The Watchtower — January 1, 1961

Who Is Your God?

“WHO is your God?” That is the most important question anyone could ask you. The confusion and strife that are in the world today on every plane of human endeavor are due more to the difference in gods that people worship than to any other one factor. The Eastern bloc worships the god of military forces, the neutral bloc worships, in the main, pagan deities, whereas the Western bloc gives at least lip service to the God of the Bible. And individuals, by their course of action, betray the kind of god they worship.

Yes, in the minds of men there are ‘gods many and lords many,’ even as an inspired apostle of Jesus Christ observed long years ago. However, in view of the orderliness of the universe it just cannot be that there is more than one true God. If there were, we would find the same confusion in the inanimate universe that we find in the intelligent human creation on earth—gods or rulers having differing laws and at war with one another. It is because the entire universe has one Lawgiver that scientists are able to discover these laws and work out practical methods in using the principles governing these laws for the good—and all too often for the harm—of man.—1 Cor. 8:5, 6.

The Creator endowed man with the faculty of worship, and for man’s own well-being he must worship God. This is a fact that modern psychotherapists are learning to appreciate more and more. But unless one is worshiping the one true God, the Creator, he is, in effect worshiping “the god of this system of things,” Satan the Devil. As Jesus said: “He that is not on my side is against me, and he that does not gather with me scatters.”—2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2; Matt. 12:30.

Who is your God? Perhaps you will answer, as did H. Wouk, a popular author, in the book This Is My God, that your God is the Creator, the God of the Bible. But is he in fact? Suppose a fellow employee boasted that the boss was his friend, and yet he did not know the boss’ name, what kind of man he was and what his goals in life were; at the same time this employee loafed at his work. What would you think of his boast? If the boss really was his friend he certainly would know the boss’ name, his characteristics, his goal in life. And then, instead of loafing at his work, he would be giving his best because he was working for his friend. Right?

So, if the God of the Bible, the Creator, is your God, then you should, first of all, know what his name is. Do you? You say “God” is his name? No, that is merely a title, as is “boss.” Did you say, “Jesus Christ”? No, that is the name of God’s Son. Then what is God’s name? He tells us in his Word: “I am Jehovah. That is my name.” “You, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High.” Yes, the true God has a name that distinguishes him from the many imitation or false gods.—Isa. 42:8; Ps. 83:18; 1 Cor. 8:5, 6.

If the God of the Bible is your God, you will also know what his basic characteristics or attributes are. What are they? They are four. First, justice: “A God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice; righteous and upright is he.” Second, power: “With God all things are possible.” Third, wisdom: “Jehovah himself in wisdom founded the earth. He solidly fixed the heavens in discernment. By his knowledge the . . . skies keep dripping down light rain.” And fourth, love. “God is love.”—Deut. 32:4; Matt. 19:26; Prov. 3:19, 20; 1 John 4:8.

Further, if your God is the God of the Bible, you should be familiar with his purposes. Then when others reproach him, because of ignorance or malice, you will be able to defend his good name just as you would that of any earthly friend. Does someone accuse your God Jehovah of being merely the tribal God of the Jews? They are wrong. The faithful men of old from Abel to Jacob were not Jews. Besides, all humankind are recipients of Jehovah’s blessings and yet will be. It is only that at one time Jehovah gave the Israelites, later known as Jews, certain privileges because of the faith of their forebears. Jesus Christ worshiped the God of Moses; his followers will do likewise.—Rom. 3:29.

Or, if someone found fault with your God because He used the armies of Israel to destroy certain pagan peoples in times past, you, as a Christian, should be able to clear God’s name from this reproach also. Those pagan Canaanites deserved to die because of being steeped in the vilest immorality. Since Jehovah is earth’s rightful Sovereign and Judge, he is free to choose the means of executing criminals: the Flood for the antediluvians, fire for those of Sodom and Gomorrah, the literal sword for the Canaanites.—Deut. 9:4-6.

Then, again, should some, because misery and injustice are the lot of humankind, deny that Jehovah God exists, how will you answer? Many persons have no answer. But the Bible has. In the first place, let it be noted that mankind has only itself to blame. True, God could have at once wiped out the principals in the Edenic rebellion, but God was challenged as to his ability to have creatures upon this earth that would remain true to him under test. To answer that challenge God had to permit suffering, even as the book of Job shows. Once Jehovah God has fully refuted these charges and answered Satan’s challenge, he will destroy all evildoers and bring about conditions upon earth that will leave no doubt as to his existence, sovereignty and attributes.

One more relevant point—your conduct. Does it belie your claim that the God of the Bible is your God? If he truly is your God, you will try to please him by your very way of life. Actions speak—often louder than words. You must ‘love Jehovah with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength.’ You must also “love your neighbor as yourself.”—Mark 12:30, 31.

So, who is your God? You do have one; even those who deny belief in God have a god they serve. If your God is the God of the Bible, the Creator, then you know his name, his attributes and his purposes. Then you are able to vindicate him when he is reproached. Then too, you live so as to please him. Otherwise, your god, in effect, is “the god of this system of things,” the base, would-be rival of the one true God Jehovah.

Build to the Future

“In the house of the righteous one there is an abundant store, but in the produce of the wicked one there is troublesomeness.”—Prov. 15:6.

1. (a) What are some of man’s accomplishments in the field of building? (b) Does this mean he really appreciates his achievements?

BUILDING is a pleasure! Over the centuries man has made great progress in building, and what he is now making in the way of new things is truly amazing. Man has built comfortable homes, mammoth factories, automatic machines, huge bridges, unique skyscrapers, jet airliners, and yet this does not satisfy. Some want to live in outer space! But are all these constructive achievements appreciated by man, or does man prefer to be a destroyer? How often have you picked up your daily paper to read in the headlines—WAR? How many pictures have you seen, how many stories have you read, how many history books have you studied about war? Yes, you have seen the destruction that man has brought upon his own work. Men spend billions of dollars and unnumbered man-hours of work building for their own enjoyment. Then other men, or perhaps even the builders themselves, bring about the destruction of their projects. Is this building to the future?

2. Show why there is great concern with the world situation today.

² In just the past few years war has leveled many great cities to the ground. Today no one knows if the city in which he lives will be leveled to the ground tomorrow. What is wrong with man, the builder? Has he no sense or reason? Has all the world gone mad? Where is security? How disturbing to observe the great statesmen in the world, assembled in the United Nations, quarreling! Now this one, then that one, vies for power and world domination. Even the great religious systems of Christendom are not able to get together. The powerful political organizations inside the different nations do not see eye to eye. Big business is selfishly grasping for power everywhere. True, they all build, but are they building just to destroy? Are they pursuing the policy, Rule or ruin? How foolish! Solomon wisely wrote: “The truly wise woman has built up her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands.”—Prov. 14:1.

3. (a) What solution for peace did Jesus give? (b) Does Christendom turn to that solution?

³ Jesus Christ, the Leader of Christianity, gave the right and only solution for peace and prosperity and told his followers to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Does Christendom seek that kingdom today? Certainly not! Their great hope is the United Nations. Jesus, however, taught the first Christians to pray, “Let your kingdom come. Let your will come to pass,” but Christendom’s clergy pray for the United Nations as man’s only hope. The leaders in government and religion are blind guides, just as Jesus said: “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. Let them be. Blind guides is what they are. If, then, a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matt. 15:13, 14) In the pit is where all the foolish ones will find themselves at the battle of Armageddon.

4. What does this world need for a secure future, and how does God’s Word assure such a provision?

⁴ What this world needs is someone who can build and keep on building into the future. All earthly rulers for the past six thousand years have built nothing lasting. Where are their kingdoms now? Look at the changes since 1914! The facts prove man needs a righteous leader with wisdom who wants to do God’s will, not man’s. With the majority of mankind hungry, poorly housed and not well educated, there must be someone better than anyone we have had who can lead the people. The Word of God says there is, in these words of invitation: “Incline your ear and come to me. Listen, and your soul will keep alive, and I shall readily conclude with you people an indefinitely lasting covenant respecting the loving-kindnesses to David that are faithful. Look! As a witness to the national groups I have given him, as a leader and commander to the national groups.” (Isa. 55:3, 4) That leader is Christ Jesus, the promised One who can and will bless all the families of the earth.

BUILDING THE CHRISTIAN CONGREGATION

5. What building work did Jesus start 1900 years ago?

⁵ This wisest of all men who ever walked upon this earth said: “Who of you that wants to build a tower does not first sit down and figure out the expense, to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, he might lay its foundation but not have the funds to finish it, and all the onlookers might start to ridicule him, saying: ‘This man started to build but had not the funds to finish.”’ (Luke 14:28-30) Jesus started to build God’s kingdom class, the Christian congregation, 1900 years ago. (Matt. 16:18) Today he is establishing it in the heavens to rule the new world with him. To finish building the new world of righteousness he must soon destroy the Devil, the god of this evil world, and his wicked system of things on this earth. Then will come the paradise new earth. But what building work has been going on under Christ’s direction in proof of this statement?

6. (a) How had Moses foretold the coming of Jesus? (b) To aid Jesus in his building work, what did John the Baptist do?

⁶ Moses, the prophet of Israel, was a great leader and an organizer of a nation whose God was Jehovah. There was one, though, even greater than Moses. “In fact, Moses said: ‘Jehovah God will produce for you from among your brothers a prophet like me. You must listen to him according to all the things he speaks to you. Indeed, any soul that does not listen to that Prophet will be completely destroyed from among the people.”’ (Acts 3:22, 23) That one was Christ Jesus. Moses had led an organization of millions of people out of the land of Egypt. God had prepared this people and made them into a nation and then appointed Moses to be their leader and mediator. But when Jesus came to earth he had to start building a new organization. He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel. He preached to them that the kingdom of the heavens was at hand. In advance of him, his forerunner John the Baptist had got “ready for Jehovah a prepared people.” (Luke 1:17) Jesus Christ was to lead these to begin building a new organization. When he started his Christian ministry he went to John the Baptist. John directed his followers to Jesus. Jesus had to build something new, because the old was just a picture or a shadow of the new. Jesus was to build a spiritual house with those who had faith in the true God. He had a big task. Would he be successful? Success meant life for men and women of faith.

7. (a) What steps did Jesus take in gathering people to himself? (b) How did this fulfill Micah 2:12?

⁷ Life is interesting and to be enjoyed. Life is what man wants to hold on to. Without life man can do nothing. Now the way of everlasting life was to be opened up to mankind through Christ Jesus, because God gave his Son “in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) It was this Son of God who said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Jesus really opened up the way of life for all faithful followers. He called twelve, taught them and sent them out to preach just as he did. He gathered around himself men who loved truth and righteousness, and with these he began to build a new organization. There was a small number, or a remnant, of the Jews in Jesus’ days, lovers of righteousness, who accepted God’s way of getting eternal life. Long before then Micah, as God’s spokesman, wrote: “I shall without fail collect the remaining ones of Israel together. In unity I shall set them, like a flock in the pen, like a drove in the midst of its pasture; they will be noisy because of men.” (Mic. 2:12) Jesus Christ, a good shepherd, gathered the men of faith and wisdom and brought them together “like a flock in the pen.” There they would be secure, under the guidance of the Master, and especially under the protection of their God, Jehovah. Having brought them together, he was here able to teach them and feed them with spiritual food, building them up so that they, too, could go out into the world and be ministers themselves and still be at unity or together like a drove in a pasture or a flock in a pen. They would always be one flock no matter where each individual would be.

AN ENDURING, UNIFIED ORGANIZATION

8, 9. (a) What questions about Jesus’ building work might arise due to the fact that he died? (b) What did happen to his building work?

⁸ Jesus finished his earthly work. He died upon the torture stake at the hands of those opposed to God’s kingdom, both the religious and political rulers. On the third day after his death he was raised from the dead by Jehovah’s power as an immortal heavenly creature. What would happen to this new organization that he had built up around himself? They had been invited into a new covenant. They would be the first ones of a little flock of whom Jesus said: “Have no fear, little flock, because your Father has approved of giving you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) Would they stay together now, as it were, in a pen, feeling the same security as they did when Christ Jesus was with them? Would they continue building what Jesus had started?

⁹ The facts show that at Pentecost these same faithful followers of Christ Jesus were still together, and then God’s holy spirit descended upon them and they “started to speak in different tongues”; and from then on the preaching of the good news of God’s kingdom took on a new impetus. On that occasion Peter spoke to a great crowd of people, and the historian says: “Those who embraced his word heartily were baptized, and on that day about three thousand souls were added.” (Acts 2:41) Now what did these newly converted Jews do when they dedicated themselves to this Christian way of worshiping God? “They continued devoting themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to association together.” (Acts 2:42) Here we see the congregation of God, the new spiritual Israel, being built up and trained for bigger work.

10. How did Paul show he was following Jesus in carrying on the building work, and to whom did he give credit for new ones added to the congregation, to God’s building?

¹⁰ Paul, an aggressive apostle of Jesus Christ, was a great builder too, and a true, faithful follower of his Master. He gathered together those who dedicated their lives to Jehovah’s service and organized them into congregations. It was he who said: “According to the undeserved kindness of God which was given to me, as a wise director of works I laid a foundation, but someone else is building on it. But let each one keep watching how he is building on it. For no man can lay any other foundation than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 3:10, 11) Paul built to the future, but always on the true rock Jesus Christ. He knew that he was building new Christians into the structure of the Christian organization, Jehovah’s theocratic organization. He was not trying to build a sect with himself as its foundation. This would cause division and would be a bad example. That is why he stated so positively to the Corinthians: “What, then, is Apollos? Yes, what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers, even as the Lord granted each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God kept making it grow; so that neither is he that plants anything nor is he that waters, but God who makes it grow. Now he that plants and he that waters are one, but each person will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You people are God’s field under cultivation, God’s building.”—1 Cor. 3:5-9.

11. What responsibility came upon each member added to the congregation?

¹¹ Paul had the true perspective of what it meant to be a Christian in the congregation of God. The whole congregation of spiritual Israelites was God’s. The great gathering work taking place after Jesus died upon the torture stake was to be to God’s glory. The spiritual Israelites were taken into the new covenant and commissioned to preach God’s kingdom everywhere. They therefore made disciples of people of all nations, and these people from all national groups were being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the holy spirit. Jesus had once been Jehovah’s special ambassador here upon the earth, but now all these newly dedicated Christians had to be ambassadors. That is why Paul emphatically told the Corinthians: “We are therefore ambassadors substituting for Christ, as though God were making entreaty through us. As substitutes for Christ we beg: ‘Become reconciled to God.”’ (2 Cor. 5:20) The work of reconciliation must go on! Instead of Christ preaching, all his faithful followers must minister, each one being an ambassador. Each individual was a substitute for Christ. Not just the appointed overseers of the many congregations, but all others associated with the apostles and ministerial servants were such substitutes.

12. Who make up the spiritual house of God, and how do they remain a part of God’s building?

¹² Peter agreed with Paul as to the organization. There could be only one organization, and that one must be built on Christ and be “God’s building.” Each believing individual begotten by God’s holy spirit comes into Jehovah’s organization as a living stone. Each one becomes part of God’s “spiritual house.” Paul called it “God’s building.” Christ Jesus, of course, was the first true “living stone” of this new building or “spiritual house.” Peter said: “Coming to him as to a living stone, rejected, it is true, by men, but chosen, precious, with God, you yourselves also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house for the purpose of a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet. 2:4, 5) Peter, Paul and all the other apostles, along with thousands of others who made up the Christian church of the first century, preached so as to “offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God,” and really proved to be living stones in God’s building, his one congregation. All these Christians together make up God’s building, and they kept building to the future. Their determination was to remain in this “spiritual house” and never be rejected. There is only one way that anyone can remain in this “spiritual house,” and that is by being faithful in doing the will of Jehovah God. One of the ways to prove faithful is to follow Jesus’ admonition: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, . . . teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.”—Matt. 28:19, 20.

13. What has always kept God’s building together?

¹³ The early church was held in unity because each one had Jehovah’s spirit and put confidence in the written Word of God. God’s spirit and His Word cemented this Christian congregation into one, into “God’s building” or “spiritual house.” Peter, when addressing Christians, showed the importance of the Holy Scriptures. He said: “If anyone speaks, let him speak as it were the sacred pronouncements of God; if anyone ministers, let him minister as dependent on the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet. 4:11) From that day to this the Scriptural admonition is the same: use the Holy Scriptures; speak the “sacred pronouncements of God.” The final gathering of those who make up the “spiritual house” of God is now going on in these last days. The Scriptures show there is a remnant of this “spiritual house” still on earth and still doing that great work that Christ Jesus began. They are at unity. As in the days of Jesus, so today Jehovah says through his prophet: “In unity I shall set them, like a flock in the pen, like a drove in the midst of its pasture; they will be noisy because of men.” (Mic. 2:12) World-wide, Jehovah’s witnesses can be heard, in all nations, but still as one voice, declaring the good news of God’s kingdom.

BUILDING WITH THE CHRISTIAN CONGREGATION

14. Who are now joining themselves in great numbers to God’s spiritual building, and why?

¹⁴ Being gathered together with this “little flock” we find today a great crowd of Christian people doing the same joyful work. How is this? Because hundreds of thousands of people are today finding the truth in God’s Word and dedicating their lives to God’s service. They come into God’s organization with the remnant of the “little flock” to find a place of security, “like a flock in the pen.” There they find peace and safety from everything that has disturbed them on the outside. In the study of the Scriptures, they see that they will be safe from Jehovah’s anger if they seek Jehovah and come under the Kingdom’s rule. They have hearkened to Jehovah’s words: “Seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of the earth, who have practiced His own judicial decision. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.” (Zeph. 2:3) This great crowd believe this and now have a sense of security in the strong Christian organization; and that is most satisfying. They have pleasure in associating with the congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses, for they have come into God’s congregation.

15. What do both the “little flock” of God’s building and the “great crowd” do to keep close to Jehovah and to keep on building on the right foundation?

¹⁵ In the more than 20,000 congregations of God’s people throughout the world we see the remnant of the “little flock” and this great crowd fully believing Paul’s words about congregation meetings when he said: “Let us consider one another to incite to love and right works, not forsaking the gathering of ourselves together, as some have the custom, but encouraging one another, and all the more so as you behold the day drawing near.” (Heb. 10:24, 25) These Christians know that congregation meetings are upbuilding. Here the Christian is strengthened. He sees the organization and how it functions. He sees how it is held together by love, love for Jehovah God and love for his brothers. Furthermore, each individual in the congregation of God has the opportunity of expressing himself so as to incite others to love and right works. Besides that, each one in the congregation can keep busy preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. This spirit of telling out the good news permeates the entire organization. All together this great body of Jehovah’s witnesses is building to the future. In their daily lives they show they are seeking meekness and righteousness, and by staying together in the Christian organization they will be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger during the battle of the great day of God the Almighty.

16. Show the meaning of Isaiah 2:2-4 in our day.

¹⁶ The “great crowd” see themselves in Isaiah’s prophecy: “It must occur in the final part of the days . . . the mountain of the house of Jehovah will become firmly established above the top of the mountains, and it will certainly be lifted up above the hills, and to it all the nations must stream. And many peoples will certainly go and say: ‘Come, you people, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will instruct us about his ways and we will walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion law will go forth, and the word of Jehovah out of Jerusalem. And he will certainly render judgment among the nations and set matters straight respecting many peoples. And they will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.”—Isa. 2:2-4.

17, 18. How does everyone connected with God’s building maintain his security?

¹⁷ Those who “go up to the mountain of Jehovah” must draw away from this old world and its unrighteousness and come to Jehovah’s house and live together in unity, “like a flock in the pen.” They will now rejoice because they have put away “wrath, anger, injuriousness, abusive speech, and obscene talk,” out of their mouth. (Col. 3:8, 9) Having built to the future, they will be instructed in His ways and walk in His paths, and thus enjoy security.

¹⁸ How can one maintain this security? By just being associated with the organization of Jehovah’s witnesses? No, each individual must do building in a specific way. The strength of the organization comes according to the strength of each dedicated Christian. The congregation remains strong and devoted to its work according to the individuals who make up that organization or structure. The Christian congregation of God would crumble if there were no unity or oneness in thought and action on the part of all members. Individually each person in Jehovah’s congregation must pay close attention to himself and build properly. He must take heed to Paul’s words when he said: “The fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control.” (Gal. 5:22, 23) As a Christian are you interested in having these qualities? If you are, then not only as an individual must you stay in association with the congregation of Jehovah God, but building must take place in your own heart and mind. Bringing forth these qualities or fruits is an absolute necessity in addition to your being part of God’s congregation. Prove yourself to be a Christian bearing the fruitage of the spirit.

Showing Fruitage of the Spirit

1. (a) Name the works of the flesh. (b) With a world full of such works, can a Christian avoid them? How?

The spirit of this world produces the “works of the flesh.” They are very manifest. Paul says they are “fornication, uncleanness, loose conduct, idolatry, practice of spiritism, hatreds, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, contentions, divisions, sects, envies, drunken bouts, revelries, and things like these.” “As to these things I am forewarning you, the same way as I did forewarn you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s kingdom.” (Gal. 5:19-21) These are some of the things, then, one must be sure to get rid of if he wants everlasting life. Paul’s description surely fits this world today just as it did the ancient Roman world he lived in. But can a Christian live today in a world like this and change? Yes, even though surrounded by people doing “the works of the flesh.” The Christian can produce the fruitage of the spirit. Certainly Paul and all the other inspired writers would not tell us to do so if it could not be done through Jehovah’s spirit.

EXERCISING LOVE

2. What is the first love needed to produce the fruitage of the spirit? The second?

² In order to produce the “fruitage of the spirit” the Christian must first of all love Jehovah God, which would mean following the great commandment that Jesus quoted, namely: “You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind.” Jesus added: “The second, like it, is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matt. 22:37, 39) That means loving a lot; but it means your life too.

3. To the apostle Paul what did love mean, and did he personally show he had this quality?

³ In Galatians 5:22 love is described by Paul as the first fruit that must be manifest on the part of a Christian. This great lover of God and of his Son, Jesus Christ, fought for Christianity with the “sword of the spirit.” He defined it as God’s Word. (Eph. 6:17) Paul did not hate men; he loved men. He wanted men to know the truth. Paul, being a man full of love, had a lot to say about it, but he found it was rather difficult to give a concise description of love. In the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians he tells us that even ‘though he spoke with the tongues of men and of angels, if he did not have love, he would sound like a piece of brass or a clashing cymbal. Even if he had the gift of prophesying and understood all the sacred secrets of God and had the greatest faith of any man in the world, sufficient to transplant mountains, but did not have love, he would amount to nothing.’ What a traveler and worker Paul was! What energy he spent in the service! He did not spare his life. He poured it out in preaching the good news. To a Greek Paul was a Greek, to a Jew a Jew. Yet, if he did not have love, love for Jehovah God, his Son, and his Christian brothers, Paul said: “I am nothing.” Love, he said, is obliging. Paul did things for people, not wanting or expecting a return. When observing the success of a brother he was not jealous of such an individual, because love is not jealous.

4, 5. (a) What is a Christian’s first interest? (b) Thus what course in life does he follow?

⁴ A Christian must be interested in just one thing, and that is the true worship of Jehovah. In performing that worship the Christian does not brag about what he has done. Love never gets puffed up because of accomplishments; and certainly love never behaves indecently. Love is expressed in good conduct. A Christian showing love does not continue to live like the world, even though he is in it. Love makes him change his course of action so as to follow the right way.

⁵ Producing this first fruit of the spirit, love, the Christian will not always be looking after his own interests, always being first and superior. He will not be provoked at every little thing that someone else does, because love does not become provoked. And when someone does something against the Christian, or even goes so far as to injure him, he, having this fruit of the spirit, love, will not even keep account of the injury. When something happens to a Christian that is not right or just, love is not going to rejoice over unrighteousness. There is only one thing that love can rejoice in, and that is the truth.

6. How does God’s congregation of people know it belongs to Christ?

⁶ Love is an attribute that Jehovah God put in the perfect man, Adam. Why not reinstate it? Furthermore, “God is love,” and he is the one we worship. Love is a necessary quality for every Christian. He cannot get along without it. It is urgent that every Christian stop to think once in a while as to how much he loves other people. How much does he love his brothers? The measuring rod whereby one can determine whether he is a Christian or not is love. Jesus said: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”—John 13:35.

7. (a) What is lacking if we are afraid to express ourselves? (b) Does that mean there is no hope for us?

⁷ Are you afraid to talk to people about your belief in the Bible? Do you claim to be a Christian, and still have fear in going from house to house, doing the same kind of work Jesus and his disciples did? Are you afraid to express yourself even to your own brothers in a congregation meeting? Do you say, “Yes, I am afraid”? Then you do not have perfect love, and you know there is room for improvement. John, who truly loved the Master, wrote this: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love throws fear outside, because fear exercises a restraint.” (1 John 4:18) Is there a restraint on you that holds you back from expressing your Christian belief? If that fear exists, then there is some branch cleaning to be done so that the bearing of more fruit will be possible. Jesus said: ‘Every branch bearing fruit he cleans, that it may bear more fruit’; and he also said: “Every branch in me not bearing fruit he takes away.” (John 15:2) Do you want to be built up by being pruned or be completely lopped off the vine as a nonproducer of the fruitage of the spirit?

8. Why is love the principal fruitage of the spirit?

⁸ “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” (1 Cor. 8:1) Christians must show love and build. Love is not just a word to be used promiscuously. It is a word full of expressive meaning. Love is alive, active. An individual who has this quality, love, will show it every day and in everything that he does. “In brotherly love have tender affection for one another. In showing honor to one another take the lead.” (Rom. 12:10) Love, while just one of the fruitages of the spirit, is the principal one. It is basic, fundamental, because all the other fruits of the spirit are different aspects of the expression of love. They all keep love in action. Therefore cultivate these qualities and show forth more love.

JOY AND PEACE

9. (a) Define joy. (b) Describe a Christian’s joy.

⁹ Joy is something a Christian must have, or get, because it is the second fruit of the spirit mentioned by Paul. What does it mean to have joy? Joy is “an emotion of keen or lively pleasure arising from present or expected good.” (The American College Dictionary) A Christian’s greatest joy comes because of preaching, from hearing good news and experiences of those who have done so. That is how it was with the early Christians. We read at Acts 15:3: “Accordingly, after being conducted part way by the congregation, these men continued on their way through both Phoenicia and Samaria, relating in detail the conversion of people of the nations, and they were causing great joy to all the brothers.” How was this “great joy” caused? By “relating in detail the conversion of the people of the nations.” They had talked to people about God’s kingdom. They had had wonderful experiences in field service to tell others. This brought great joy to the hearers and the tellers. Hearing about other people listening to the truth and then coming into the truth brings joy. Love made the disciples preach; joy was the result.—Acts 13:45-52; 2 Cor. 7:13.

10. (a) What is peace? (b) How does a Christian pursue it?

¹⁰ Peace is a fruitage of the spirit. One who is peaceful is “free from strife or commotion.” He is serene or tranquil. Peter admonished Christians to “seek peace and pursue it.” The way he told them to pursue this wonderful way of life was like this: “He that would love life and see good days, let him restrain his tongue from what is injurious and his lips from speaking deceitfully, but let him turn away from what is injurious and do what is good; let him seek peace and pursue it.” (1 Pet. 3:10, 11) For one to enjoy peace with his fellow man he has to watch his tongue. Words can cause a great amount of trouble, especially the injurious ones. Good words establish good relations. But when one starts speaking deceitfully and injuriously, peace soon flees. A peaceful individual, with a peaceful message can talk about Jesus Christ and the kingdom of the heavens and how God will bring “upon earth peace among men of good-will.” (Luke 2:14) A Christian will use his tongue to bless. Paul told the Corinthians: “Live peaceably, and the God of love and of peace will be with you.”—2 Cor. 13:11; Matt. 10:12-14.

LONG-SUFFERING

11, 12. (a) How would you define long-suffering? (b) Outline the long-suffering of Jesus toward Saul, who became the apostle Paul. (c) What should be our attitude for long-suffering shown toward us?

¹¹ “Long and patient endurance of injury or provocation” is what is termed long-suffering. This is a fruitage of the spirit. Some people’s long-suffering has reached its limit in about thirty seconds, others’ in one or two minutes; but some are able to suffer the injury or provocation for a long time. Remember Paul said that “love is long-suffering and obliging.” (1 Cor. 13:4) And he mentioned God’s long-suffering toward mankind when he wrote to the Romans: “Do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and long-suffering, because you do not know that the kindly quality of God is trying to lead you to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4) Jesus certainly showed long-suffering toward Saul, who finally became converted and who said: “Nevertheless, the reason why I was shown mercy was that by means of me as the foremost case Christ Jesus might demonstrate all his long-suffering for a sample of those who are going to rest their faith on him for everlasting life.” (1 Tim. 1:16) Paul must have often reflected back to the days when he was a Pharisee persecuting the Christians, proud of his position and delighting in the ruination of the Christian organization. He was then a destroyer, not a builder. But ‘as he approached Damascus a light flashed around him’ and he heard a voice say: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” The facts show that Paul appreciated the long-suffering of Christ Jesus in that it allowed him to come to a knowledge of the truth.

¹² All persons on earth today, and especially Christians, ought to show such gratitude to Jehovah God and Christ Jesus for their long-suffering in allowing them to live this long. Now they, too, can be long-suffering toward others when hearers do not agree with them. Doing so, they try to show them the way to everlasting life in God’s new world of righteousness. Show long-suffering toward your brothers too.—1 Thess. 5:14.

KINDNESS

13. (a) Describe a kind person. (b) How did the Maltese people show this quality to Paul and those shipwrecked with him?

¹³ Kindness, the fifth fruitage of the spirit listed, is something that can be expressed in so many ways. When one is kind he shows a ‘good or benevolent disposition, is considerate and helpful.’ Kindness is not something we show only to those we like. We must be kind to people we do not even know. Paul received such kindness and he made mention of it, saying: “And when we made it to safety, then we recognized that the island was called Malta. And the foreign-speaking people showed us extraordinary human kindness, for they kindled a fire and received all of us helpfully because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold.” (Acts 28:1, 2) These Maltese went out of their way to help the shipwrecked ones. They did not know these total strangers. They could have been invaders of the island. But these foreign-speaking people did not look at it that way. Here was an opportunity to show extraordinary human kindness.

14, 15. How is the kindness of Jehovah’s witnesses shown toward people?

¹⁴ Every Christian has that opportunity, sometimes in more ways than one. Jehovah’s witnesses try to show extraordinary human kindness by taking the message of life directly to the people in their homes, making back-calls on interested ones and conducting Bible studies, and this at great expense to themselves and with the use of much time. They ask nothing in return. Many people do not appreciate this kindness shown on the part of Jehovah’s witnesses. But still the kindness must continue, as this is the will of God. The Scriptures declare that all mankind must know that Jesus bought the whole human race by laying down his life. By so doing he has offered all men the gift of everlasting life, though not all will accept it. That will be each individual’s responsibility.

¹⁵ If a Christian is going to have this fruitage of the spirit, kindness, then it will have to be manifested in his daily activity toward all people, not just a selected few.

GOODNESS

16, 17. (a) Give the definition of goodness, and with what qualities is it contrasted? (b) How necessary is this quality in a Christian’s life?

¹⁶ Goodness is something to be admired. It means “moral excellence, virtue.” In order for Paul to emphasize goodness he makes it stand out by contrast. He says: “Let fornication and uncleanness of every kind or greediness not even be mentioned among you, . . . neither shameful conduct nor foolish talking nor obscene jesting. . . . For you know this, recognizing it for yourselves, that no fornicator or unclean person or greedy person—which means being an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Christ and of God.” (Eph. 5:3-5) Paul then advises Christians that they must be separate from this type of people. There is no room in the lives of Christians to be associated with them. He says: “Therefore do not become partners with them; for you were once darkness, but you are now light in connection with the Lord. Go on walking as children of light, for the fruitage of the light consists of every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.” (Eph. 5:7-9) Right, decent, respectable living, that is goodness. Even in this evil, degenerate world it is a necessary fruitage of the spirit, says Paul.

¹⁷ Goodness is a quality that must be guarded, and certainly it must be the goal of one who is dedicating his life to Jehovah’s service. Before anyone can be called a Christian he must put away shameful conduct. If we are going to produce within ourselves the fruits of the spirit and qualify ourselves for living in God’s new world, then we certainly must have this fruitage of the spirit, goodness.

FAITH

18. What are Paul’s words in defining faith, and how necessary does he show faith to be for a person?

¹⁸ “Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld.” (Heb. 11:1) That is the way Paul defined faith. A Christian cannot be without faith, because “without faith it is impossible to win his good pleasure, for he that approaches God must believe that he is and that he becomes the rewarder of those earnestly seeking him.” (Heb. 11:6) The disciple James showed his faith, and he pointed out that faith must be backed up with works. (Jas. 2:26) If one believes in Jehovah God, Christ Jesus and his kingdom, then he will prove his belief by what he says, by what he does, by the way he lives.

19. (a) What is closely allied with faith? (b) Who are examples of faith and works in action?

¹⁹ A man’s faith can die, or become weak. Many individuals who at one time believed in Jesus Christ as the Redeemer and Savior of mankind have fallen away. They have turned to evolution. They reject the Bible. And still, such people call themselves Christians and go to Christendom’s churches. James would say to them: “Thus, too, faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself.” (Jas. 2:17) Faith is expressive. It makes proclamation. Paul said: “For with the heart one exercises faith for righteousness, but with the mouth one makes public declaration for salvation.” (Rom. 10:10) One’s faith becomes stronger when he uses his heart, mind and mouth in making a public declaration of his belief in God’s kingdom as man’s only hope. Jesus said: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.” (Matt. 24:14) This is being done today not only by a remnant of the “little flock” who have faith and whom Jesus began gathering nineteen hundred years ago, but also by a “great crowd” of people from all nations who have the same kind of faith. Because of this faith on the part of the many Christian people great works have been done in these very troublesome days.

MILDNESS

20. (a) How did Jesus show that mildness is not weakness? (b) What were Paul’s words in this connection?

²⁰ Mildness is sometimes misunderstood for weakness. When one reads the life of Christ as told by the writers of the four Gospels he sees Jesus as a mild-tempered man. But be sure to read the 23rd chapter of Matthew and see Jesus as a forceful denouncer of wickedness. He was fearless. He had perfect love, and such love throws fear outside. With those who wanted to learn he was amiably gentle, tempered in his feelings and behavior toward all. Because of his mildness Jesus was able to teach people. He told them: “Become my disciples, for I am mild-tempered and lowly in heart, and you will find refreshment for your souls.” (Matt. 11:29) They put confidence in him. They did not become afraid when Jesus spoke plain truth, because he did it in love. They were ready to listen. Paul knew the value of mildness and said to Timothy: “A slave of the Lord does not need to fight.” Fighting is not the way to help one gain the truth. Paul went on to say: The Lord’s slave “needs to be tactful toward all, qualified to teach, keeping himself restrained under evil, instructing with mildness those not favorably disposed.” (2 Tim. 2:24, 25) The Word of God properly stated is what makes a person repent, not force.

21. (a) Has the history of the Catholic church shown it to be a mild-tempered organization, and why do you so answer? (b) How is true Christianity different in this respect?

²¹ What a different course the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, which still wields great power in the world today, took during the years of the Inquisition. That false religious body can never live down its history of torture, putting men and women on the rack, tearing their limbs out of their bodies, hanging persons by their thumbs. These inquisitors professing to be Christians—yes, priests, who arranged for Jews, Moors and “heretics” to suffer excruciating pain—certainly did not have a mild spirit. These religious leaders fought to drive people into the Roman Catholic Church. What have they accomplished by their wars and tortures? A world of peace and unity? No! False religion has been driving people away from God with its wars and crusades. Christianity will never be brought about by the use of carnal weapons. If anyone accepts the truth it will be because the minister is mild and patient toward those not favorably disposed toward the Bible message. Jesus used that method, and so did the apostles. True Christians today must use the same method. Mildness is a fruitage of God’s holy spirit, and its use brings lasting results in declaring God’s kingdom.

SELF-CONTROL

22. (a) To what extent does self-control govern a Christian’s life? (b) With what kind of people are those lacking self-control classified?

²² Self-control is hard for imperfect men to practice. Why make excuses? Try to exercise it. It is one of the fruits of the spirit. So it must be attainable. To have self-control means to be able to control oneself, one’s actions, words, eating and drinking habits, yes, one’s feelings. In Paul’s eyes one not able to have some self-control gets classified with a rather despicable crowd of people. Those having no self-control he classes with very disreputable individuals who the Bible says would be prevalent in the last days. In writing to Timothy he said: “But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, without gratitude, with no loving-kindness, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness.” (2 Tim. 3:1-3) Why be classed with such delinquents because of lack of self-control? Solomon wrote: “All his spirit is what a stupid one lets out, but he that is wise keeps it calm to the last.” (Prov. 29:11) If a Christian has no self-control, or loses what he has, how easy for him to slip back to the ways of the flesh and be disqualified so as not to inherit the blessings of God’s kingdom! How foolish, then, not to strive to produce this fruitage too, namely, self-control! One shows love if he has self-control.

23. To build ourselves up and to remain in God’s building work what must we do?

²³ All these fruitages of the spirit Paul contrasts with the works of the flesh. A change must take place when a believer dedicates himself to do the will of God. No longer can he act as the world does, but “those who belong to Christ Jesus impale the flesh together with its passions and its desires.” (Gal. 5:24) There must be a change, a building up of the individual. “If we are living by spirit, let us go on walking orderly also by spirit. Let us not become egotistical, stirring up competition with one another, envying one another.” (Gal. 5:25, 26) Bringing forth the fruitage of the spirit qualifies one to be in Jehovah’s New World society. So ‘paying constant attention to yourself and to your teaching’ does something for you. You will save both yourself and those who listen to you.” (1 Tim. 4:16) Build yourself up by paying attention to your fruitage of the spirit, and at the same time help in making Jehovah’s New World society grow. Christians must be at unity with one another, showing oneness “like a flock in the pen, like a drove in the midst of its pasture.” Feed with Jehovah’s sheep and keep at unity, for “in the house of the righteous one there is an abundant store, but in the produce of the wicked one there is troublesomeness.”—Prov. 15:6.

Apply Your Hearts

1. What results from the free giving of God’s Word, and what reward does it bring?

WHEN one keeps the Word of God first in his mind then he is going to gather a good treasure. Working continually with the Word of God brings great gain and increases one’s treasure. No matter how much of this treasure one gives away, by word of mouth or the printed page, the treasure itself becomes greater. Moses was well aware of this fact. Just before the children of Israel were to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land he said to the Israelites under inspiration: “Apply your hearts to all the words that I am speaking in warning to you today. . . . For it is no valueless word for you, but it means your life, and by this word you may lengthen your days upon the soil to which you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of it.”—Deut. 32:45-47.

2. Where are the words of life found today, and what part does one’s heart play in bringing forth a good treasure?

² Jehovah’s words carry valuable information, and, in fact, they are words of life. It means great wealth, a treasure, to heed them. The individual who applies his heart to all the words that Jehovah speaks is the individual who will be doing the will of God. He is the one that will bring forth good treasure during his life and he will be a blessing to other people. Jesus said: “A good man brings forth good out of the good treasure of his heart, . . . for out of the heart’s abundance his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45) How necessary, then, to apply our hearts to God’s Word so as to have this good treasure! This good treasure is the Word of God.

3, 4. (a) What miracle of Jesus shows the benefit of giving freely? (b) By constant giving what chance is there of our losing our treasure?

³ The marvelous thing about doing good to others is the fact that goodness always replenishes itself. As we let the truth in our hearts overflow to others and preach the Word of God, the truth never becomes diminished. It never becomes exhausted. But, rather, it increases so that even greater riches can be given freely. It makes us think of the miracle that Jesus performed when he fed the great crowd and he told his disciples: “‘You give them something to eat.’ They said to him: ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fishes.’ He said: ‘Bring them here to me.’ Next he commanded the crowds to recline on the grass and took the five loaves and two fishes, and, looking up to heaven, he said a blessing and, after breaking the loaves, he distributed them to the disciples, the disciples in turn to the crowds. So all ate and were satisfied, and they took up the surplus of fragments, twelve baskets full. Yet those eating comprised about five thousand men, besides women and children.” (Matt. 14:16-20) Jesus was very generous in his giving. He started out with five loaves and two fishes along with Jehovah’s blessing. So he could keep on giving, and after he had given them all they wanted he had more left than when he started. In fact, he had left over twelve baskets full of food!

⁴ Jehovah has provided the Holy Scriptures full of knowledge and wisdom and he has given his servants this written Word. The more we give out to others of what we learn from Jehovah’s Word, the more there is left for us to keep on giving. The more we work with the truth, the richer we become. God’s Word says: “The good man out of his good treasure sends out good things.” (Matt. 12:35) What a great, inexhaustible treasure the truth is! Of those who are faithful and use what they have, Jesus says: “To everyone that has, more will be given; but from the one that does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”—Luke 19:26.

RESULTS OF CHRISTIAN MINISTRY

5. How many persons regularly engaged in giving to others out of Jehovah’s treasure in the 1960 service year, and in how many lands?

⁵ The prophet Moses knew it was necessary to listen to the words of Jehovah, and he said: “Apply your hearts to all the words that I am speaking. . . . It means your life.” (Deut. 32:46, 47) The earnest endeavor of Jehovah’s witnesses has been to make this truth known around the world. Last year, in 1960, they did make the truth known in 179 different nations, islands of the sea and protectorates. Under the direction of the Watch Tower Society’s eighty-five branch offices there have been 851,378 ordained ministers preaching the truth concerning the good news of God’s kingdom world-wide. These Christian people have given freely from the good treasure of their hearts by good works. Because of their global preaching activity in many tongues, talking to all kinds of people, Jehovah’s witnesses are now enjoying the regular cooperation of 47,896 more individuals than they did the year before. Their service year report shows a 6-percent increase in the number of persons regularly preaching with the organization.

6-8. (a) What grand new peak in Kingdom proclaimers was reached? (b) How many were baptized, and how many assembled world-wide on April 10, and why? (c) How many are privileged to serve Bethel homes?

⁶ A new peak of publishers was reached, too, during 1960. There have been as many as 916,332 different persons sharing in the preaching of the good news of God’s kingdom. This is great cause for rejoicing. These individuals have all used their treasure to do good, and if they continue faithful in the ministry and apply their hearts to the Word of God, their good treasure will become greater. This great crowd of people, numbering 916,332, are organized into 21,008 congregations. In these congregations Jehovah’s witnesses study the Word of God together, and they go out in the field ministry from house to house, and in so doing put their faith into action. They all want to do good with their knowledge of God’s Word. These congregations, in turn, comprise 1,561 circuits, and these circuits are grouped into 194 districts situated throughout the world.

⁷ It is a joy to report that during the 1960 service year 69,027 persons were baptized in water in symbol of their dedication to the doing of Jehovah’s will. With these thousands of newly ordained ministers bringing forth good treasure from their hearts, many, many more thousands of people of good will will be reached with the good news of God’s kingdom. On April 10, 1960, there were 1,519,821 persons assembled at the Memorial service of Christ’s death. This was the world-wide attendance, and on that evening 13,911 individuals partook of the emblems served.a

⁸ The eighty-five branch offices in the principal countries and islands of the earth direct the affairs of the districts, circuits and congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses. In these main offices of supervision known as Bethel homes there are 1,299 ordained Christian ministers working. In connection with many of these offices the Society has printing plants where Bibles, books, booklets, magazines, tracts and other information are printed in over 125 languages for the spreading of the good news by means of the printed page.

9. To what extent was the treasure of God’s Word distributed in book and booklet form?

⁹ In order to help those who are sighing and crying because of the abominations that exist in the world Jehovah’s witnesses use much printed matter to aid people to get acquainted with God’s Word and to get a clearer understanding of the Holy Bible. To this end there were distributed in the field, which field is the world, 4,167,407 bound books and 12,372,784 booklets.

10. What was accomplished with magazines during the 1960 service year?

¹⁰ The greatest aid that the Society has for helping believers in God’s Word to understand the Holy Scriptures is the Watchtower magazine, and each year special effort is put forth to obtain subscriptions for this magazine along with its companion magazine, the Awake! During the year the ministers who preached from house to house were able to obtain 1,317,009 new subscriptions. This was 70,035 more subscriptions than they obtained the previous year. Those who do not care to subscribe for the magazines quite often get individual copies, and Jehovah’s witnesses were able to distribute 97,082,433 individual copies of the Watchtower and Awake! magazines in their many languages. This was an increase of 4,771,655 over the previous year. While the distribution of books, booklets and magazines is very necessary in order to get this good news of the Kingdom preached, what does the most good for one interested in the truth is to study the Bible with one of Jehovah’s witnesses.

11, 12. (a) Are Jehovah’s witnesses interested only in placing literature, and why do you so answer? (b) What was the total amount of time actually spent in preaching and teaching during the service year of 1960?

¹¹ It takes much time for Jehovah’s witnesses to call back and study the Bible, or one of the Society’s publications, with the people. However, it is truly a joy to do so. This is where the good treasure of the Christian’s heart can abound and can help the individual being studied with to have his heart filled with good treasure. Jehovah’s witnesses have made back-calls on interested people and have started home Bible studies. The number of return visits made totaled 44,440,977, an increase over last year of 200,759. Jehovah’s people also conducted hour-long Bible studies—and perhaps some of them were longer than that—to the number of 646,108 weekly. In other words, Christian teachers each week made calls on individuals to study the Bible with them in order to help them get a clear understanding of the purposes of Jehovah, that they might apply their hearts to all the words that Jehovah God has set forth in his Holy Scriptures. This is a marvelous free service that Jehovah’s witnesses render anyone, anywhere in the world. In carrying on this most important work they have increased their efforts to the point of conducting 41,033 more weekly home Bible studies this year than last year.

¹² To distribute this tremendous amount of literature in its millions of copies and to make all these back-calls and conduct these home Bible studies, Jehovah’s witnesses have to spend millions of hours in preaching. In fact, during the year they discussed the Bible truths with the people of the world for 131,662,684 hours. This is 5,345,560 more hours than they spent in preaching during the previous year.

13. (a) What type of ministry must Jehovah’s witnesses carry on? (b) How do they build physically and spiritually?

¹³ Jehovah’s witnesses are building to the future. They are interested in just one thing, everlasting life. With this they can carry on true worship of Jehovah God forever. They know that the life that is worth while will be theirs in the new world of righteousness under the kingdom of heaven that faithful men have prayed for for 1900 years: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matt. 6:10) Before that time comes they have an obligation. They may not sit back and rest and feel so relaxed and satisfied that God must have a place in the new world for them. No, they must be energetic ministers. They must fully appreciate that God has given them the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God, to wield. They must do the will of their Master and must walk in the footsteps of Christ Jesus. Therefore, they must think of the future. They build to it physically and spiritually. By building physically we mean they must work at building many new branch offices throughout the world, many new Kingdom Halls, larger printing plants where more literature can be produced for a greater witness for God’s kingdom. They must work for increasing the visible theocratic organization of Jehovah’s witnesses. At the same time they must build themselves up spiritually so that a good treasure can come out of their good hearts.

14. What were the production figures for the Watchtower and Awake! magazines in the past service year?

¹⁴ Knowing that the Word of God contains the words of life, Jehovah’s people in these many printing establishments throughout the world have produced 7,998,010 bound books and 14,728,423 booklets. They have printed the Watchtower magazine in fifty-eight languages during the year to the total number of 90,898,182 copies. The Awake! magazine has been printed in twenty-three different languages, and 78,947,503 copies came off the Society’s presses. The total number of magazines printed in the various printing plants of Jehovah’s witnesses during the 1960 service year reached to the number of 169,845,685, an increase of 9,445,452 copies over the previous year. The truth of God’s kingdom must be made known in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness.

PIONEERS

15-17. (a) Of what aid are the publications of the Society along with the Bible? (b) Give the numbers of those in the special and regular pioneer service, and how much time they spend in the ministry. (c) Was there any increase in pioneer numbers during the 1960 service year?

¹⁵ Jehovah’s witnesses everywhere are happy that the people are reading these magazines. These dated publications bring much information about present world conditions to the attention of the people. Marvelously today’s world conditions are fulfilling Bible prophecy. By the study of these publications with the Bible one is able to keep “a tight grip on the word of life.” (Phil. 2:16) All of God’s servants in His New World society rejoice that so many persons have applied their hearts to all the words of Jehovah, and, as pointed out, 916,332 individuals did good preaching work during the 1960 service year. Out of this great number there were 5,890 who engaged in special pioneer activity. These special representatives of the Society were sent into isolated territory to work or to organize small groups of God’s people in order that they might be built up spiritually. Their task was a hard one but their Christian experiences were worth it all.

¹⁶ In addition to this special group of pioneers there were 24,694 regular pioneers working with congregations. These regular pioneers were putting in an average of 95 to 100 hours each month preaching the good news of the Kingdom. While the congregation publisher devotes approximately ten hours, or a little more on the average, in actual house-to-house work and in conducting Bible studies in the homes of the people, these pioneers devote 100 hours or thereabouts, and the special pioneers spend around 150 hours in preaching from house to house and studying the Bible in the homes of the people. It is seen, then, that there is a small group of 30,584 pioneers and special pioneers who are doing a great work in all parts of the earth. It is the Society’s hope that many of the congregation publishers will be able to arrange their affairs so as to join the pioneer ranks and eventually the special pioneer ranks.

¹⁷ The increase in the pioneer service over the previous year was 1,896. This was good, but there is still much room in the world today for pioneer ministers, and we urge all Christians to give this matter prayerful and careful thought. The field is great.

18, 19. (a) What was necessary financially in order to carry on the preaching work during the 1960 service year? (b) Who made such financial support possible?

¹⁸ The Society aided the 5,148 special pioneer publishers and its 742 missionaries to remain in their isolated territories. The funds that the Society spent in their behalf during the year amounted to $2,089,648.86. Then, too, the Society sent circuit servants, district servants and special representatives to serve congregations and isolated Christian groups throughout the year, and it spent $402,901.13 for this activity. So to help the expansion work in the field of preaching the good news alone the Society spent during the 1960 service year $2,492,549.99.

¹⁹ We want to take this occasion to thank all the Christian people who have contributed funds to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in order to aid that Society in the expansion of the preaching and teaching work. If it were not for their contributions to the Watch Tower Society, this great work of spreading the good news of the Kingdom could not be done to such a great extent as it is being done today.

20. What should all who love truth want to do now?

²⁰ The Word of God is powerful. It is sharper than any two-edged sword. When individuals take time to read the Word of God, study it with a Christian and believe it, they are storing up a treasure in their hearts. As Jesus said: “A good man brings forth good out of the good treasure of his heart, . . . for out of the heart’s abundance his mouth speaks.” Let everyone who loves truth apply his heart to the Word of God, “for it is no valueless word for you,” but it means your life.

[Footnotes]

MEMORIAL ATTENDANCE WORLD-WIDE 1,283,603 1,519,821

MEMORIAL PARTAKERS WORLD-WIDE 14,511 13,911

[Chart on page 20-22]

1960 SERVICE YEAR REPORT OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES WORLD WIDE

(See bound volume)

Temple Towers of the Ancient Pagans

IN MANY a city or town the most eminent spot is occupied by a religious structure. The structure itself may be the tallest in the community. This custom of giving religion such prominence can be traced all the way back to Nimrod, the hunter, who lived just a few generations after the Flood.

It appears that this Nimrod, by violence and intimidation, succeeded in uniting and regimenting from among Noah’s descendants a large number of families. In their travels eastward, in what is today known as the Fertile Crescent, they settled in a section of Mesopotamia called Shinar. There they built the ancient cities of Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh. From this start, the first Babylonian empire expanded rapidly to include such cities as Nineveh to the north. Nimrod was the instigator of temple-tower building. He became a false god, and to this day untold millions, knowingly or unknowingly, honor him.

Associated with this king and these cities were massive towers or stage-temples. The reason for the construction of the city of Babel and its tower is described in the Biblical account in the following manner: “They now said: ‘Come on! Let us build ourselves a city and also a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a celebrated name for ourselves, for fear we may be scattered over all the surface of the earth.”’ Examining this record closely, we learn that the building of the cities and their corresponding towers was to accomplish three principal purposes: (1) unite men under a visible ruler or king in defiance of the true King and God Jehovah; (2) provide a haven of refuge, due to a lack of faith in God’s promise that he would never destroy wicked men again by means of a flood, and (3) provide a place for their god or gods to dwell.—Gen. 11:4.

CONFUSION

Their project for world domination was thwarted, however, by a confusion of tongues. Co-operation became impossible when they could not communicate with one another. “Jehovah proceeded to go down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men had built. After that Jehovah said: ‘Look! They are one people and there is one language for them all, and this is what they start to do. Why, now there is nothing that they may scheme to do that will be unattainable for them. Come now! Let us go down and there confuse their language that they may not listen to one another’s language.’ Accordingly Jehovah scattered them from there over all the surface of the earth, and they gradually left off building the city. That is why its name was called Babel, because there Jehovah had confused the language of all the earth and Jehovah had scattered them from there over all the surface of the earth.” As a result the work on the city and its tower was brought to a halt and its would-be empire builders were dispersed. The Biblical record informs us that in the days of Peleg “the earth was divided,” possibly meaning that the confusion of tongues occurred in his lifetime, or about 150 years after the Flood.—Gen. 11:5-9; 10:25.

Modern ethnologists and philologists may scoff at this simple, to-the-point account, but it is a Scriptural fact and one that is further confirmed by history, archaeology and folklore. Historian Josephus, the first-century Jewish writer, quotes from The Sibyl in telling about the confusing of the tongues: “When all men were of one language, some of them built a high tower, as if they would thereby ascend up to heaven, but the gods sent storms of wind and overthrew the tower, and gave every one his peculiar language, and for this reason it was that the city was called Babylon.” North of Marduk temple in Babylon once stood a huge tower, and in this area archaeologist George Smith discovered a tablet with a similar account. In part the tablet reads: “The building of this illustrious tower offended the gods. In a night they threw down what they had built. They scattered them abroad, and made strange their speech. Their progress they impeded.” Various lands yield additional evidence through their folklore, testifying to the miraculous change of tongues: “Versions have been recorded from near the Zambezi and also from Ashanti; among some of the Tibeto-Burman peoples of Assam the story of a tower and confusion of speech is found. Similar tales are found in Mexico.” (The Encyclopœdia Britannica, Vol. 2, p. 839) These tower stories may vary among themselves, but the fact that they all say there was a tower and that men’s tongues were changed is noteworthy and gives the authentic Bible record support.

Nimrod’s plan failed, and his city, instead of proving to be Babilu (meaning “Gate of God”), became known as Babel (meaning “Confusion”). Upon abandoning their city and tower project, however, the builders carried with them Nimrod’s original idea. As a result, there are to be found in all principal cities of the Fertile Crescent massive tower temples, ziggurats or zigguratu, meaning literally “top of a mountain.” These ziggurats were always located at the highest part of the city; and the idea of an elevated place for worship is later to be found in the high places mentioned in the Bible, which places were a modification of temple towers.

LATER TEMPLE TOWERS

What the original temple of Babel or Babylon was like is not known, although discoveries by excavation shed much light on the subject. The later towers, no doubt patterned after the one at Babel, were pyramidlike in appearance. The construction of these later towers began by first raising a mound of hard-packed mud to a considerable height. The mound was then leveled and faced with burnt brick or stones if available. On this mound was laid the foundation of the tower to a height of two or three feet, which in turn was surrounded with stamped mud, thus giving more firmness to the building. Upon this foundation were constructed consecutive stages of solid mud and sun-dried bricks one above the other, each smaller in size than the one below. The stages generally numbered four, seven or eight, and upon the final stage was built a sanctuary to the god of the city. The tower at Ur was originally 200 feet long, 150 feet wide and 70 feet high. The city tower of Borsippa (Birs-Nimrud) had seven stages. Each side of the base stage was 272 feet long, and the height of the first and second stages was 26 feet each. The final stage reached to the height of 153 feet.

The recent discovery of a Greek manuscript (Harpocration) gives in vivid detail the description of a tower of six stages that was in use until a century after Jesus’ death. Each stage was 28 feet high, and at the top rested a sanctuary 15 feet in height. The sanctuary was made accessible by a stairway of 365 steps; the first 305 steps were made of silver and the last 60 were made of gold. Each stage was painted a different color and was dedicated to a particular star god. The temple tower as a whole was dedicated to a patron god of the city, such as Ea of Eridu, Enlil of Nippur, Anu of Erech, and Sin of Ur. In recent years some archaeologists have advanced the theory that upon each stage were planted trees, shrubs and bushes, and thus from a distance it would appear to be a high mound or hill.

The sanctuary built upon the final stage was not the actual temple, but on a mound raised next to the tower was where the real temple was constructed. Also upon this mound were to be found shrines and chapels dedicated to lesser deities. In this area lived the “patesi” or king-priest of the city, the other city rulers and priests. Sacrifices were offered in special rooms. This entire part of the city was a fortress separated from the rest of the city by a wall. In the city proper, which was built lower than the temple area, were built other temples in honor of other gods who were to render aid to the city god in caring for the city and its inhabitants.

PURPOSE OF TOWERS AND TEMPLES

The Babylonian cult was mystic and based upon astrology and divination. Thus the sanctuary located at the top of the tower, besides being the abode of the god of the city, served as an observatory for astronomical and astrological studies. The tower area also served as a sort of bank, and there was to be found the wealth of the city. Since the priests were considered representatives of the gods, they would be the logical custodians of the money. Being ambitious men, they exploited the people by charging interest on loans sometimes at a rate of 20 or 30 percent! As a result of this greed the priests became exceedingly rich and influential. They were also considered medicine men and magi with supernatural power to cure and to foretell the future, so the temple area even served as a kind of primitive hospital.

From Shinar Nimrod-Semiramis worship spread to other localities, and Semiramis came to be adored under some forty-one different names and titles. The worship was wicked and debased, exploiting sex.

TEMPLE TOWERS TODAY

Of interest is the great temple of Marduk, located in Babylon, which was rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar with its great tower to the north called in ancient times E-temen-an-ki. Many persons today are of the opinion that this tower marks the site of the original tower built by Nimrod. Although the tower no longer stands, it once covered an area more than three hundred feet square. Others think that the tower of Borsippa (still standing in part), which is located about ten miles from the heart of Babylon, is the remains of the tower of Babel.

Towers are not built today with the same intent as that of Nimrod and his wife-mother Semiramis; nevertheless, they continue to exist in modified forms. The noted historian and author James Breasted in his book Ancient Times, a History of the Early World compares the Moslem minaret and the “Christian” church spire to the towers of Mesopotamia.

True Christians do not put trust in man-made religious towers or look to them as places of special holiness. Rather, they trust in Jehovah God. “The name of Jehovah is a strong tower. Into it the righteous runs and is given protection.”—Prov. 18:10.

Was There a Resurrection?

WAS there a resurrection from the dead at the time of Jesus’ death? Many Bible commentators so hold. They base their belief upon Matthew 27:52, 53. In the Revised Standard Version (the Roman Catholic Confraternity Version is almost identical), these verses read: “The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

According to the Roman Catholic Commentary on holy Scripture, the earthquake, mentioned in the previous verse Mt 27:51, split open the rocky tombs to prepare the exit of the bodies, which were not resurrected until after Christ’s resurrection. But let it be noted that this is not what the text actually states, in either Roman Catholic or Protestant versions.

Regarding these verses one of the foremost Protestant Bible commentaries, that by Adam Clarke, states: “It is difficult to account for the transaction mentioned in Mt 27 verses 52 and 53. Some have thought that these two verses have been introduced into the text of Matthew from the gospel of the Nazarenes, others think the simple meaning is this:—by the earthquake several bodies that had been buried were thrown up and exposed to view, and continued above ground till after Christ’s resurrection, and were seen by many persons in the city. Why the graves should be opened on Friday, and the bodies not raised to life till the following Sunday, is difficult to be conceived. The place is extremely obscure.”

Another Bible commentator, Dr. Jenks, says regarding these verses: “This matter is not related as fully as our curiosity could wish. . . . We may raise inquiries concerning it which we cannot resolve.” Other Bible commentators express themselves similarly.

Could the event mentioned in these two verses have indeed been the beginning of the resurrection of the dead of which Jesus spoke as recorded at John 5:28, 29? No, for Jesus said that all those in the memorial tombs would come forth either to a resurrection of life or to a resurrection of judgment. Since the account says that these were “saints” or “holy ones,” they would have been raised to a resurrection of life. Were they? Hardly, or they would still be living today, even as Jesus has kept on living since his resurrection to life.—Rev. 1:18.

That is why we read that “Christ has been raised up from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep in death.” “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that he might become the one who is first in all things.” These holy ones, therefore, could not have been resurrected with the prospect of endless life before Jesus was.—1 Cor. 15:20; Col. 1:18.

They could not even have been resurrected to life right after Jesus was, as suggested by some, because Paul shows that the Christian holy ones will be resurrected and receive their reward “in that day,” when “the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet.” Paul did not even write this until many years after Jesus had been resurrected, and it was to be fulfilled far in the future.—2 Tim. 4:8; 1 Thess. 4:16.

Then could it be that these were pre-Christian holy ones, destined for life, not in heaven, but on earth? If so, they still could not have received their resurrection at the time Jesus did, because Paul wrote regarding them: “All these, although they had witness borne to them through their faith, did not get the fulfillment of the promise, as God foresaw something better for us, in order that they might not be made perfect apart from us.” Had these been resurrected to life then, they would have been made perfect apart from “us,” the Christian holy ones.—Heb. 11:39, 40.

NO BODILY RESURRECTION

Besides, nowhere in the Scriptures do we read that the bodies of the dead will be raised up; even though the so-called Apostles’ Creed does teach the resurrection of the human body. The “dead,” yes, but not the “dead bodies.” Dead persons will be resurrected in God’s due time, and they will be given a suitable body; they will have the same personality. Note the clear reasoning of the apostle Paul on this matter in regard to the resurrection of the Christian holy ones: “‘How are the dead to be raised up? Yes, with what kind of body are they coming?’ . . . What you sow is not made alive unless first it dies; and as for what you sow, you sow, not the body that will develop, but a bare grain, . . . but God gives it a body just as it has pleased him . . . So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised up in incorruption. . . . It is sown a physical body, it is raised up a spiritual body. . . . flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom, neither does corruption inherit incorruption.”—1 Cor. 15:35-38, 42-44, 50.

Since the Bible does not teach the raising of the human body in either the first resurrection or in the one to follow, the fact that bodies here were raised would prove that it could not have been the beginning of either of these resurrections. At the most it would be merely a temporary resurrection of some faithful Jews who quite likely had recently died. Their resurrection, therefore, would not have been any different from the resurrection experienced by Jesus’ friend Lazarus and others like him.

But even this supposition must be ruled out in view of these questions: If the graves were opened up when Jesus died, why did the bodies of the holy ones have to wait until after Jesus was resurrected to come out of the tombs and appear to many? There was an earthquake when Jesus was raised; why could they not have waited for it? To whom did these bodies appear? Was their resurrection in competition with that of Jesus, who appeared on the third day to his disciples? What was the purpose of their appearance? What did they call attention to or talk about? Did their resurrection enhance or add anything to that of Jesus or prove a verification of his resurrection? How is it that such an unusual event is not mentioned elsewhere in the Christian Greek Scriptures? Besides, why did not the apostle Paul call attention to their resurrection in his argument, at First Corinthians 15, that there is a resurrection of the dead? If many had been resurrected and seen by many, such would have been common knowledge and Paul would have mentioned the fact.

A reasonable solution to this problem is given by the rendering of the verses in question in the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. While a literal translation, it puts clarity of thought ahead of literalness. It reads: “And the memorial tombs were opened and many bodies of the holy ones that had fallen asleep were thrown up, (and persons, coming out from among the memorial tombs after his being raised up, entered into the holy city,) and they became visible to many people.” From this translation it is evident that this was no resurrection of “sleeping saints” but merely a throwing of bodies out of their tombs by the earthquake that attended Jesus’ death.

Nor is the New World Translation alone in rendering these verses thus. A modern German translation reads quite similarly: “Tombs were laid open, and many bodies of those buried were tossed upright. In this posture they projected from the graves and were seen by many who passed by the place on their way back to the city.”—Matt. 27:52, 53.

An incident quite similar to this took place in Ecuador in 1949. There the dead are usually buried in large burial vaults, shelf upon shelf and vault upon vault. An earthquake cracked open these vaults, ejecting many dead bodies, which had to be buried at once to prevent a plague from breaking out.

What is the basis for these renderings? First of all, let it be noted that the pronoun “they” (Matt. 27:53, RS) could not refer to the “bodies,” because all pronouns in the Greek have gender and “they” is in the masculine, whereas “bodies” is in the neuter gender. Nor could “they” refer to the “holy ones,” for the text does not say that the holy ones were raised but merely that their bodies were raised or thrown up. Further, even the most ancient manuscripts are not in agreement with one another as to the reading of this text. The Sinaitic omits the words “and the memorial tombs were opened” and “entered.”

In view of all the questions that these texts raise, their contradictory reading and the variations in them found in the most ancient manuscripts, another alternative may not be ruled out altogether. And what is that? That these verses were not written by Matthew himself but added by an early copying hand. This position seems to find further support in the fact that the particular Greek word for “resurrection” (RS) used here, égersis, occurs nowhere else in the Christian Greek Scriptures. Also, here is the only use of the expression “the saints,” “holy ones,” in all the Gospels, it first appearing after Pentecost. The fact that these verses are found in the apocryphal Gospel of the Nazarenes but not in any of the other canonical Gospels further makes these verses suspect. Incidentally, this Gospel by the Nazarenes was held by some to have been Matthew’s original Gospel in Hebrew, which he later translated into Greek. It resembles his canonical Gospel quite closely except that it begins without the genealogy.

We cannot escape it, verses 52 and 53 of Matthew, chapter 27, are ambiguous. In fact, they are among the most difficult verses to translate of the entire Christian Greek Scriptures. Because of their ambiguity no one can dogmatically state just how they should be rendered. What governs the translation of texts such as these where there is an ambiguity in the original text therefore is not textual criticism, because it is frustrated by the ambiguity. Rather, exegesis, or Bible interpretation of the meaning intended by the original writer, will have to govern. The way each translator would therefore render such texts would depend upon his understanding of the rest of the Scriptures. The Scriptural facts above set out dictate how they must be rendered to be consistent with the rest of the Bible.

Speaking from Good Hearts for Salvation

WHAT a priceless gift the faculty of intelligent speech is! Man alone has been endowed by God with this ability to communicate thoughts to one another. Every day we should be thanking our Creator for this precious instrument. And not only should we thank God in so many words but we should show our gratitude by the way we use this gift.

Yet how many persons misuse this wonderful gift because of having bad hearts! Among such are the hypocritical religious leaders of today who keep speaking false traditions.

Then there are those who take delight in speaking obscenities. Professional and amateur entertainers seek popularity by appealing to the depraved tendencies in humans. Christians are strongly warned against such misuse of their gift of speech: “Let fornication and uncleanness of every kind or greediness not even be mentioned among you.”—Eph. 5:3.

As Christians we must also be on guard lest we misuse our gift of speech due to thoughtlessness or resentment. Fittingly the disciple James counsels us: “It is not proper, my brothers, for these things to go on occurring this way.” Instead of thoughtlessly or maliciously “uncovering confidential talk,” let us seek love by “covering over transgression.”—Jas. 3:10; Prov. 11:13; 17:9.

The key to the proper use of our gift of speech is our heart. As Jesus Christ showed: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure sends out good things, whereas the wicked man out of his wicked treasure sends out wicked things.”—Matt. 12:34, 35.a

To speak from good hearts we must therefore transform ourselves. We must make our minds over to prove what is God’s good and complete will. Far from letting our minds dwell on whatever may enter them by the senses or the imagination, we must learn to exercise self-control so as to keep on considering whatever things are true, chaste, virtuous, lovable and praiseworthy.—Rom. 12:2; Phil. 4:8.

It will help us to speak from good hearts to look at the example Jehovah God sets for us. Through his Word he speaks to us only that which will build us up. In his mercy and loving-kindness he utters words that are like nourishment to the hungry soul. He has the best of reasons for everything he says in his Word.

What a fine example we also have in His Son! He thought before he spoke. Love and wisdom guided his speech. No wonder it is written: “The crowds were astounded at his way of teaching.” “Never has another man spoken like this.” “All began to . . . marvel at the winsome words proceeding out of his mouth.”—Matt. 7:28; John 7:46; Luke 4:22.

To speak from good hearts for the salvation of others as well as ourselves we must follow our two great Exemplars. We have many opportunities for doing so at our congregation meetings. By properly preparing in advance we can make public declaration to the point and with confidence.—Heb. 10:23-25.

At times individuals may come to us for personal counsel. What an opportunity to speak from a good heart! Let us make wise use of it by appealing to Scriptural principles. And to do the most good, remember to speak with kindness, mildness and tact.—1 Cor. 8:1.

As Christian ministers our chief concern, however, must be speaking from good hearts the good news of God’s kingdom. We all know the many different ways in which this can be done for the salvation of others. And let us make sure that our hearts are always full of love for those to whom we speak.

In particular do we speak from good hearts for the salvation of others when we teach them. That means patiently and explicitly instructing them so that they can express in their own words what we taught them. This will both qualify them to teach others and give them the incentive to do so.—Luke 6:40.

The result of dedicated Christians world-wide thus speaking is published in this issue of The Watchtower. It has put tens of thousands on the way to salvation. The 1961 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses further shows how this was done in ever so many specific instances. Read it, not only for enjoyment, but also for your instruction, that you may “be doing the same yourself.”—Luke 10:37.

So, Christian ministers of Jehovah, keep speaking from good hearts for salvation during the month of January. In your preaching activity feature this Bible-study aid, The Watchtower, on a subscription basis. And follow through by teaching all those showing themselves to be conscious of their spiritual need.

[Footnotes]

Questions From Readers

● John 21:22 reads: “Jesus said to him: ‘If it is my will for him to remain until I come, of what concern is that to you? You continue following me.”’ What does this scripture mean?—A. A., United States.

In this verse Jesus may have referred to his coming in miniature A.D. 70 for the execution of divine vengeance upon the city of Jerusalem, resulting in its destruction. John is understood to have survived that event of A.D. 70 and to have lived down to close to the end of the first century, at which time he wrote his account of Jesus’ life and also the three epistles or letters and the book of Revelation.

Then again, Jesus may also have referred to the apostle John in a prophetic or pictorial sense and he may here have foreshadowed the remnant of the body of Christ that has remained until the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ invisibly in 1914. It is this remnant, which has survived until the present time, that is witnessing the fulfillment of the book of Revelation. That is why it has been stated that this remnant was foreshadowed by the apostle John.—Rev. 1:10.

● Matthew 11:11 speaks of “a person that is a lesser one in the kingdom of the heavens” as being greater than John the Baptist. How is this to be understood? Will not all the members of the body of Christ sit in equal positions, or will some occupy higher places and others be lesser in comparison to them?—V.C., U.S.A.

First of all, let us note that as far as the kingdom of heaven class upon earth is concerned there have always been in it some that have occupied positions of greater responsibility and others that have had lesser positions. So at least in this regard there are greater and lesser ones in the kingdom of heaven class. Such is bound to be the case wherever there is an organization. In Israel, for example, there were ‘chiefs over thousands, over hundreds, over fifties and over tens,’ to assure smooth operation of the organization.—Ex. 18:21.

In the heavenly kingdom Jesus Christ will be above all the 144,000 as their head, and, certainly, compared to him they will all be lesser ones. Further, we read that the holy city, heavenly Jerusalem, has a wall with “twelve foundation stones, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” (Rev. 21:14) Without doubt, the rest of the 144,000 will be lesser ones in comparison to these twelve foundation stones. As to other distinctions the Scriptures are silent, but in view of the picture given at Revelation 7:1-4, about the twelve tribes of spiritual Israel, suggesting organization, there may be said to be implied various degrees of rank in the kingdom of the heavens.

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

Our hearts must be in harmony with God and his Word to speak good things for salvation. Jehovah’s witnesses are pleased to aid others toward salvation by sharing Bible knowledge. During January they will do this by offering a year’s subscription for The Watchtower, along with three Scriptural booklets, on a $1 contribution.

1961 YEARBOOK AND CALENDAR

Have you received your copy of the 1961 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, only recently released? You will want to begin reading at once the thrilling report of Christian educational work carried on world-wide during 1960. Additionally, you will be eager to consider the Scriptural information included as inspirational reading for every day of the new year. Send only 50c, and for a beautiful calendar for 1961 add 25c to your order.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

February 5: Build to the Future. Page 5.

February 12: Showing Fruitage of the Spirit, ¶1-19, Page 11.

February 19: Showing Fruitage of the Spirit, ¶20-23, and Apply Your Hearts. Page 15.