, symbolic Armageddon, or Har–Magedon, can properly be associated with the “war of the great day of God the Almighty.” At Armageddon Jehovah God inflicts on his enemies a decisive, crushing defeat that affects all nations and peoples.

HOW THE STORM BEGINS

The kings of the earth are not spiritually-minded. Their gathering for the final battle cannot mean they challenge God’s heavenly forces. The forces they challenge must be visible.

The deeper meaning behind the Hebrew expression Har Megiddo, meaning “Mount of Megiddo,” helps us to determine who these forces are. The name Megiddo means “rendezvous or assembly of troops.” Since Megiddo was in the land of Jehovah’s people, the people or troops assembled there now, at this time of the end, must be Jehovah’s modern people. These are engaged in spiritual warfare, preaching the good news of the established kingdom of God, and of the impending doom of this corrupt old system of things.

Because of the spiritual prosperity and growth of these peaceful witnesses of Jehovah, Satan the Devil becomes infuriated and is lured into an all-out attack on these seemingly defenseless Christians. Under his influence the nations march to attack these troops already assembled and gathered out from all nations, not to a literal place, but to Jehovah’s visible organization. Because they are the ones assembled there, they are represented by the place, the symbolic Armageddon, the mountain of Megiddo. The symbolic Armageddon, then, represents in effect the assembled, gathered witnesses of Jehovah now on earth who are engaged in spiritual warfare, preaching Kingdom truths.

The name of a battle is frequently known by the name of the place where it is fought. Hence, the battle fought by God in defense of his people can be called by that name: the battle of Armageddon. The world-wide assault on Jehovah’s people, described in Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39, provokes that war called Armageddon, “the war of the great day of God the Almighty,” “the day of vengeance on the part of our God.” “And it shall come to pass in that day . . . , saith the Lord Jehovah, that my wrath shall come up into my nostrils.”—Isa. 61:2; Ezek. 38:18, AS.

THE RESULTS

Jehovah, rising up to defend his people, brings terror to the hearts of the wicked. The battle at Armageddon is on! Governments collapse, fiery showers strike the earth, tidal waves, upheavals of earth, cloudbursts, electrical storms, burning missiles all strike down Satan’s visible hordes. In sheer horror, every man’s hand is turned against his neighbor in a frenzied, selfish fight for survival, all in vain; for Jeremiah long ago declared: “And those slain by Jehovah will certainly come to be in that day from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth. They will not be bewailed, neither will they be gathered up or be buried. As manure on the surface of the ground they will become.”—Zech. 14:12, 13; Jer. 25:33.

With the destruction of Satan, his demons and earthly organization, the way is cleared for the battle’s survivors, Jehovah’s people, to begin reconstruction that will transform earth into a paradise, free from sorrow, sickness, pain and death.—Rev. 21:4.

As with a hurricane, those heeding the warning now being sounded of Armageddon’s approach will take steps for safety and survival, for the devastating storm is certain to follow shortly. “Hope in Jehovah and keep his way, and he will exalt you to take possession of the earth. When the wicked ones are cut off you will see it.”—Ps. 37:34.

The Samaritans—a Fading People

AS THE people of China are called Chinese and those of England are referred to as English, so the inhabitants of Samaria are known as Samaritans.

The history of the Samaritan people might be said to begin after 997 B.C., when the northern ten tribes of Israel under the leadership of Jeroboam revolted against the rule of the house of David. Some fifty years afterward, King Omri, of the ten-tribe kingdom, bought the mountain of Samaria from Shemer and on it built the city of Samaria, which became the capital of Israel. After that the people of Israel, especially those from Samaria, came to be called Samaritans, and the whole northern territory, Samaria.—1 Ki. 16:23, 24; Hos. 8:5; 2 Ki. 17:29.

The city of Samaria was not only one of great beauty, located on top of a bold headland some 2,848 feet high, but also a mighty fortress. It was besieged several times without being captured. But in 740 B.C. Samaria fell, after a three-year siege by the king of Assyria, and the kingdom of the ten tribes was destroyed. The city of Samaria was demolished, and all the prominent people of the land, the heads of families, the priests and prophets, were exiled from their homeland. Thus the ten tribes that had separated from the house of David were brought to complete desolation, never again to assume strength or prominence. Possibly poor people of the land were left behind, according to the custom of the conquerors at that time.—2 Ki. 25:12.

To prevent rebellion against Assyrian rule on the part of the remaining Jews, and to keep the land from becoming entirely desolate through lack of inhabitants, the Assyrian king had a mixed group of people move into the land to occupy the vacant cities. King Sargon of Assyria wrote: “Samaria I besieged and conquered . . . 27,290 people I took into captivity . . . people out of all lands, my captives of war, I settled there; my officer I made governor over them, tribute and taxes like the Assyrians I laid upon them.” The Bible account says: “Subsequently the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon and Cuthah and Avva and Hamath and Sepharvaim and had them dwell in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel.” (2 Ki. 17:24) These foreigners made Samaria their chief city, but they made Shechem the center for religious worship. At this time any Israelites who were left behind were in the condition described by the prophet Hosea: “Without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim.” (Hos. 3:4, AS) They were stripped of all but their memories. Pagan worshipers now dwelt in their lovely cities where once they carried on their own apostate religion.

In the lapse of time, between the exiling of the Israelites and the bringing of these foreigners into the emptied Samaritan cities, the land became infested with wild beasts. The inspired account says: “It came about at the start of their dwelling there that they did not fear Jehovah. Therefore Jehovah sent lions among them and they came to be killers among them.” (2 Ki. 17:25) These pagans believed that each district and country had its own god and that to prosper they must learn how to appease the God of this land. So they sent word to their king requesting that someone be sent to teach them the ways of Jehovah, that they might know how to worship the God of Israel. The king sent back a Samaritan priest, who took up residence at Bethel. He began to teach these foreigners the ways of Jehovah. The pagan settlers incorporated this worship of the God of Israel with their demon worship. A mixed religion resulted—the Samaritan religion. The few remaining Israelites became miserably corrupted both in their behavior and in their religion. They married foreigners and brought forth a mixed race, composed partly of Israelites and partly of settlers. This mixture of humanity became known as Samaritans.—Ezra 4:2, 10.

This idolatrous religious concoction continued for about three hundred years, down till the building of the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim by the governor of Samaria, Sanballat the Horonite, said to be with the sanction of Alexander the Great. Earlier, during the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah, some few returned to true worship. The high places of demon worship of Samaria were destroyed. Their altars were desecrated, their priests slain and all the remnant of Israel acknowledged the temple on Mount Zion or, more specifically, on adjacent Mount Moriah. Any restoration of true worship, however, was short-lived. With the death of Josiah the land of Samaria fell back into idolatrous worship.

THE SAMARITAN SCHISM

Nothing is known of the Samaritans from Josiah’s time down till the arrival of Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest in Palestine in 537 B.C. These men were authorized by King Cyrus to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. The Samaritans approached them with an offer to assist them in their building program, but Zerubbabel rejected their offer. This treatment roused the wrath of the Samaritans. By the time Ezra arrived on the scene in Jerusalem nearly seventy years later, the ill feeling had faded and the Jews and the Samaritans were on the friendliest of terms. In fact, too friendly for Ezra’s liking, for the Jews had intermarried with the Samaritans. Ezra, the priest, declared these intermarriages illegal, contrary to God’s instruction given at Exodus 34:16. He called for the Jews to separate themselves from their foreign wives. This caused much resentment among both the Jews and the Samaritans. Many influential Jews refused to listen to Ezra’s appeal and fled to Samaria. The Samaritans became embittered with the way their womenfolk and children were being treated. This led to a sharp division between the Jews and the Samaritans.

During Nehemiah’s absence from Jerusalem, about 443 B.C., the Jews again married Samaritan women. When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, he insisted that they separate from their foreign wives. Nehemiah says: “One of the sons of Joiada the son of Eliashib the high priest was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. So I chased him away from me.” (Neh. 13:28) It was Nehemiah and not popular Jewish sentiment that expelled the unworthy priestling. This led to more resentment.

The Bible says nothing more about this and in no way connects it with the Samaritan schism. The Jewish historian Josephus, however, informs us that a nephew of this man whom Nehemiah chased away from him married a daughter of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria. The nephew’s name was Manasseh. The elders of Jerusalem were quite indignant that a relative of the high priest should marry a foreigner. They demanded that Manasseh either divorce his wife or not serve in the priesthood. All Jerusalem was in an uproar over this, because many priests and Levites were entangled in these marriages. When Manasseh refused to give up his Samaritan wife, he was thrown out of the country. A number of priests, who also refused to separate from their wives, joined him.

Sanballat, the governor of Samaria, took the banishment of his son-in-law as an insult. Why should he or anyone else have to go to Jerusalem to worship? Was not Jehovah the God of the whole earth? Furthermore, did He not choose Mount Gerizim as the place from which blessings were to be pronounced upon the people? For blessings, then, men should come to Samaria, yes, they should rightly look to Mount Gerizim. So on top of Mount Gerizim Sanballat arranged for building a temple for his son-in-law Manasseh. Sometime before 330 B.C. the exiled Jews in Samaria had their temple. They had their own priesthood made up of the sons of Aaron; all of these were exiled Levite priests. They brought with them copies of the law of Moses, which was read in the temple and publicly. The exact service was performed in the temple on Mount Gerizim as was performed in Jerusalem. Mount Gerizim became a holy mount to worshipers. Almost every sacred incident from the beginning of history the Samaritans in some way connect with the top of Gerizim. Was not Eden located here? say they. Did not God use the dust of Mount Gerizim to create Adam, and are not the seven steps on Gerizim where Adam came down when he was cast out of Eden? Is this not where Abraham offered Isaac, where Joshua read the law, where Joseph’s and Joshua’s tombs are located, where Jotham declaimed his parable, where Deborah judged, where Gideon threshed and where Samuel, Saul, Elijah and Elisha lived? In a word, is this not the land of Israel? This is what they professed to believe.

Soon the Samaritans claimed they were the only true Israelites, descendants of Joseph and Ephraim, of Abraham and of Jacob. Only their language betrayed their mixed origin. It was a conglomeration of Aramaic and other foreign elements.

SAMARITANS OF JESUS’ DAY

When Jesus Christ walked the earth, Mount Gerizim was still very important to the Samaritans. The discussion Jesus had with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s fountain in Samaria showed there was still hatred between the two peoples. The Samaritan woman told Jesus: “‘How is it that you, despite being a Jew, ask me for a drink, when I am a Samaritan woman?’ (For Jews have no dealing with Samaritans.)” After Jesus overcame this objection, the woman highlighted another: “Our forefathers worshiped in this mountain; but you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where persons ought to worship.” Jesus said to her: “Believe me, woman, The hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you people worship the Father. . . . the genuine worshipers will worship the Father with spirit and truth.” Showing that she believed in a coming Messiah, the woman said to him: “I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. Whenever that one arrives, he will declare all things to us openly.” Jesus said to her: “I who am speaking to you am he.” The Bible says: “Many of the Samaritans out of that city put faith in him.” They remarked: “We know that this man is for a certainty the savior of the world.” Jesus was treated hospitably there. But on another occasion he was an unwelcome guest in Samaria. However, Jesus harbored no ill will against them, but taught through his illustration of the good Samaritan that the Jew and the Samaritan could be good neighbors through acts of love.—John 4:1-42; Luke 17:11-16; 9:52, 53; 10:29-37.

In his instruction to his twelve apostles Jesus drew a distinction between the Jew and the Samaritan, proving beyond all doubt that the Samaritans are not direct descendants of Abraham and Jacob, as they assert. Jesus specifically ordered his apostles not to “enter into a Samaritan city; but, instead, go continually to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” If the Samaritans were Israelites, this command would not have made sense.—Matt. 10:5, 6.

THE MODERN SAMARITAN

Since Jesus’ day the Samaritans have suffered greatly at the hands of their conquerors. During the Roman occupation they were denied the rite of circumcision. Under the Byzantine regime they were not permitted to build new synagogues or repair old ones. Under the Mohammedans they stopped offering up sacrifices. As with the Jews so now with the Samaritans, all their worship has become entirely that of the synagogue. About two centuries ago the Samaritan nation had several communities in Egypt and Syria, but now only one exists in the valley of Shechem. While the Jews have many synagogues throughout the world, the Samaritans have only one. This one is at Nablus on the slope of the base of Mount Gerizim, where the Samaritans dwell.

Like the modern Jew, the Samaritan believes that prayer has taken the place of the sacrifices they formerly offered. They still dislike the Jews and do not address them as Hebrews or Israelites, because they believe themselves to be the only stock of ancient Israel. Dr. John Mills summarizes the articles of the Samaritan creed as follows: “One only God JHWH, one only Lawgiver, Moshe (Moses), one only Divine book, the Torah (Law), one only Holy Place, Mount Gerizim, the true Beth El.” The doctrines of angels, of immortality and of the last judgment, in his opinion, are later additions. They celebrate seven feasts in the year, although only one, the Passover, is observed with all strictness. They do no work on the sabbath, not even opening a letter or lighting a fire. The name “Jehovah” they do not pronounce. Instead they use the word “Sema,” which stands for God’s name. They speak honorably of the Messiah, whom they call “Thaheb.” They believe he will be a reincarnation of Moses or Joshua and that he will restore spiritually the people of Israel and give them dominion over the nations. “The appearance of Messiah,” wrote Heinrich Petermann in 1860, “is to take place 6000 years after the creation, and these have just elapsed; consequently he now, though all unconsciously, is going about upon earth.” They maintain that Thaheb will equalize all men, live 110 years upon earth, then die and be buried near Gerizim.

According to Mills, they believe that “the soul at death leaves the body and enters another world, and a different state of existence.” As their basis for so believing they quote Exodus 3:6, where God’s eternalness is associated with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They maintain that the wicked are punished in a hell-fire. No images are used in their worship, and they do not pray for the dead. They hold that at death man’s fate is sealed forever.

Only a small handful of Samaritans are in existence today, perhaps 175 at most. They live in the southwestern part of Nablus in considerable poverty. The head of their group is a priest who claims to be a Levite, though they say that the Aaronic line has been extinct since 1658. Their principal problem is how to keep themselves as a people from passing into extinction without violating the marriage laws. As for the deliverer’s coming to their rescue, Ab Zehuta comments: “No one knows his coming, but Jehovah.”

Pursuing My Purpose in Life

As told by W. J. Simpkins

PEOPLE often say, “If I had my life to live over again, I would live it differently.” However, I can truthfully say that if I had my life to live over again, it would be just as it has been for the past thirty-eight years, or at least the past thirty years. I say the past thirty years because I really started to live when I was eight years old.

It was then that my dad started to attend the meetings of Jehovah’s witnesses. He came home one Sunday and told me that they had meetings for the youngsters too and that I could go if I wanted to. He showed me where it was, about a mile from home. Being curious, I went. In the “Sunday school,” which they had back then, they were studying a book called “Creation.” One of the older ladies from the grownups’ study group was the teacher. About the second or third Sunday that I went she gave us each a slip of paper with some writing on it and said we should be prepared to say something about the subject the following Sunday. Well, I did not know what it was all about, but I asked my dad and he told me it was a Bible scripture and he showed me how to look it up in the Bible. I found it quite interesting. I attended every Sunday for awhile. But as the class became smaller and smaller the Sunday-school arrangement was stopped and the two or three of us left had to meet with the grownups.

ENTERING THE MINISTRY

In 1933 the opportunity was presented to me to go from house to house; I started in March. The more I worked from house to house, and the more I studied the Bible, the more convinced I was as to what would be my purpose in life when I finished school. I wanted to help people learn the truths of the Bible. In September, 1938, at the convention in Detroit, Michigan, tied in with London, England, I got baptized to symbolize my dedication to do Jehovah’s will. I wanted to quit school then to enter the full-time preaching work, but my parents decided that I should finish school first.

I preached more and more, taking advantage of the opportunities, and then in the early part of 1940 I decided to start pioneering, pursuing my purpose in life in the full-time preaching work. I did not receive much encouragement from some. They said: “You’ll starve to death.” “All you’ll have to eat is beans with a little salt.” “How will you live?” It is true that I was just out of school, with no steady income and no regular job, but the pessimistic expressions of some did not change my mind. I remembered what the Bible says, that Jehovah clothes the flowers and feeds the birds of heaven and that his servants who have real faith are worth more than these. So I became a pioneer servant of Jehovah on June 1, 1940.

1940 CONVENTION

In that same month of June the contract for the use of the State Fairgrounds at Columbus, Ohio, for our convention was canceled. We shared with our brothers all over the country in circulating a petition, and in just a few days hundreds of thousands of signatures were obtained. I remember how hard a group of us pioneers worked. At the end of the month we were very tired, but when we totaled our time spent preaching during the month we found that we each had devoted more than two hundred hours. That was my first month as a pioneer, my first month of full-time joyful field service.

Soon after that I received a letter from the Watch Tower Society saying that the convention had been changed to Detroit, Michigan, and asking the help of pioneers in the area for preconvention work. Detroit is only a hundred miles from my home town, Saginaw, Michigan; so I decided to go, although I had but two dollars in my pocket. Five other pioneers went with me. We had a good time looking for rooms, typing room assignments and cleaning the assembly place. The convention was wonderful, and I am grateful that I had a small share in helping to prepare for it and was able to attend.

On July 26, 1941, I married a pioneer sister whom I had known for some time, and in November my wife and I received applications for the special pioneer service. We were made special pioneers and sent to St. Johns, Michigan, to start working December 1. Not long before, many of Jehovah’s witnesses had been arrested on the streets of the town for distributing the Watchtower and Consolation (now Awake!) magazines, and the case had not been decided yet. It was a difficult territory to work because the majority of the people were retired farmers who were satisfied with their own religion and the others were fearful of studying with Jehovah’s witnesses because of what their neighbors might say.

After working in that assignment seven months we received another assignment. First we went to Cadillac, Michigan, and then to Belding, Michigan. The assignment we received in December, 1942, to work in Belding will long be remembered. We were not there long when my wife and I received letters dated December 14, 1942, with application blanks for the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead, which was to open on February 1, 1943. How I desired to tell others of the privilege set before me! We filled out the application blanks, and then we waited. No, we did not wait with arms folded; we continued to preach.

GILEAD SCHOOL

Then one cold, cold day in January, 1943, we received our allowance as special pioneers, the 1943 Yearbook, and—what joy!—a letter instructing my wife and me to be at South Lansing, New York, no later than January 31 to attend the first class of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead. It seems like yesterday that we arrived at the depot at Ithaca, New York, but it was more than seventeen years ago. There I met some of my classmates from different parts of the United States. We were met by Brother Booth, the farm servant of Kingdom Farm. The scenery between Ithaca and Kingdom Farm, where Gilead is located, was breath-taking, and I knew I was going to like my new home. I made up my mind to take in all the knowledge possible in the five months of the course and to equip myself for the missionary work.

Gilead was something new, and I did not know what to expect. There were one hundred of us that found out soon enough about Gilead and its purpose. The instructors, our brothers, were kind and helpful. They showed great patience as they endeavored to instill in us a greater appreciation of the truth of God’s Word and our relationship to the Creator. It was a joy to study and learn more and more of Jehovah and his great purpose. Our appreciation grew with increased knowledge. We learned, or at least tried to learn, a little basic Spanish. I look back now and laugh at the sounds I made or tried to make, but I finished the course and received an assignment in Mamaroneck, New York, until such time as it was possible to go to another country.

MISSIONARY SERVICE

Finally, on April 12, 1945, my wife and I boarded a plane in Miami, Florida, and made the short hop of some two hundred miles to Havana, Cuba. Then my missionary life really began. At the beginning it was hard. I did not know Spanish, but I memorized a short testimony; and the next day after arriving I started from house to house using a portable phonograph, as we did at that time. As I presented the literature, the people laughed with me and at me, but I did not mind because every day I was learning a little. I placed some literature, and then I began to make back-calls and started some studies. When I started to preach down here I carried a small Spanish-English dictionary with me. When somebody said something or I wanted to say something and I did not know the words, I would say, “Un momento” (“Just a moment”), and I would take out the dictionary and look up what I wanted to say, or what they were telling me. One time a young woman I met from door to door knew a little English; she told me that I could speak good Spanish, and I said: “Oh, no, I want to teach more of it.” I got my verbs mixed up. What I wanted to say is that I wanted to learn more Spanish. They had a good laugh at that, and I did too, when I realized the error I had made.

At that time the missionaries operated the same as special pioneers in a country. So the six of us who were in the home would each put in a certain amount of money each month for the rent, lights and food. We had two meals a day in the home—breakfast and supper. The money we had left from our special pioneer allowance we used for incidental expenses and lunch. The missionary home arrangement, which the Society started in 1946, has been a wonderful blessing to those pursuing their purpose in life in the missionary field.

My wife and I have no children, but a sister over seventy years old calls us grandpa and grandma. Now, that may appear strange, but it happened this way: In the fall of 1945 I went to make a back-call on a lady who had taken the book “The Truth Shall Make You Free.” We studied with her for some months, and then in 1946, just before Brother Knorr’s visit, she began to go in the service with us. She attended the international convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1946, and began to preach more and more until she became a pioneer; and she has helped many others to learn the truth. So you see, from the standpoint that they received the truth through one to whom we had brought the message of life, they look on my wife and me as “grandpa” and “grandma.” It reminds me of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ recorded at Mark 10:29, 30: “Jesus said: ‘Truly I say to you men, No one has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news who will not get a hundredfold now in this period of time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, with persecutions, and in the coming system of things everlasting life.’”

I have been privileged to serve as overseer of various congregations that have grown and been divided to form new congregations. There were only three congregations in the Havana metropolitan area in 1945, but now there are thirty-three. There are more publishers in the Havana area now than there were in all Cuba in 1945.

In the congregation where I now serve as overseer I began a study with a sincere man who stated at the time that he could never learn the truths of the Bible and how to find the scriptures in the various books of the Bible. However, after less than a year he knew how to use the Bible, he began to serve Jehovah, was baptized and now serves as one of the assistant servants in a new congregation that was formed due to the growth of our congregation. Jehovah’s will is that those of humble heart shall hear, and happy is the portion of those who make the serving of Jehovah their purpose in life.

It is true that at first when I came to Cuba the language and customs were strange, and if I had not been thoroughly convinced as to my purpose in coming here, I might have decided I did not want to stay and might have gone back to the States. But I wanted to preach and have a small share in discipling the nations; so I was determined to become as familiar as possible with the different customs and the language. That determination enabled me to stay, and I have been richly blessed. As one of Jehovah’s witnesses, I know that individuals are not important, but if a person can serve he should.

BETHEL SERVICE

In my third year in a foreign assignment, in April, 1948, my wife and I were assigned to work in the Cuban branch office. Then in 1949 I was assigned to serve some of the circuits as district servant, going out from Bethel on Thursday for this service on the weekend. It has been a wonderful privilege to serve my brothers and the people here in Cuba for the past fifteen years and to see the number of those praising Jehovah increase from 1,400 to over 12,000. Can you think of a greater privilege or a career that brings more joy than that of serving Jehovah God as one of his witnesses?

To me the wisest course is to be a servant of the Lord. True, the wisest course is not always the smoothest course nor the most profitable from a human standpoint, but any other course than that of wholehearted service to Jehovah leads to difficulty and disappointment. Now after twenty-seven years in Jehovah’s service, twenty of those years in full-time preaching service, I can truthfully say I am happy in the course I have taken in pursuing my purpose in life; they have keen blessed years. After fifteen years in my missionary assignment I know no other place that is really home to me except my missionary assignment. Even when I go to the States to visit my parents, when I speak of my assignment in Cuba I speak of it as home, and when I leave them I say and feel that I am going home to my missionary assignment.

The Awake “Faithful and Discreet Slave”

“Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics to give them their food at the proper time? Happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so. Truly I say to you, He will appoint him over all his belongings.”—Matt. 24:45-47.

1, 2. (a) How is the date 1914 looked upon (1) by a world historian? (2) by students of the Bible? (b) Why is there interest as to the question whether there were awake watchmen or not as to 1914?

TODAY it is openly admitted by shrewd observers of world conditions that 1914 marked a great turning point in earth’s affairs. A professor of world history, Arnold J. Toynbee of London, writes: “For nearly a quarter of a millennium down to the outbreak of the first World War in 1914 the West enjoyed an unchallengeable ascendancy in the world. Since 1914, however, the situation has changed. Within these last forty-two years, the West has lost its previous ascendancy in the world, and at the same time it has lost its previous confidence in itself.” (Collier’s magazine, March 30, 1956, pp. 76, 78) While this true observation is not identical with the Biblical significance of 1914, that of the legal ending of the “times of the nations,” yet there is agreement that it turned out to be a date of dangerous forebodings not only for Christendom’s West but, as we now know, for all mankind.

² One might ask, Were any world watchmen awake to sound out the warning before 1914 of this pending time of global trouble? If there were, then such alert watchmen must now know more about these times since 1914 than any others on earth. Such watchmen should be sought out for guidance and counsel in these increasingly perilous times. They may be able to show inquiring persons where the course of safety lies.

3. Where were awake watchmen not found, and why?

³ Would one have found such awake watchmen among the Catholic clergy? Not likely! History shows they were too busy before 1914 and since with their church rituals and engaging in world politics to have been alert to the signs of these times. Perhaps the many Protestant groups were tipped off and kept awake. No! Their clergy were too engrossed before 1914 with their higher criticism of the Bible and with what they call modernism. But how about the Jewish sages and rabbis? Again no! Before 1914 they were fully occupied with materialism and busy advocating Zionism for a re-established dream state in Palestine. How about the farsighted world politicians and financiers? Maybe they knew what was coming. Very definitely no! They were up to their necks in preparing for war and raking in its profits. All these proved to be sleepy “watchmen” in Christian name only. Isaiah describes them well: “His watchmen are blind. None of them have taken note. All of them are speechless dogs; they are not able to bark, panting, lying down, loving to slumber.”—Isa. 56:10.

4. Who were awake watchmen and in accord with what prophecy?

⁴ Then, was the world left without advance warning by alert watchmen? Not at all! There still is one more group to check on, that of the Watch Tower Society of Jehovah’s witnesses. History records a resounding “yes” as to their being awake. True to their name as witnesses they were world-wide watchmen up on their figurative “watchtower,” sounding forth the warning to the peoples of Christendom. But Christendom’s multitudes for the most part paid little attention. Jeremiah accurately foretold this with these words of God: “‘I raised up over you people watchmen: “Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’” But they kept saying: ‘We are not going to pay attention.’”—Jer. 6:17.

5-7. (a) What record of watchfulness is there on the part of Jehovah’s witnesses? (b) What evidence is supplied by one source of documentation?

⁵ Yes, as far back as the year 1877, two years before their significantly named magazine, the Watch Tower, appeared, these modern witnesses of Jehovah heralded the truth that the Gentile times would end in 1914. During the thirty-seven years that followed, these witnesses energetically pressed forward with a world campaign to notify the nations that their lease of power without divine interruption would run out A.D. 1914.—See “The Climactic Approach to 1914” in Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, pp. 47 to 58.

⁶ A leading New York newspaper, The World, in its Sunday magazine section, August 30, 1914, in a feature article, historically adds to the much documentation available for world history as to the record of these Bible witnesses of Jehovah. At that time they were also known by their British corporation name, the International Bible Students Association. In part the article reports:

⁷ “The terrific war outbreak in Europe has fulfilled an extraordinary prophecy. For a quarter of a century past, through preachers and through press, the ‘International Bible Students,’ best known as ‘Millennial Dawners,’ have been proclaiming to the world that the Day of Wrath prophesied in the Bible would dawn in 1914. ‘Look out for 1914!’ has been the cry of the hundreds of traveling evangelists who, representing this strange creed, have gone up and down the country enunciating the doctrine that “the Kingdom of God is at hand.’”—Ibidem, p. 54.

BIBLICAL CONNECTIONS

8, 9. What questions now arise, and on what occasion does a prophet give part of the answers?

⁸ Since history confirms that Jehovah’s witnesses were the only Christian group found awake as to 1914 and the ensuing “last days,” does this situation have any Biblical connection? Do these witnesses have any Scriptural credentials to offer the millions today sitting in world darkness who are looking for divinely directed leadership? Consider the following for the answer.

⁹ Earth’s greatest prophet, Jesus Christ, prophesied that there would be an awake group of Christians on the world scene before and during the “time of the end.” On the Mount of Olives shortly before his impalement four of Jesus’ disciples, namely, Peter, James, John and Andrew, privately asked him for precise evidence about the last days, when he would be returning invisibly to direct the affairs of his servants on earth. Jesus’ remarkably detailed reply is preserved for us in the Bible accounts written by Matthew, Mark and Luke, chapters 24, 13 and 21, respectively.—Mark 13:3.

10. How is one to understand Jesus’ words at Matthew 24:42-44?

¹⁰ In reply Jesus said: “Keep on the watch, therefore, because you [plural, hence collectively] do not know on what day your [plural] Master is coming [Jesus’ second presence]. But know one thing, that if the householder had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have kept awake and not allowed his house to be broken into. On this account you [plural, collectively], too, prove yourselves ready, because at an hour that you [plural] do not think to be it, the Son of man is coming.” (Matt. 24:42-44) Note that Jesus here encourages his group of disciples to be alert as an awake “householder.” This is not unusual for Jesus to refer to the operations of his collective group of disciples by an illustration in the singular. They are collectively so referred to similarly in the Bible as a “bride,” a “house,” and a “temple.”—John 3:29; Heb. 3:6; 2 Cor. 6:16.

11, 12. (a) Who were the ones to be found awake at the time of Jesus’ second presence? (b) Was this something strange for Jesus to be interested in the activities of his future disciples?

¹¹ Does Jesus here imply that some of that awake “householder” group present with him on the Mount of Olives would live on to the time of his second presence at the end of the “times of the nations” in 1914? This could hardly be, since it appears that none of the four disciples lived beyond A.D. 100. Jesus foreknew that these four apostles as well as eight others would become secondary foundations of an organized group of disciples, which, after Pentecost, A.D. 33, would become known as the Christian congregation of which Jesus himself would be the primary rock foundation. (Eph. 2:20; Matt. 16:18) Therefore it would be the awake congregation, not the four individuals, that Jesus meant would survive down through the centuries, even though at times the line of disciples would be obscure from historic view.

¹² Such future anointed disciples beyond the days of the apostles were not excluded from the thinking and pronouncements of Jesus. For example, in his last recorded prayer, at John 17:1-26, Jesus prayed to Jehovah: “I make request, not concerning these only [the apostles present with him], but also concerning those putting faith in me through their word.” (Joh 17 Verse 20) It is not strange, therefore, that future members of the congregation are involved in the full applications of Jesus’ illustrations and utterances.

13, 14. (a) Who in the first century was the “faithful and discreet slave”? (b) How were the “domestics” fed? (c) What is meant by “give them their food at the proper time”?

¹³ Let us consider what Jesus said further to his four disciples on that occasion when he was seated with them on the Mount of Olives. “Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics to give them their food at the proper time?” (Matt. 24:45) Note that now Jesus refers to the collective group as a “faithful and discreet slave,” the figure “slave” appropriately being in the singular. He says the “slave” must feed the “domestics,” the latter being in the plural. How was this done? Before his ascension into heaven Jesus emphasized to Peter such a feeding service three times: “Feed my young lambs. . . . Shepherd my little sheep. . . . Feed my little sheep.” (John 21:15-17) The sheep in Peter’s day were those of the “little flock” of anointed Christians who were eventually to number 144,000. (Luke 12:32) Here, then, we have the “domestics” or individuals who were faithfully fed by the congregation or slavelike organization through its overseers. Many years later Peter reminds the overseers that they must “shepherd the flock of God.”—1 Pet. 5:2.

¹⁴ Down through the years the slavelike congregation has been feeding its true members faithfully and discreetly. From Pentecost, A.D. 33, up to this very present hour this has been lovingly and carefully performed. Yes, and these “domestics” have been fed on progressive spiritual food that keeps them abreast of the “bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established.” (Prov. 4:18) All this has proved to be “food at the proper time,” as stated by Jesus.

15, 16. What does the Bible indicate would be the experience of the “domestics” during the Master’s absence of 1,900 years?

¹⁵ While Jesus, like a sower of seed, had richly planted the “domestics” as wheat under a shepherding organization, the congregation, history also records in another place, in fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy, that Satan would oversow the field with weeds in an effort to choke out the thinning line of true wheatlike followers. (Matt. 13:25, 37, 38) Would Satan entirely succeed, with no “wheat” left after the Master’s absence of nearly 1,900 years? Jesus himself put that question this way: “When the Son of man arrives, will he really find this faith on the earth?”—Luke 18:8.

¹⁶ Jesus confidently answers that question in the above-referred-to illustration of the sower by saying: “Just as the weeds are collected and burned with fire, so it will be in the consummation of the system of things. At that time the righteous ones will shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matt. 13:40, 43) So it was indicated that many of the “wheat” class of righteous ones, anointed ones, would survive here on earth up to and during the “time of the end.” For this reason Jesus went on to say, at Matthew 24:46: “Happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so.” How does history confirm that sure expectation of Jesus?

17, 18. (a) When and how did the true Christians begin to come to historic view again? (b) How did they prove to be awake, but why did a period of testing come upon them?

¹⁷ From the 1870’s onward the thin line of true Christians began to come to historic view again as in the days of the first century. A decided move was made by many of the “wheat” group to disassociate themselves from the many weedlike sects of Christendom. This gathered group of Christians from many parts of the earth formed a new association that later came to be known as Jehovah’s witnesses. From 1879 the Watch Tower magazine was used by this collective group to dispense spiritual food regularly to those of the anointed “little flock.” Yes, the “domestics,” or individual anointed ones, were being spiritually revived with increasing restored light of Bible truth by the collective “slave” group. In 1884 this “slave” group formed a legal servant, a corporation, called Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society, now known as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania.

¹⁸ Under the direction of this religious corporation the great world-wide campaign to announce the 1914 end of the “times of the nations” was undertaken, as mentioned earlier. The Watch Tower witnesses of Jehovah proved to be awake spiritual watchmen. But the Scriptures describe them as having unclean garments because of their long association with Christian apostasy. (Zech. 3:3, 4) They had many practices, characteristics and beliefs similar to the weedlike sects of Christendom. So from 1914 to 1918 a period of fiery testing came upon them, not unlike the ancient period of Babylonish captivity of the Jews back in 607-537 B.C.

19. Explain fulfillment of Matthew 24:7, 9.

¹⁹ In the same prophecy of Matthew (24:7, 9) Jesus says: “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom [as occurred in 1914] . . . Then people will deliver you [plural, collectively] up to tribulation and will kill you [some of you, not all], and you will be hated by all the nations on account of my name.” All this came to pass in connection with transgression on their part in having the fear of man, not conducting themselves in a strictly neutral way during the war years and being tainted with many religiously unclean practices. Jehovah and Jesus Christ permitted these witnesses to be reproached, persecuted, banned and their officers imprisoned by the nations of this old world. By the summer of 1918 the strong organized voice of the Watch Tower witnesses had been silenced, killed collectively as prophesied in Revelation 11:7, 8. Notice, however, that this watchman’s voice was not stilled until they had completed their pre-1914 phenomenal work of warning the peoples of the nations. For the complete facts see chapters entitled “Let Go into Captivity” and “Release from Babylonish Captivity” in the book Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, pp. 74 to 90.

20, 21. (a) Describe the fiery test that came upon the “domestics.” (b) What was the result?

²⁰ As we now know, this watchman class of the “faithful and discreet slave” was being cleansed for still greater watchman service in the turbulent years to follow their restoration in 1919. Previously, in the spring of 1918, Jehovah came to his temple of earthly Christian servants for inspection and cleansing. (Mal. 3:1-3) The many bad ones were disfellowshiped by Him and sent away. A loyal remnant were permitted to go through the fiery test where Jehovah and his Messenger, Christ Jesus, (1) tested them by organization arrangements on their loyalty to Jehovah’s organization rather than to human leaders, (2) tested them by service instructions and provisions as to their zeal and devotion to Jehovah’s worship and witness work, and (3) tested them by revealed truth as to their love of it. What a fiery time it was!—See You May Survive Armageddon into God’s New World, pp. 303 to 305.

²¹ A faithful remnant of some thousands of the “domestics” of the “faithful and discreet slave” class survived this time of testing. From the spring of 1919 forward they began to rise from the dust of inactivity to their new lofty service as watchmen to the world. (Dan. 12:2; Rev. 11:11, 12) The Scriptures also describe them as being clothed with new garments of clean identification to represent Jehovah’s interests in the earth.—Zech. 3:4, 5; see the book Preparation, pp. 55 to 58.

22, 23. Was Jehovah to deal with a novice group? Who, then, fulfills Matthew 24:14?

²² Now that the long-expected Kingdom had become an established reality in heaven, surely its growing interests in the earth after 1919 would not be left in the hands of a novice organization of spiritual babes. And that proved to be true. It was the 1900-year-old “faithful and discreet slave,” the old Christian congregation, that was entrusted with this precious Kingdom service. Rich in its loyalty and integrity, long in its patient suffering of persecution, strong in its ancient faith in Jehovah’s precious promises, confident in the leadership of its invisible Lord, Jesus Christ, obedient in its centuries-old commission to be witnesses in the earth, finally cleansed by a fiery test by 1918, the matured “slave” as represented by a remnant now stood ready for new assignments of service.

²³ Of all the so-called Christian groups following World War I, only the awake witnesses of Jehovah were prepared to undertake the heavy global commission to preach the final witness. Fittingly Jesus said: “He that has endured to the finish is the one that will be saved. And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.”—Matt. 24:13, 14.

24. What does Matthew 24:47 mean?

²⁴ Properly, then, to this 1900-year-old “faithful and discreet slave” with its thousands of cleansed “domestics” Jesus next says: “Truly I say to you [plural, collectively], He will appoint him over all his belongings.” (Matt. 24:47) Those belongings are the interests of Christ’s kingdom on earth. With practical wisdom Jesus entrusts these Kingdom interests to his veteran, proved “slave” class. Thus from 1919 forward this “slave” class, using the Watch Tower Society, has found itself in the unique position of responsibility and leadership concerning this kingdom, which it had previously heralded as to its coming, for over thirty years prior to 1914.

OVERWHELMING CREDENTIALS

25. (a) To what extent does the “slave” class have credentials? (b) Mention several of these credentials as proof.

²⁵ Does the “faithful and discreet slave” class have any more credentials? Yes, an abundance of them! A partial list shows that the Christian remnant today since 1919 are referred to or represented in more than eighty Scriptural and prophetic designations.a With more than eighty strokes by the finger of Biblical prophecy, the God of heaven has painted a vividly accurate portrait of his official servant class on earth. The reality of this portrait in all its divinely foreordained details stands out on the world stage for all to see. The credentials are established beyond a shadow of doubt. In fact the credentials are so numerous, all pointing to the one wide-awake “faithful and discreet slave” class, that it is impossible for the great deceiver, Satan, to produce a fake organization to meet all these eighty Scriptural aspects.

26. What do the Scriptures indicate as to any responding to these credentials? What do the facts today show?

²⁶ In view of these clear facts the Bible further indicates that lovers of righteousness all over the earth would get to see and would heartily respond to the leadership of the organization that was holding these amazing credentials. “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men [persons of good will from all the earth] shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew [singular, the ‘faithful and discreet slave’], saying, We will go with you [plural], for we have heard that God is with you [plural].” (Zech. 8:23, AS) By this year 1960 more than 850,000 have actively associated themselves as preaching ministers under the leadership of the “slave” class.b

27. What sort of leadership is available today for true worshipers?

²⁷ Regularly and progressively such a great crowd are receiving their spiritual food through the columns of the eighty-one-year-old instrument in the hands of the “slave” class, The Watchtower, the religious magazine with the largest circulation in the world. Surely Jehovah and Jesus Christ have supplied no hasty, expedient form of leadership for the great crowd of true worshipers. Yes, beyond doubt the old but awake “faithful and discreet slave” stands today as a wonder watchman to the peoples of the nations. Just as their Master, Jesus Christ, stood for the rise and fall of many in Israel in the first century of the Christian Era, so now before the whole world the anointed witnesses stand as a guide to survival for a minority of mankind but prove to be an occasion for stumbling into Armageddon destruction for the rest.—Luke 2:34.

[Footnotes]

(1) Noah’s wife, Gen. 7:7; (2) angels sent to Lot, Gen. 19:15; (3) Rebekah, Gen. 24:64; (4) Joseph and Benjamin, Gen. 45:14; (5) gleanings left behind, Lev. 19:9; (6) two spies to Rahab, Josh. 2:4; (7) Barak, Judg. 4:14; (8) Jephthah, Judg. 11:34; (9) Naomi and Ruth, Ruth 2:2; (10) David’s Israelite warriors, 2 Sam. 18:1; (11) Jehu, 2 Ki. 10:11, 15; (12) Mordecai and Esther, Esther 4:13; (13) Job, Job 42:10, 13; (14) King’s daughter, Ps. 45:13; (15) men of loving-kindness, Ps. 50:5; (16) Intimate group, Ps. 89:7; (17) Shear-jashub, Isa. 7:3; (18) light of the nations, Isa. 60:3; (19) big trees of righteousness, Isa. 61:3; (20) ministers of our God, Isa. 61:6; (21) cluster preserved, Isa. 65:8; (22) servants called by another name, Isa. 65:15; (23) men trembling at God’s word, Isa. 66:5; (24) new nation born, Isa. 66:8 (25) Jeremiah, Jer. 1:10; (26) Jehovah’s people in the new covenant, Jer. 31:33; (27) man clothed in linen, Ezek. 9:2; (28) dwellers in the center of the earth, Ezek. 38:12; (29) trees by the river, Ezek. 47:7; (30) fishers, Ezek. 47:10; (31) the host of heaven, Dan. 8:10; (32) sanctuary restored (cleansed), Dan. 8:14; (33) they that are wise, Dan. 11:33; (34) many in the dust awake to everlasting life, Dan. 12:2; (35) all flesh receiving the spirit, Joel 2:28; (36) Jonah, Jon. 3:1-3; (37) apple of Jehovah’s eye, Zech. 2:8; (38) Joshua the high priest, Zech. 3:3, 4; (39) a Jew, Zech. 8:23; (40) sons of Levi, Mal. 3:3; (41) wheat, Matt. 13:25; (42) sons of the kingdom, Matt. 13:38; (43) workers for the vineyard, Matt. 20:1; (44) those invited to marriage feast, Matt. 22:3-14; (45) chosen ones, Matt. 24:22; (46) eagles, Matt. 24:28; (47) faithful and discreet slave, Matt. 24:45; (48) discreet virgins, Matt. 25:2; (49) brothers of the king, Matt. 25:40; (50) little flock of sheep, Luke 12:32; (51) older brother of the prodigal, Luke 15:25; (52) beggar Lazarus, Luke 16:20; (53) branches of the vine, John 15:4; (54) royal palace of David, Acts 15:16; (55) heirs with Christ, Rom. 8:17; (56) the remnant, Rom. 11:5; (57) branches in the olive tree, Rom. 11:24; (58) holy ones of saints, 1 Cor. 6:2; Rev. 16:6; (59) temple, 1 Cor. 6:19; (60) new creation, 2 Cor. 5:17; (61) ambassadors for Christ, 2 Cor. 5:20; (62) congregation of God, Gal. 1:13; (63) part of Abraham’s seed, Gal. 3:29; (64) Israel of God, Gal. 6:16; (65) body of Christ, Eph. 1:22, 23; (66) soldiers of Christ Jesus, 2 Tim. 2:3; (67) house built by Christ, Heb. 3:6; (68) holy priesthood, 1 Pet. 2:5; (69) holy nation, 1 Pet. 2:9; (70) association of brothers, 1 Pet. 2:17; (71) seven congregations, Rev. 1:20; (72) twenty-four persons of advanced age, Rev. 4:4; (73) spiritual Israel, Rev. 7:4; (74) locusts, Rev. 9:3, (75) two witnesses, Rev. 11:3; (76) two olive trees, Rev. 11:4; (77) seed of the woman, Rev. 12:17; (78) trees of life, Rev. 22:2; (79) the bride of Christ, Rev. 22:17; 19:7; (80) Jehovah’s witnesses, Isa. 43:10.

Staying Awake with the “Faithful and Discreet Slave”

1. (a) How is the “faithful and discreet slave” equipped to perform God’s will? (b) Of what interest is this to newcomers?

THE Biblical connections and the abundant array of Scriptural credentials of the “faithful and discreet slave” class have already been examined. This class was found to be the anointed witnesses of Jehovah operating today in all parts of the earth through their now seventy-six-year-old legal servant, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. This “slave” class has a governing body rendering counsel and direction as prefigured by Elihu when he gave counsel to ancient Job. (Job 32:1-6) From 1919 onward the governing direction of the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses has become theocratic rather than continuing with the carry-over democratic arrangements of weedlike Christendom. (Matt. 13:25, 38, 39) The former democratic method featured the will of the people on every level of organization from the bottom up. But the theocratic method assures that Jehovah’s will is done on every organizational level from the top down. Now that the kingdom of heaven had been established in 1914, the time was here to feature God’s will on earth in all matters. This was in answer to the model prayer: “Let your [God’s] will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matt. 6:10) The time had come for multitudes of others besides the “domestics” of the anointed “slave” class to learn about the divine will and to perform it. Such newcomers must stay awake with the “faithful and discreet slave” in doing the divine will and thus qualify to survive this old world’s end for life in a paradise restored on earth.

2. What evidence is there as to how the divine will is made known today?

² How is this divine will to be made known and brought to the attention of the worthy multitudes of men of good will toward Jehovah? Again the awake world-watchman, the “slave” class, must undertake another world educational campaign following their restoration as witnesses after 1919. Such a global work has now been under way for more than forty years and is reaching its fruitful culmination. The facts show that during this time and up to the present hour the “slave” class has served as God’s sole collective channel for the flow of Biblical truth to men on earth. Just as the early Christian congregation collectively served as the channel of communication from heaven to earth, so in our time. (Eph. 3:10) Abundant spiritual food and amazing details as to the doing of God’s will have been flowing through this unique channel actually as a miraculous evidence of the operation of holy spirit. The present stature of the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses, numbering nearly a million ministers in 175 lands, gives eloquent testimony that it is not the product of human ingenuity. Rather, it is the product of holy spirit operating theocratically through a tested channel, influencing the lives of dedicated men and women in all walks of life.—Zech. 4:6.

3. In Revelation 22:1, 2 what are the “broad way,” the “river of water of life,” the “trees of life” and their “fruit”?

³ The Bible figures this channel arrangement as New Jerusalem’s “broad way.” Through the middle of this “broad way” is channeled a “river of water of life,” a flood of publications of crystal-clear truth bringing life-giving benefits to all who imbibe its refreshment. Where does the Bible mention this? “And he showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of its [New Jerusalem’s] broad way. And on this side of the river and on that side there were trees of life producing twelve crops of fruit, yielding their fruits each month. And the leaves of the trees were for the curing of the nations. And the spirit and the bride keep on saying, ‘Come!’ And let anyone hearing say, ‘Come!’ And let anyone thirsting come; let anyone that wishes take life’s water free.” (Rev. 22:1, 2, 17) Thus organizationally the “discreet slave” class since 1919 has been channeling an ever-increasing flow of Biblical publications by the millions that contain the “waters of life” featuring Jehovah’s will as emanating from God’s throne in heaven. Note there are “trees of life” on each side of this “river of life.” These are the “domestics,” the anointed remnant as individuals, who draw first from these waters of truth. Being thus filled with truth, the individual anointed ones produce Kingdom fruitage and the fruitage of the spirit continually, during all seasons, to feed spiritually and help their many new associates of the “nations.”—Gal. 5:22-24.

4. Explain about the “leaves,” the “nations,” the “bride,” and what it means to say: “Come!”

⁴ The anointed remnant as individual “trees” are also said to be producing “leaves for the curing of the nations.” What are these leaves? These appear to be the organizational arrangements made through the anointed remnant to bring about a spiritual healing of men of good will. The anointed as individuals are used to serve in the Society’s printing factories, to write and publish books and magazines, and are sent out as public speakers; some travel as branch, circuit and district servants, others continue as faithful congregation overseers and study conductors. Almost all of these more than fourteen thousand of the remnant still reported participate in the field, regularly training new ones in the house-to-house service and Bible study work. They strive to be faithful examples to men of good will of what dedicated servants of God should be. They will resist the tendency, because of getting older in years and weaker in bodily strength, of retiring to let the others, the men of good will, do the hard service work. Retirement could lead to their seeking only bodily comforts and so becoming materialistic. Down to their dying day these faithful spirit-begotten, anointed sons of God will be shedding forth their “leaves” of service co-operation to help those of the “great crowd” toward their being healed. Yes, these “trees” are confirmed to be the anointed ones, because later, in this same prophecy, they are referred to as members of the “bride” class, those destined to be of Christ’s bride of 144,000 in heaven. (Eph. 5:23) And so it is as the “bride” that they keep on saying “Come!” to all men of good will to take of the ‘waters of life’ that are being channeled through the “slave’s” Watch Tower Society. When such have become spiritually refreshed and healed, then they, in turn, join the remnant to say “Come!” to others. Hence under divine direction the spiritual educational program “snowballs” along to ever-widening proportions.—Isa. 11:9.

A MODERN MIRACLE

5, 6. (a) Describe what was affected by the flow of truth from 1919 to 1931. (b) What sort of a miracle was in store for some?

⁵ From 1919 to 1931 the flow of waters of truth largely affected only those of the anointed remnant. More of the anointed were being called to fill the vacancies of those dismissed in 1917 and 1918. They were also being spiritually refreshed and strengthened for greater work ahead. But more particularly by their faithfully declaring Jehovah’s judgments they were preparing the world field for a gigantic harvest ingathering. So, aside from the awake remnant of the “slave” class, all others of mankind were found to be spiritually asleep up to 1931. They were all fatally heading for Armageddon’s destruction. By 1931 the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish clergy were snoring in even deeper spiritual slumber than prior to 1914. Not an awake watchman among them.

⁶ At Ezekiel, chapter 47, there is prophetically described a modern-day miracle. According to Jehovah’s loving foreknowledge he maneuvered earthly affairs for a “great crowd” to experience a spiritual resurrection. (Rev. 7:9; Col. 2:13) It was God’s will for the awakening of the remnant on earth to follow the 1918 heavenly resurrection of anointed ones who died prior to that time. (Rev. 11:18) Yet multitudes were bound in deathlike circumstances within Satan’s dying old world and doing nothing about their plight. But by this modern miracle that began after 1931 Jehovah gradually opened their eyes to the actual state of things, that Christendom has been found wanting by God and Christ, resulting in her being cast off as guilty of spiritual fornication with the world. (Jas. 4:4) Such ones had their eyes focused to begin to discern the wide-awake “faithful and discreet slave” remnant and the significance of their preaching work. What are the details of this modern miracle?

7. What does Ezekiel 47:1-12 bring to view as applied today?

⁷ Let us now turn on the television of Bible prophecy to chapter 47 of Ezekiel for a viewing of the video performance there taking place in fulfillment in modern times. There we begin to see an expanded vision of the things we have just considered from Revelation, chapter 22. Again we see a “river” of water of truth being channeled to the earth out from Jehovah’s spiritual temple. The waters begin to flow through the channel of the “slave” class from their restoration in 1919. Note the “river” here is described as going eastward, in the direction of greater light, apparently signifying that the Society’s publications of truth would be progressing in the light of truth as the years advanced after 1919. Ezekiel makes a periodic survey, every thousand cubits, of the increasing depths of this river, which first was ankle deep, then up to the knees, and further up to the loins, and finally the river was so deep that one had to swim if he wished to cross it.—Ezek. 47:1-5.

8. What does the survey of the river’s several stages mean today?

⁸ So in these latter days of fulfillment a periodic survey of every three years shows a steady increasing in the spiritual depth and clarity of the published waters of truth by the Watch Tower Society. The trickle published in 1919 was “ankle” deep, so to speak, by 1922, then an increased depth of spirituality and vision was had by 1925, followed by the great flood of new light published by 1928, to be capped by 1931 with the overwhelming flow of Biblical enlightenment.a All who have been connected with the Watch Tower Society since 1931 can abundantly testify that since then the waters of truth have been published in such quantity and so fast through the Watchtower magazine and other Watch Tower publications that one has to figuratively “swim” to try to keep abreast. Furthermore, from 1931 to 1945 the Catholic Action-Fascist-Nazi forces found they could not check this strong “river” of truth. Yes, Jehovah’s witnesses had been so fortified with waters of truth that they could not be overcome by persecution or stopped publishing.—Rev. 12:15, 16.

9, 10. (a) Read and explain Ezekiel 47:7, 12. (b) What does the Dead Sea picture?

⁹ Next we see that this “river,” too, has “trees” on both sides of this flowing stream. The “trees” bear new fruit each month, and their leaves are supplied for healing. This is identical with the Revelation scene already examined and applies to the individual treelike remnant who faithfully perform preaching services along with the channel organization to bring spiritual healing to the nations. (Ezek. 47:7, 12) But how is the modern miracle brought about?

¹⁰ Where would the divine will direct the formidable flow of this cleansing water of Kingdom truth with life-giving benefits? On our television screen of Bible prophecy we see that Jehovah God directs this river to flow eastward (from where Jerusalem’s temple area had been in ancient times) right into the Dead Sea. Now no fish have ever lived in the literal Dead Sea. But now note what happens to this antitypical Dead Sea! The Dead Sea here aptly pictures the deathlike circumstances that have prevented multitudes from seeing spiritual daylight during this time of the end. Satan has them securely bound as prisoners. He keeps them in great spiritual darkness through false religion. The Devil keeps them busy with materialism, deluded with propaganda and occupied with the menial things of a rat-race existence. In this way all mankind except the awake “faithful and discreet slave” class were held in deathlike spiritual sleep up to 1931.b

11. Describe the healing that the waters of the “river” bring.

¹¹ Miracle of miracles, Jehovah now directs this flow of waters of truth to release the “great crowd” of men of good will from this Dead-Sea-like captivity. From 1931 onward The Watchtower gradually began to change its trumpetlike call to those not of the anointed group. Over the years prophecy after prophecy, now numbering over forty-two, had their fulfillments made clear, all confirming that Jehovah has opened the door to a vast multitude to come into this fully cleansed and prepared New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses.c The waters of truth provided healing in that circumstances on the world scene and circumstances on the individual scene were changed by Jehovah’s maneuvering. Religious shackles became loose; light on world woes freed those thinking on Kingdom truths from previous traditional restraints. The circumstances became livable. And so, as Ezekiel indicates, “fish” in great numbers became alive. In the almost thirty years from when this modern miracle began there are now over 850,000 of these “fish made alive” ones active with the “slave” class. They have come out from a lifeless element, an old world dead in its sins, out from under the threat of destruction at Armageddon, and become alive to God.—Ezek. 47:8, 9.

12. What arrangement operates to keep the awakened “fish” alive?

¹² Now that these “fish” have become alive under Jehovah’s miraculous hand, does he leave them to shift for themselves for food? No. Our video screen next shows that Jehovah establishes a “fishers” organization to administer food. This is directly opposite to general experience, as fish are caught to become food for man. But in this prophecy the fish are fished out to be fed and kept alive. “And it shall come to pass, that fishers shall stand by [the Dead Sea]: from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim shall be a place for the spreading of nets; their fish shall be . . . exceeding many.” (Ezek. 47:10, AS) This immediately reminds one of what Jesus once said to his disciples: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matt. 4:19) Truly the fishermen with their nets aptly picture today the anointed remnant along with their netlike organization still basically occupied in the same spiritual fishing business as their apostolic predecessors. By this organized means rescues are being effected in all parts of the earth. Prior to 1931 merely those of the heavenly “little flock” were being served, but now since 1931 rescue operations are on a vast global scale to save hundreds of thousands. These made-alive “fish” are the same as the “other sheep” of Christ Jesus. (John 10:16) Dependent upon the “fruit” and “leaves” of the treelike individual members of the remnant, these “other sheep” are being richly fed to be preserved alive through and beyond Armageddon’s storm.

KEEPING AWAKE

13. Describe one way to keep awake with the “slave” class.

¹³ The question may next be asked, ‘How can one stay awake with this fast-moving “faithful and discreet slave” class?’ The members of this anointed group are years ahead in maturity, Biblical knowledge, theocratic experience and vision of Jehovah’s purpose and divine will. There are several things one can do to stay awake and abreast. First, one should keep up with the “food at the proper time” supplied through God’s proved channel and published by the Watch Tower Society. One cannot afford to miss one spiritual meal. In addition to one’s private study it is vital to attend the congregation studies each week. By missing study meetings one is spiritually emaciating himself, remaining spiritually thin and weak. If such careless feeding continues, one will not be strong enough to keep up with the rapid march of the New World society. The anointed remnant as leaders have only one determination ahead of them, and that is the prize of life everlasting in the doing of Jehovah’s will in vindication of His sovereignty. Are you of the “other sheep” going to be strong enough to be the traveling companions of the remnant in this determined drive for victory? Feed with eagerness, as if it meant your life. It does.

14, 15. Explain two more ways to remain awake.

¹⁴ Another thing is to follow theocratic ways, procedures and policies. It is written in Revelation: “Great and wonderful are your works, Jehovah God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways, King of eternity.” (Rev. 15:3) No more are we governed by democratic ways and procedures. Such ways emphasize the will of men. When we have been brought into the New World society we are determined to do the divine will. The divine will flows to us only theocratically through God’s provided leadership of the “faithful and discreet slave.”

¹⁵ Thirdly, we can keep awake by staying in our assigned place in the organization. Those of the “great crowd” are not to dispute or seek to adjust any assignments made through the “faithful and discreet slave.” Nor are they to try to do another’s assigned job. Paul writes: “For just as we have in one body many members, but the members do not all have the same function.” (Rom. 12:4) So let each one perform his own assigned service. If one’s place is that of a congregation publisher, then let him be diligent in performing the preaching service effectively in harmony with the Society’s instructions. If one is a servant in a congregation, then it is his duty to perform properly. Should such a one fail, the angels who are giving invisible oversight will see to it that changes are eventually made. Jesus said: “The Son of man will send forth his angels, and they will collect out from his kingdom all things that cause stumbling and persons who are doing lawlessness.”—Matt. 13:41.

16. What are one’s resources, and what can be done with them?

¹⁶ Again we can stay awake by our service and financial contributions to the Watch Tower Society. Jehovah has done so much for us through this agency. The least we can do to show our responding love and appreciation is to contribute our finances and time toward expanding the global preaching work. The remnant in their small numbers contributed millions of dollars to the Society’s work prior to 1931. Surely now the “great crowd” are willing to do their share in making the Society’s educational work today the most important business in the world. From our resources of time and money let us give generously. Jehovah blessed the contributions of his anointed ones in the early stages of the work; so we can be assured that the contributions of the “other sheep” today will result in a still greater blessing for righteous mankind.—Isa. 60:5; 61:5, 6.

17, 18. (a) Why are love and loyalty necessary to wakefulness? (b) How do respect and obedience show that one is awake?

¹⁷ We can stay awake by showing our love to all and acting loyally. Jehovah’s organization in heaven is characterized by love. Likewise love is the outstanding characteristic of the New World society on earth. This is what distinguishes it so markedly from the old world. This too is the great characteristic of the progressive “faithful and discreet slave.” An early member of that slave group, the apostle Paul, wrote: I “entreat you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, with complete lowliness of mind and mildness, with longsuffering, putting up with one another in love, earnestly endeavoring to observe the oneness of the spirit in the uniting bond of peace.”—Eph. 4:1-3.

¹⁸ Lastly, we can stay awake by being respectful and obedient. We know that Jehovah is using the Watch Tower Society of the “faithful and discreet slave” as a governing agency on earth today. It deserves our respect and fullest support. It is written: “Remember those who are governing you, who have spoken the word of God to you, and as you contemplate how their conduct turns out imitate their faith.” (Heb. 13:7) At times there are heard from immature ones slighting remarks, careless talk or outright criticism of the Society’s operations. Such is outright lack of respect for the means Jehovah is remarkably using to perform his will in this pre-Armageddon time. Truly the Society as directed by God’s holy spirit merits our deepest respect and wholehearted obedience.

19. How has the “faithful and discreet slave” proved to be ahead of its times?

¹⁹ Yes, the “faithful and discreet slave” was awake to the coming of 1914. In 1942 the “faithful and discreet slave” guided by Jehovah’s unerring spirit made known that the democracies would win World War II and that there would be a United Nations organization set up.d Such wakefulness was concerning events that unerringly took place three years later. At the 1958 Divine Will International Assembly amazing advance information in connection with Daniel’s prophecy was given about events to occur in the immediate future. Such evidence of spiritual foresight is recorded for us in the book “Your Will Be Done on Earth.” Once again the “faithful and discreet slave” has been tipped off ahead of time for the guidance of all lovers of God. Surely one’s present security depends on his staying awake with the “faithful and discreet slave.”

20, 21. (a) How can one live an inspiring life of purpose now? (b) How does Matthew 25:21 apply, and of what encouragement is it?

²⁰ Stay awake to live a happy life of inspiring purpose now. Doing God’s will is all-absorbing, fascinating, furnishing the greatest of incentives. Do not drift back to one’s former “Dead Sea” circumstances. Do not become a dead, stinking fish. But remain alive, spiritually healthy, an antitypical fish with ‘sweet odor of the knowledge of Christ,’ as Paul writes. (2 Cor. 2:15) Let those who refuse to hear you preach remain in the blind world to follow the blind clergy, whose lamp has gone out. Even blind bats have greater perceptive powers than the spiritually sleepy clergy. But you of the “great crowd” and any others who desire to be enlightened, follow the awake “faithful and discreet slave” class, who keep their lamp burning day and night. Your happiness now and in the future new world depend upon your working with the remnant. Jesus said of his spiritual brothers, the remnant: “Truly I say to you [of the ‘great crowd’], To the extent that you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”—Matt. 25:40.

²¹ Stay awake with the remnant who are now in a time of joy and ascendancy. Jesus has this commendation for the “faithful and discreet slave”: “Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things. I will appoint you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matt. 25:21) Stay with the remnant in their royal Kingdom service. Share with them their Kingdom joys, which bring towering strength. Stay awake with the “faithful and discreet slave” under Christ to live forever.

[Footnotes]

Must You Tithe?

TITHING, which means giving a tenth of one’s income for the purpose of promoting religious worship, was a fact of life as far as the ancient Israelites were concerned. Whether the pagan nations copied and adopted the Hebrew custom of paying tithes is not known. They did have a system that provided for the upkeep of their priests and gods. Whether their system was anything like the one the Jews maintained has not been established. It is highly improbable that it was.

Appreciable light on the subject is cast by Egyptologists Sayce and Petrie. Professor Sayce writes: “Though gifts were made to the Egyptian temples on a large scale, there does not seem to have been any tithe.” Professor Flinders Petrie says: “I do not remember any tithing allusions. . . . The Egyptian system of priestly revenues was by estates, and not by taxes or tithes.” Professors Mahaffy and Grenfell were both of the opinion that in Egypt “one sixth” was the portion set aside for the temples and the gods.

Even though Dr. Theophilus G. Pinches, formerly of the Assyrian Department of the British Museum, states “there is almost certain information that tithes were paid in Babylonia to temples of the gods more than 2,000 B.C.,” still Dr. Wallis Budge of the British Museum, from his studies of original cuneiform writings, was of the opinion that such tithing was more in the nature of “a free-will offering than a literal tenth part the payment of which was obligatory.”

There were other classes of people in the Euphrates valley and elsewhere who annually offered gifts to their gods. The ancient Greeks paid tithes of the spoils of war to Apollo and the Romans to Hercules. This was done partly as a matter of obligation and partly voluntarily. “Properly speaking,” says H. W. Clarke, in his book A History of Tithes, these tithes “were not the sort of tithes mentioned in the Mosaic law. They were only arbitrary vows and offerings; but no conclusion can be drawn that they were tithes because tenths were given. Sometimes the heathen offered more and sometimes less than one-tenth.”

The Bible contains the most ancient and most reliable history of the manners and customs of the human race. There we find the first mention of tithes at Genesis 14:20, where it says that Abraham gave a tithe or a tenth of the spoil to Melchizedek. There is no record, however, that he ever offered tithes again or that he commanded his descendants to pay tithes. At Genesis 28:20-22 we read of Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, vowing to Jehovah that if God would prosper him and grant him a safe journey, he would “without fail give the tenth” of his substance to God. The statement shows that his vow was a voluntary offering and not obligatory according to a previously stated tithing commandment.

The children of Israel were the first commanded by the law of God to pay tithes. Since Jehovah’s worship was to have primary place in the lives of the Israelites, it was necessary that some arrangement be made to finance that worship. This was done through the law of tithe. The tribe of Levi, which received no inheritance, was maintained by the tithe. Another tithe was set aside for use in connection with Jehovah’s festivals, and this was replaced by a tithe for the poor on the third and sixth years of every seven-year period. We never read of the tithe being an undue burden. In fact, when the people kept God’s law closely they became more prosperous. The arrangement worked to the good of all.—Num. 18:21-27; Deut. 14:22-24, 28, 29.

There is no question that tithing was for the Israelites, but is it for Christians? The fact that the Israelites paid tithes does not mean that the Christians are obligated to do so. Alexander Cruden in his concordance states: “Neither our Saviour, nor his apostles have commanded any thing in the affair of tithes.” Clarke says: “For centuries after the Christian Era, the Christians paid no tithes.” There is not one word in the Christian Greek Scriptures that says Christians must pay tithes, or that they collected tithes. In fact, Lord Selborne, in his book Ancient Facts and Fictions Concerning Churches and Tithes, says: “There is no mention of tithes in any part of the ancient canon law of the Roman Church, collected toward the end of the fifth century by Dionysius,” a Scythian monk who collected 401 Oriental and African canons.

There was a growing habit in the sixth century of looking upon the clergy as the successors and representatives of the Levites under the old Mosaic law. This gave rise to the idea that they were entitled to the payment of tithes by the laity. The development was gradual in nature. It was not until the Council of Tours in A.D. 567 that tithing was first made obligatory. In the ninth century Charlemagne passed the first tithing law in his dominion. The people, however, stubbornly refused to pay it. The Encyclopedia Americana states: “Tithes proved a source of great trouble in every country in which they were collected . . . They have, therefore, been abandoned in nearly all countries.”

In apostolic times Christian ministers were maintained on purely a voluntary principle and people offered their contributions voluntarily. Those who proclaimed the good news were to live by means of the good news. Today, however, many religious organizations of Christendom have ignored this Christian principle and the one that says: “You received free, give free,” and have required their members to tithe. “Emphasis on Christian tithing is rapidly developing as a main theme in the churches,” said a spokesman for the National Council of the Churches of Christ. There were occasions in the past when men were imprisoned, their goods seized and some were even shot dead, because they refused to pay tithes. Today some religions expect each convert to contribute one tenth of his property at conversion and to give one tenth of his income thereafter. Those who make such demands do so without Scriptural authority. God put an end to the Mosaic law when he nailed it to the tree. That means he put an end to the tithing law too. Paul said: Christians “are not under law but under undeserved kindness.”—Matt. 10:8; Rom. 6:14; 1 Cor. 9:14; Col. 2:14; Heb. 7:12.

When Christians became anointed with God’s spirit at Pentecost A.D. 33, their tithing to Herod’s temple ended then and there. God had rejected that material temple and later permitted the Romans to destroy it. How, then, could they support what God himself rejected? Tithing was to those Jewish Christians “a shadow of the good things to come,” a new system of things put into effect by Jesus Christ. It foreshadowed the spiritual tithe, our money and other contributions, be they small or great, which are given to the support of God’s service and all of which together are a token or a symbol of the fact that we have dedicated our all to Jehovah our God; it is a memorial of our dedication.—Heb. 10:1.

Therefore, must you tithe? The answer is No. Paul said: “Let each one do just as he has resolved in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” So give cheerfully, give freely, give liberally, but any law that says you “must” is in excess of the Scriptures.—2 Cor. 9:7; 1 Cor. 4:6.

“Laws of Nature”

“There are laws of nature,” says Hal Borland in This Hill, This Valley, “that I doubt we shall ever understand. Take such a simple matter as the twining of vines that climb by twisting their limber stems around a stronger support, even as our pole beans climb the poles we set for them. In this Northern Hemisphere they twist, with few exceptions, counterclockwise. Why is this so? . . . Cyclonic storms, such as hurricanes, move in the same direction as they come whirling up the coast from Florida and the Caribbean. And water whirlpooling down the kitchen sink or through an outlet at the bottom of a dam usually makes the same counterclockwise motion.

“It is all very well to say that it is a result of the turning of the earth, and to find other parallels; and it even lends a kind of reasonable air to say that in the Southern Hemisphere the twist is usually in the opposite direction. These are facts, not ultimate answers. That is the way things happen, not why they happen. Is a wild morning-glory aware of the turning of the earth? Is a pole bean so endowed with this knowledge that I cannot force it to twist the other way? Is such knowledge embedded in the seed itself? Winds I can understand, and their inevitable direction. Vines are something else. Vines are living things, not air forced this way or that by outside forces. No, there is some law beyond, some way of life, some necessity in nature that I can recognize but not wholly understand.”

Questions From Readers

● Is it wrong for a white person and a colored one to marry if they truly love each other? Does the Bible give any counsel in this regard?—W. M., U.S.A.

God’s Word does not forbid marriage between the races. On the contrary, it shows that all races are related in that they all came from one man originally. (Acts 17:26) No one race is esteemed better in God’s sight than another. As the apostle Peter expressed it: “God is not partial, but in every nation the man that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.”—Acts 10:34, 35.

What God’s Word does command is that dedicated Christians should marry “only in the Lord.” Should it happen that one or the other had been married before, it would be necessary that they be Scripturally free; either in that the mate is deceased or has been legally divorced because of adultery.—1 Cor. 7:39.

Obviously, those who marry seek happiness. And the Scriptures indicate that a marriage or wedding should be a very happy occasion. The countless happily married couples give evidence that marriage can bring deep satisfactions, contentment and much joy. However, it also follows that due to human imperfection marriage does bring with it a certain amount of “tribulation in their flesh,” as the apostle Paul terms it.—1 Cor. 7:28.

It is quite likely that those who marry across racial lines will have more of this tribulation than will others. Christians cannot change prevailing human customs, prejudices and laws but must put up with them. They should therefore take a very realistic view of matters and recognize the added difficulties such a marriage will have to face. In many parts of the earth there is still much racial discrimination, and entering such a marriage may result in restricting the Christian’s opportunities for preaching the good news of God’s kingdom. Also, children born of such a marriage most likely will face similar added obstacles as soon as they are old enough to mingle with other children.

Then again, the law in certain lands and states forbids interracial marriage. Since Christians must recognize Caesar’s right to regulate marriage, Christians residing in such states or lands and contemplating interracial marriage would have to move to a land or state where such marriages are legal, and it would be inadvisable for them to return to their own land or state or to go to any others having such laws.

In view of these factors, those who contemplate such a marriage will do well to consider the step seriously. Is it truly love or chiefly physical attraction? Would it be in the best interests of both? Is this marriage the best possible solution to their problem or reason for wanting to marry? Before marriage the love between two persons may seem sufficiently strong, but is it strong enough to endure the added obstacles such a marriage brings with it? If two persons of different races decide to take such a step, no one should criticize them. The really important factors, it may not be forgotten, are those plainly stated in the Scriptures.

● Why did Jesus insert the parenthetical statement “let the reader use discernment,” as recorded at Matthew 24:15? Should we not use discernment whenever considering the application of prophecy?—R. B., U.S.A.

True, discernment should at all times be used when considering the Word of God, but there is apparently a special need to be alert as to the application of the portion of Daniel’s prophecy referred to in Matthew 24:15. “Therefore, when you catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, (let the reader use discernment).”

The Jews applied Daniel 11:31, to which Jesus was here making reference, to the pollution of the temple by Antiochus IV (Epíphanes) in the year 168 B.C. Since this application, which is still commonly accepted, was incorrect, Jesus apparently added the word of caution so that we would not fall into the same error. Far from being fulfilled back there, Daniel’s prophecy regarding the “disgusting thing that causes desolation” is having fulfillment in our day as part of the great sign proving Christ’s second presence. As pointed out time and again in the Watch Tower publications, it is the Devil’s substitute for God’s kingdom, at present the United Nations, for which reason it is disgusting in God’s sight, and it causes desolation in that all those that put their trust in it instead of in God’s kingdom will be desolated, destroyed, at Armageddon.

● At 1 Corinthians 11:29 we read: “For he that eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment against himself if he does not discern the body.” Is this body spoken of here still Christ’s human body, mentioned in the context, or is it the body of 144,000 spirit sons?

Yes, the body that is here referred to and that is to be discerned if one does not want to eat condemnation to himself is still the literal body of the Lord Jesus Christ, the same as in the preceding verses of this chapter. It is not the spiritual body of Christ composed of 144,000 members. What the apostle Paul is here emphasizing is the need for the participants to appreciate the value of Christ’s sacrifice in their behalf and not to be so dull in their sensibilities as to partake of the emblematic bread without regard to its symbolizing the precious sacrifice of Jesus Christ and thus eating this emblem in a way that is unworthy of the sacrifice of Christ and that does indignity to it.

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

Christians are instructed to be ‘assembling still more as the day nears.’ (Heb. 10:25) Not only will we continue to do so, but we will encourage others to see the importance of assembling with Jehovah’s people. To that end, we will offer to the people during July the fine book “Your Will Be Done on Earth” and another helpful Bible-study book, with two booklets, on a contribution of $1.

IS YOUR FUTURE HOPEFUL?

What will be the outcome of the present struggle for world control? What security measures are the most practical for the crisis that is certain to come, and what prospects for the future will the survivors have? What part can you have in these history-making events? Obtain and read the two fascinating and revealing books “Your Will Be Done on Earth” and You May Survive Armageddon into God’s New World. Both give you the Bible’s answers to these questions. Send $1 and receive free the booklets Healing of the Nations Has Drawn Near and “This Good News of the Kingdom.”

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

August 21: The Awake “Faithful and Discreet Slave.” Page 432.

August 28: Staying Awake with the “Faithful and Discreet Slave.” Page 438.