The Watchtower — October 1, 1963

The Tongue of the Wise One Is Healing

IT IS an art to use the tongue for the benefit of others. Its wise use can soften the sting of sorrow and disappointment, lighten the load of anxiety and worry. A proverb states: “There exists the one speaking thoughtlessly as with the stabs of a sword, but the tongue of the wise ones is a healing.” (Prov. 12:18) Since the tongue can be used for good or bad, do you, before you speak, consider what the outcome of your words may be and how they may affect others?

The uplifting use of the tongue can be applied to so many of our activities in life. Take the young person who is away from home for the first time. He may be plagued with homesickness. Older associates who observe this should not chide or tease, but can, with a few kind words, help him to see the reason for being where he is and why he should stay there. This wise use of the tongue can effectively heal the urge to go home without good reason, possibly losing many valuable opportunities.

You may have had the experience of starting on a new job where you had to learn a difficult procedure or operate an intricate machine. A word of encouragement from your supervisor could build up your confidence and determination to do your best. How much more like working and improving you would feel with healing words that lift up the spirit!

Sometimes close friendships are broken up merely because of thoughtless words from the uncontrolled tongue. Therefore the tongue must be carefully guarded. This is easy to say, but not so easy to do. Why? Because the tongue is about the most rebellious, uncooperative organ in the body. One Bible writer said: “If anyone does not stumble in word, this one is a perfect man.” Men have tamed birds and beasts, “but the tongue, not one of mankind can get it tamed. An unruly injurious thing, it is full of death-dealing poison.” (Jas. 3:2, 8) That does not mean improvement cannot be made in handling the tongue, for such assuredly can be done. While perfect control may be beyond reach, still, a greater work of healing with the tongue is possible for most people than they at present are accomplishing.

Words from the healing tongue are particularly necessary in the home when one of the family suffers injury or is sick. In the case of deep sorrow over the loss of a loved one, words cannot take the place of the loss, but they do give much comfort when spoken out of love and based on truth. Then, too, there are many persons who experience countless fears and worries. They worry about their health, feel insecure, bemoan their failures, or imagine that others dislike or disapprove of them. They also lack spiritual vision concerning life’s value and purpose. Here is where the person of insight and knowledge can be of real help. He can tell of these true values and overcome such anxieties.

In this period of earthwide stress there are many who become gripped with depression and a loss of hope. This is often true of those old in years. Many of their own age that they have grown up with have already died and they have the feeling of being alone. How helpful the tongue of the wise can be here! “Anxious care in the heart of a man is what will cause it to bow down, but the good word is what makes it rejoice.” (Prov. 12:25) Are you able to speak the “good word” when it is most needed by others near you? Could you logically give the reasons why the human family is in its present pitiful condition and why the life-span is so short? Do you know the hope the Scriptures give for a change soon to come? If you have love for your fellowman and knowledge of the hope that God gives through his Word, you will be able to heal by speaking the “good word.”

There is another type of healing the tongue can do, one that may be painful at the moment, as with medicine put on a wound. This is in regard to reproof. Sometimes what is needed is the correcting or disciplining of another. God’s Word says: “Better is a revealed reproof than a concealed love.” (Prov. 27:5) While the correction may sting, may be sharp, it will be beneficial, since it can prevent one from going astray.

One may not be aware of doing anything that may need correction. He may be working and not be aware that his work is deficient and needs correcting. He does not feel the need for counsel, since there is no wrong conduct involved. Encouragement may have proved ineffective, since he feels no change is necessary. It is like the child who is encouraged to do right but continues to do wrong, not realizing that his course is deficient. Words of discipline and correction must be applied for the benefit of the child, even if it leads to a spanking. With the adult, deficiency may require words of healing in the form of tactful but firm reproof, which may hurt at the moment, but will help the recipient correct his wayward course.

It takes a true friend who has genuine concern for you to point out the folly of a certain course that could lead to your harm. You should accept such reproof without rebelling, since it is a kindness that will heal. You can be of benefit in the same way by not holding back from using your tongue wisely to aid others where correction is needed. In using the tongue to reprove when it is required, one shows kindness to himself as well as others. His spirit benefits by doing the right thing.

Your tongue is a window to your heart and mind. It reveals your moral and spiritual health, for what is in your heart your tongue will make known sooner or later. As the Bible states: “For 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) By taking in true treasures from God’s Word, you can cultivate the wise use of your tongue for healing, for doing good. This will result in happiness to others you deal with and happiness for yourself as well.

Maintaining a Right Standing with God

Immorality is rampant today. How can a Christian avoid being ensnared?

WE LIVE in an era of change; it is an age of wavering faith, pursuit of material gain and lowering moral standards. Men fear the future, and well they might, for it appears to many people that the world is being irresistibly pushed toward a nuclear holocaust. This climate of uncertainty has caused many to adopt the attitude, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we are to die.” (1 Cor. 15:32) The resultant immorality and unrestrained lawlessness should cause all honesthearted persons to pause and ponder: Just where do I stand with God? How can I gain and maintain a right standing in His sight?

Happily God has not left mankind without guidance in these dangerous times. He has provided his written Word, which not only contains much admonition, but also preserves many examples that warn of the pitfalls that can plunge one into the sordid sea of immorality. Consider, for instance, what happened to God’s ancient nation of Israel.

A WARNING EXAMPLE

In the year 1513 B.C. the Israelites marched out from Egypt and across the Red Sea. Led by men of faith, they traversed a fearsome wasteland, endured adversity and came to the boundaries of the land of Canaan, which God had promised to give them. However, because they became disobedient and showed a lack of faith, God forced the nation of Israel to wander in the wilderness for forty years, after which he again brought them to the edge of the beautiful land of promise. Here aging Moses relinquished leadership to his successor Joshua, who, as head of the nation, took possession of the land and settled the twelve tribes in their inheritance.—Ex. 12:37-42; Num. 14:26-33; Josh. 1:1-6; 13:1–19:51.

Under the administration of Joshua and his mature associates the Israelites continued to serve Jehovah acceptably. But after the death of these “older men,” who exercised a good influence on the people, “another generation began to rise after them that did not know Jehovah or the work that he had done for Israel. And the sons of Israel fell to doing what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah and serving the Baals.”—Judg. 2:7-13.

From that time on, the history of the nation of Israel was one of vacillation between true worship and false; between the great God Jehovah and the dungy idols of the nations. Finally, swinging too far away from their right standing before God, the nation lost its balance completely and was plunged into captivity to Babylon. Jerusalem was razed and its temple smashed, and princes and common people alike were slain or enslaved.—2 Ki. 23:26, 27; 25:1-11.

Contrary to what one may think, what happened to the Israelites back there is not dead history, but it shines down through the ages and illuminates the situation in which we find ourselves. Therefore it is important that we consider closely what led to their fall, so as to avoid our losing a right standing with God today.—Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11.

THE PITFALL OF IMMORALITY

Toward the end of the forty-year wilderness sojourn thousands of Israelites were ensnared by the immoral practices of the Baal-worshiping Moabites, whose land they had to pass by en route to the Promised Land. Fornication and unclean sexual indulgence were the way of life of these Baal worshipers. The Encyclopædia Britannica notes that the “cult of the baals and Ashtaroth was characterized by gross sensuality and licentiousness.” “Worship of these gods carried with it some of the most demoralizing practices then in existence,” The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible observes.

According to the Pocket Bible Handbook by Henry H. Halley, “temples of Baal and Ashtoreth were usually together. Priestesses were temple prostitutes. Sodomites were male temple prostitutes. The worship of Baal, Ashtoreth, Moloch, and other Canaanite gods consisted in the most extravagant orgies; their temples were centers of vice. So, the way the Canaanites worshipped their gods was by immoral indulgence in the presence of their gods.”

Instead of avoiding such immoral people, the Bible says that the Israelites “started to have immoral relations with the daughters of Moab. And the women came calling the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people began to eat and to bow down to their gods. So Israel attached itself to the Baal of Peor.” How disgusting to Almighty God was this sensuality and licentiousness! “And the anger of Jehovah began to blaze against Israel. . . . And those who died from the scourge amounted to twenty-four thousand.”—Num. 25:1-9.

Repeatedly in later years the immorality of their Baal-worshiping neighbors proved to be a stumbling block to the Israelites. Evidently they began to think, ‘Everybody is doing it; it is only doing what comes naturally, so why not be like the rest of the people?’ Immorality appealed to their fleshly desires, so, closing their eyes to God’s righteous laws, they satisfied their unbridled passion. “And they too kept building for themselves high places and sacred pillars and sacred poles upon every high hill and under every luxuriant tree [where they indulged in sexual immorality]. And even the male temple prostitute proved to be in the land.”—1 Ki. 14:23, 24; 22:46; Isa. 57:5; Jer. 3:6, 13.

In time immorality became the way of life of the Israelites. “They continued committing adultery, and to the house of a prostitute woman they go in troops. Horses seized with sexual heat, having strong testicles, they have become. They neigh each one to the wife of his companion.” They became just like animals, not even feeling shame for their promiscuousness.—Jer. 5:7, 8.

IMMORALITY TODAY

But civilized people are not like that today, some may be thinking. Their worship of God is not accompanied ‘with immoral indulgence and gross sensuality and licentiousness.’ They worship the God and Father of Jesus Christ who forbids such immorality, it might be argued. But what do the facts show?

The evidence reveals that conditions are the same in Christendom as they were among the Israelites long ago. Just as the people then had God’s righteous laws, including the Ten Commandments, and were obligated to keep them, people in Christendom today also have God’s laws which they are obligated to observe. But just as the Israelites rejected God’s laws, so today licentiousness and immorality reminiscent of Israel’s Baal worship is common throughout Christendom.

Everywhere there is evidence of a moral collapse. “The concept of chastity is completely out of date,” an audience of 1,000 University of British Columbia students was told not long ago. A recent survey of twenty-one California schools found that some of the girls considered pregnancy “a status symbol.” At a girls’ school in England it was discovered that students wore a yellow badge to advertise that they were no longer virgins. And at another school in Oxford, England, a surprise check of handbags revealed that 80 percent of the girls were carrying contraceptives.

The Toronto Daily Star (March 9, 1963) reports that “so many Winnipeg [Canada] high school girls are becoming pregnant that the city’s three main homes for unwed mothers are looking for ways to send the girls to special schools . . . The city last year had 537 illegitimate births.”

It has been found that the sex orgies of even the youth of today rival the licentious rites of the ancient sex-worshiping Baalists. Sir John Charles, England’s retired Chief Medical Officer, of the Ministry of Education, cited a case where the prosecuting counsel spoke of the “shocking precocity and depravity” of youngsters only fourteen and fifteen years of age.

Throughout Christendom ‘sex clubs’ and ‘wife-swapping clubs’ do a thriving business. Just this past spring the San Francisco Chronicle carried the headlines, “Wife-Swapping Fad—All Over Bay Area.” The paper observed that an eight-line advertisement “attracted an avalanche of answers from married couples seeking extracurricular sex.” “They are getting together in groups of two or more couples in homes, hotels and motels to participate in ‘switching parties’ that often take on the proportions of orgies,” the paper reported. Contrary to what some may think, these orgies are engaged in by respected citizens who apparently find their conduct compatible with their religion. In fact, one of them said: We never “switch” on Saturday nights because “we have to get up early Sundays to go to church.”—Issues dated April 3 and 6, 1963.

Such immorality reaches into high places. Recently the immorality of prominent governmental officials has been exposed, particularly in England. “The shock waves” that were touched off there “jumped the Channel to Europe, and were somewhat more than perceptible in even the glassy (if prosaically unmirrored) halls of the United Nations in New York,” Newsweek magazine reported. “A series of other sex and espionage scandals were reverberating in Stockholm and Cairo.”

All over the world, among the rich and influential, as well as among the common people and youths, sexual immorality has become the way of life. As one minister remarked: Teen-agers now look upon sex “as casually as eating and drinking.” (Toronto Daily Star, February 8, 1963) Although extramarital sexual intercourse is against God’s law, people today reason as the ancient Israelites apparently did, ‘Everyone is doing it, so why be different?’ Even some religious leaders condone the present-day immorality.

As reported in the London Daily Express of March 11, 1963, Church of England clergyman D. A. Rhymes told his congregation that the Bible code of chastity is “being ignored because already it is outdated.” He said it needed to be replaced with a moral code that would better fit the needs of the people. And along this same line of reasoning, a seventy-page essay released by a group of Britain’s most influential Quakers said that “morals, like the Sabbath, were made for man, not man for morals,” and that, therefore, even the expression of homosexual affection was not morally wrong. This essay entitled “Towards a Quaker View of Sex” “rejects almost completely the traditional approach of the organized Christian Church to morality,” declared the Toronto Globe and Mail on February 19, 1963.

AVOIDING IMMORALITY

How dangerous are these worldly philosophies on morality! If one listens to them he is certain to lose his right standing with God. God’s laws are as up-to-date and applicable now as the day they were written. Those who may feel that they can deviate from them to satisfy their sexual appetites are told by one of Christ’s apostles to consider what happened to the Israelites who were seduced by the Baal-worshiping Moabites:

“Neither let us practice fornication, as some of them committed fornication, only to fall, twenty-three thousand of them in one day. Now these things went on befalling them as examples, and they were written for a warning to us upon whom the ends of the systems of things have arrived. Consequently let him that thinks he is standing beware that he does not fall.”—1 Cor. 10:8, 11, 12.

Christians must beware at all times that they are not ensnared by this sex-maddened world, even as the Israelites were by their lustful neighbors. “Deaden, therefore, your body members,” the apostle Paul wrote early Christians, “as respects fornication, uncleanness, sexual appetite . . . Strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it.”—Col. 3:5-10.

In order to avoid immorality one must fill his mind and heart with God’s righteous laws, and at all times endeavor to live in accord with them. This means that “fornication and uncleanness of every kind or greediness [should] not even be mentioned among you, just as it befits holy people; neither shameful conduct nor foolish talking nor obscene jesting, things which are not becoming, but rather the giving of thanks. For you know this, recognizing it for yourselves, that no fornicator . . . has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Christ and of God.”—Eph. 5:3-5; Phil. 4:8.

God’s law is therefore clear. Immoral practices such as fornication, adultery, homosexuality and bestiality bring upon one God’s disfavor. It is true that before learning of God’s righteous requirements, and while still living as people of the nations do, many practiced these things. But if one truly desires to gain and maintain a right standing with God, he must now “abstain from fornication” and “get possession of his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in covetous sexual appetite such as also those nations have which do not know God.”—1 Thess. 4:3-5; 1 Cor. 6:9-11.

“Everlasting Good News” for the “Time of the End”

“And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, and he had everlasting good news to declare as glad tidings to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people.”—Rev. 14:6.

1. While flight through the air by modern man is not unusual, what would cause us great excitement to see and what would we undoubtedly want to do?

TODAY it is nothing for us to see airplanes with one or more than a hundred persons aboard flying through the air at great speed, or even rockets with a man in its capsule being hurled into outer space and safely returning. But what if we were to look up and see an angel, not in an open airplane nor with artificial mechanically operated or glider wings, flying with an announcement through midheaven where the birds fly? Would this not stir up excitement among us? Would we not strain our ears to hear the announcement that this angel was making without the aid of a megaphone or other modern electrical sound equipment? We surely would.

2, 3. What startling announcement was made by an angel almost 2,000 years ago?

² As we think of an angel with an announcement, we turn our minds back almost two thousand years into the past and to a religiously famous spot in the Middle East. It is an autumn night and certain shepherds, whose national history is linked with angels, are watching over their flocks in the fields near the little town of Bethlehem, King David’s birthplace. Suddenly a brightness burst around them and there, in glory, was an angel standing by them. Though they were God-fearing men, they got very fearful. But the angel said:

³ “Have no fear, for, look! I am declaring to you good news of a great joy that all the people will have, because there was born to you today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in David’s city. And this is a sign for you: you will find an infant bound in cloth bands and lying in a manger.”

4. Who besides man rejoiced at this announcement?

⁴ This event was something not merely for “all the people” on earth to be joyful about, but also for heaven to rejoice about, for look what then happened. “Suddenly there came to be with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: ‘Glory in the heights above to God, and upon earth peace among men of good will.’”—Luke 2:8-14; Zech. 1:7-9.

5, 6. Though angelic appearances in the past have been events of great importance, what can be said for our day and the power of unseen spirit creatures?

⁵ We might think that it would have been wonderful to be with those shepherds back there and have this vision of angels and hear their voices and then go to the manger in Bethlehem and become an eyewitness to the birth of the babe who was to become the “Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:15-20) Nevertheless, we today are having much to do with the heavenly angels, even though they remain invisible to us and we do not hear their voices.

⁶ We have every reason to believe that there is a lot of demon activity going on in these days. The march of all the worldly nations to the greatest and most destructive war in all human history is unquestionably being conducted under demon control. That is the meaning that the last book of the Bible (Rev. 16:13-16) places upon the irresistible movement that the militarized nations are making to the situation that is prophetically called Har–Magedon or Armageddon. That last book of the Bible shows that at the same time there would also be activity and movement on the part of God’s holy angels, not, however, to resist the action of the demons in driving the nations to Har–Magedon, but for other reasons.

7, 8. (a) When did the last appearance of angels take place, and yet how are the holy angels used by Jehovah in our day? (b) How does John in Revelation assure us of this service by angels?

⁷ Since the apostle John received the Revelation at the end of the first century of our Common Era, appearances of angels have ceased to occur. Yet the holy angels of the Most High God have been actively serving in behalf of the faithful followers of “Christ the Lord,” who are to inherit immortal life with him in the heavenly kingdom. This is what the words of Hebrews 1:14 have in view when the question is asked concerning the holy angels: “Are they not all spirits for public service, sent forth to minister for those who are going to inherit salvation?” All these angels are subject to Christ the Lord, the Son of God, and they have faithfully served him throughout the past nineteen centuries, for the sake of his followers. But today there is a foretold work that has to be done in this “time of the end” that comes to a climax at Har–Magedon. So those angels are being given special assignments of service, and they serve in ways unseen to us humans. This must be true in order for what John saw in miraculous vision to be realized, a vision that he described in these words of Revelation 14:6, 7:

⁸ “And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, and he had everlasting good news to declare as glad tidings to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people, saying in a loud voice: ‘Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of the judgment by him has arrived, and so worship the One who made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.’”

THE FIRST ANGEL SEEN IN FLIGHT

9. Despite our not seeing any angelic appearances in this day how do we know the message of Revelation 14:6, 7 comes through an angel of Jehovah?

⁹ We have not literally seen the flying angel whom John saw in vision, seeing him either from a ground location or from a seat by the window of an airplane speeding through midheaven. Neither have the astronauts who have been put in orbit around the earth, much higher than the altitude attained by our jet or rocket airplanes, reported seeing such an angel. Yet, despite all that, we can attribute to no one other than an angel or body of angels under command of Christ the Lord what we have seen and heard at the earth since the close of World War I in November of 1918, and its Peace Conference in 1919. What we have seen and heard since then in connection with the God “who made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters” could certainly not be of human origin, not of some man, say, for instance, of J. F. Rutherford, the memory of whom Christendom despises.

10, 11. (a) Why is the news we have heard even more grand than the announcement made to the shepherds concerning the birth of Jesus? (b) How does John show this to be true in Revelation 12:10-12?

¹⁰ What, though, have we heard since 1919? We have unmistakably heard the declaring of “glad tidings” such as those who dwell on the earth have never heard before. These glad tidings have to do with the “good news of a great joy that all the people will have,” which the glorious angel declared to those shepherds out in the fields near Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago. The announcement of the birth of a baby boy ought to be good news, especially when that boy’s birth was waited for for thousands of years because God the Creator had assigned him to perform a great work for the rescue of mankind from all the evils that afflict it. (Jer. 20:15) How much grander, then, should be the good news of the birth of the Kingdom, the Government in which this foretold child actually serves as “Christ the Lord” and as “Savior”! Angels chanted together at the human birth of the future Ruler, but when God’s kingdom was born in the heavens and gained its victory over Satan and his demons, the fulfillment of the words of Revelation 12:10-12 took place. In those verses John says:

¹¹ “And I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down, who accuses them day and night before our God! . . . On this account be glad, you heavens and you who reside in them!’”

12. What timely questions are now posed for answer?

¹² However, was this heavenly event to be left unannounced on earth? Was the less important birth of the babe Jesus worthy to be announced on earth, even by angels, but the far grander event, namely, the birth of God’s kingdom with Christ as Lord in the heavens, unworthy of announcement on earth with similar dignity? Such a thing would be unreasonable. It would be out of harmony with God’s way of treating matters of world importance.

13. What evidence have we that God’s kingdom was born in 1914?

¹³ In world history since the year 1914 we have the overwhelming evidence that the birth of God’s kingdom took place in the heavens that year. The many items of evidence that we were to look for in our visible world Jesus foretold as he sat on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem two days after he rode into the holy city, offering himself to her as God’s anointed king. By the year 1919 enough of this evidence had piled up to prove that in 1914 the “appointed times of the [Gentile] nations” had ended and that God’s Messianic kingdom had been established in the heavens and that immediately thereafter Satan the Devil, the unseen god of the Gentile nations, had been cast out of heaven and down to earth where these Gentile nations are located.—Matt. 24:1-13; Luke 21:24.

14. How did Jesus show his followers would respond to the news of the Kingdom’s birth?

¹⁴ What did Jesus say that his faithful followers should do after seeing the meaning of all this evidence? Keep it to themselves like a secret society? Be afraid to tell it out for fear that the Gentile nations might not like it and might oppose and persecute? No; but after Jesus had foretold the preliminary evidence by which to prove that the kingdoms of this world had entered into their “time of the end” and that God’s kingdom for a righteous new world had been born in the heavens, Jesus said to his inquiring disciples: “And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.” (Matt. 24:14; Dan. 12:4) Here, then, was the way in which a royal heavenly birth far grander than that of the human birth of Jesus nineteen centuries ago was to be given the announcement that it deserved on earth in our day.

15. (a) Did Jesus intend to have angels preach about the Kingdom’s birth? (b) What was to be the purpose of making proclamation of the Kingdom’s birth?

¹⁵ Jesus did not say or indicate that this preaching of the good news of the Kingdom’s birth would be done by the heavenly angels. His prophecy to his disciples was instructions for them at the time that the evidence turned up. They were the ones appointed to do the preaching in all the inhabited earth, to all the nations. This preaching of a new government born, of a government with sovereignty over all the earth, was not intended to start a political revolution among all nations, as if Jesus’ disciples were revolutionaries. The preaching was to be merely “for a witness to all the nations” before God in heaven brought such unresponsive nations to their calamitous end.

16. Nevertheless, what part would angels have in this most important work?

¹⁶ However, although the audible preaching on earth was to be done by Jesus’ peaceful disciples in this modern twentieth century, this does not mean that invisible angels of heaven would not perform some part unseen, in close cooperation with the preaching work or even supervising it. For the gathering together of the Kingdom preachers Jesus, in his prophecy on the world’s end, said that the angels would be used. He said: “And they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity of the heavens to their other extremity.” Finally, he said: “When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another.”—Matt. 24:30, 31; 25:31, 32; Mark 13:26, 27.

17, 18. (a) How should God’s servants on earth feel about this angelic assistance? (b) Of what significance is it that the angel is seen flying in midheaven just after the apostle John saw Jesus and his 144,000 victorious disciples?

¹⁷ It should be of great comfort, encouragement and strength to us Kingdom witnesses to have this inspired assurance that the angels under the reigning King, Christ the Lord, are helping, guiding, protecting and backing up our preaching work in all the inhabited earth. This angelic participation unseen in the preaching work, yes, this angelic responsibility for the declaring of the glad tidings of the established kingdom to all of earth’s dwellers, all this is doubtless what is symbolized by John’s vision of the angel flying with everlasting good news in midheaven. And the connection of the flying angel as news bringer with God’s kingdom is made very plain to us. How so? In that he is seen flying in midheaven immediately after John saw Jesus Christ the Lamb of God standing with his 144,000 victorious disciples upon a mountain called Mount Zion, the name of the very mountain on which his forefather, King David, sat on his throne, “Jehovah’s throne,” in Jerusalem.—Rev. 14:1-6.

¹⁸ According to this follow-up of interrelated events, this must mean that after the Lamb Jesus Christ stands up in kingly power on the heavenly Mount Zion in 1914 the “everlasting good news” of the Messianic kingdom must be declared to earth’s dwellers, who have unknowingly come under the sovereignty of a superhuman government, a heavenly kingdom. World history since A.D. 1914 proves that this is just the way events have happened in their order.

IN MIDHEAVEN

19. (a) What is the advantage of the angel’s flying in midheaven? (b) How important is his message?

¹⁹ Because the angel was flying in midheaven, he would be able to be heard by earth’s dwellers over a large area. His announcement made with his superhuman voice would be heard over a wide radius from that height, as he orbited the earth. He was sent to declare the glad tidings to every nation and tribe and tongue and people, and he would have to fly around the earth. It was good news deserving to be heard by everybody dwelling on earth. It was good news, coming, not from earthly politicians, but from heaven, and it affected every person dwelling on earth, man, woman and child. By God’s own decree it has to be given the widest publication, for it is the most important news to mankind; and there is no quietus or soft pedal to be applied to the publishing of it, either by men afraid to speak out or by men opposed to its publication.

20. Why would it be useless for anyone to try to stop the message declared by this angel of God?

²⁰ Let men on earth, kings, judges, generals, priests, pontiffs or clergymen, try to stop the flying angel from declaring the glad tidings, if they dare. Over two thousand six hundred years ago the boastful king of the Assyrian World Power threatened to overturn God’s typical kingdom that ruled from Zion or Jerusalem. But in one night one angel of Jehovah, according to the record in 2 Kings 18:13 to 19:36, struck dead 185,000 of the invader’s troops, to force him to retreat with what he had left back to where he came from.

21. (a) What attitude should Kingdom preachers take in telling out the good news? (b) Why is fast action by God’s servants necessary in this most important work?

²¹ Accordingly, the Kingdom preachers on earth must not be afraid. They must speak out boldly, as under divine commission, everywhere. It is not convenient for them to go up in helicopters or airplanes or rockets in order to make their declaration of the good news, but Jesus said they must get up on a prominent place and without fear preach to the people. When he sent his twelve apostles out to preach, “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near,” he told them not to be afraid of men, although being “cautious as serpents.” He said: “Therefore do not fear them; for there is nothing covered over that will not become uncovered, and secret that will not become known. What I tell you in the darkness, say in the light; and what you hear whispered, preach from the house-tops.” (Matt. 10:7, 16, 26, 27) From a housetop a speaker could have his voice carry far and reach a multitude of hearers below. The idea is to let the message be heard far and wide and as quickly as possible. The angel whom the apostle John saw in vision was flying in midheaven, flying as in posthaste as in the case of the Persian “couriers on horses, riding post horses used in the royal service, sons of speedy mares,” in order to advise Jehovah’s people of their right to defend themselves against their enemies. (Esther 8:10) The “time of the end” is comparatively short and many human lives are involved. Hence the need for speedy action. It is to be noted that the flying angel spoke “in a loud voice.” He wants to be heard. Far be it from us to tone down what he has to say.

22. Is the field to be reached a small one, and what is the responsibility of the angel flying in midheaven?

²² The field to be reached with the “glad tidings” is a large one, embracing every nation and tribe and tongue and people. The flying angel in midheaven was expected to cover his territory and let all those for whom the message was meant hear it. Since the year 1919 he, or the angelic organization that he symbolizes, has been seeing to it that this territory and its population are being reached with the glad tidings.

23, 24. (a) Since the field is large, what expansion by Jehovah’s witnesses has been necessary since 1919? (b) To what extent is the printed message of the good news distributed today as compared to 1922, and how far-reaching is it?

²³ This accounts for it that, whereas Jehovah’s witnesses were proclaiming the Kingdom message on only a limited scale in 1919 in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, the islands of the sea and the Americas under supervision of fourteen branches of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, now in this year 1963 they are declaring the glad tidings in 194 lands and island groups, with more than 22,000 congregations, and under the supervision of ninety branches of the Watch Tower Society.

²⁴ Further, as regards the going of the tidings to “every . . . tongue,” by April of 1922 the public lecture “Millions Now Living Will Never Die” was being proclaimed by speakers in thirty-three leading languages of the world, but today the Kingdom message is being published on printed page and by word of mouth in 162 languages, the Watchtower magazine alone being now printed in 66 languages each month, including Russian. Yes, the glad tidings from the “angel flying in midheaven” is being heard even behind the penetrable Russian Iron Curtain, through thousands of Jehovah’s witnesses. The Communist rockets are unable to shoot down Jehovah’s flying angel.

HOW “GOOD”—”GLAD”?

25. What is the message of the flying angel?

²⁵ But what does the angelic bearer of “everlasting good news” have to say as he flies in midheaven? What the apostle John heard him say “in a loud voice” was: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of the judgment by him has arrived, and so worship the One who made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.” (Rev. 14:7) His appeal is for all nations, tribes, tongues and peoples to fear, glorify and worship God.

26. Does it matter if any nation is predominantly of a certain religious conviction? Why?

²⁶ He is not embarrassed by the well-known fact that the people in one nation are already predominantly Roman Catholic; the people in another land are Greek Catholic; the people in another country are Protestant; the people in another region are Moslems or Mohammedan; the people in that vast territory are Hindu; the people in that large area are Confucianist; the people in those islands are Buddhist. What does it matter that their religions up to this crucial time have been those here mentioned and many others not here mentioned? The heavenly angel’s advice is for all to fear the one God.

27. Why can there be no mistaking that the God referred to by the flying angel is Jehovah alone?

²⁷ It is true of the religious situation of the world today just as it was true in the apostle Paul’s day, in which day he said: “There are those who are called ‘gods,’ whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords.’” (1 Cor. 8:5) But there is no mistaking whom the angel flying in midheaven means when he calls on everybody to fear God. He does not mention his name, but he describes who this God is in such a way that we can identify him. He is the Judge of the whole world and he is the Creator of heaven, earth, sea and fountains of waters. There is only one such divine Judge and Creator, and we can know what his personal name is. In the opening verse of the Holy Bible we read Ge 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” And in chapter two, verse four, the American Standard Version Bible of 1901 reads: “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.” And verses seven and eight read: “And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward, in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.” (Gen. 1:1; 2:4, 7, 8, AS) Any reader can thus see that from the start of the Holy Bible the name of God the Creator is established as being Jehovah.

28. What further evidence have we that Jehovah is the universal Judge referred to?

²⁸ As for his being the universal Judge, more than three thousand eight hundred years ago, when the existence of Sodom and Gomorrah and other nearby cities was at stake, the Middle Eastern patriarch Abraham addressed himself to Jehovah God and said: “That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” The Holy Bible gives us the Judge’s answer to this argument, saying: “And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake.” Despite Abraham’s pleadings, however, Jehovah the Judge of all the earth found it right to rain down fire and brimstone from heaven upon Sodom and the other cities in that area. (Gen. 18:25-33; 19:24-29, AS) Because of this exhibition of the execution of judgment by the Judge of all the earth nineteen centuries before the apostle John’s day, was not the angel whom he saw flying in midheaven rendering all mankind a distinct service by calling on everybody to fear this God the Creator, Jehovah? This angelic service would specially be urgently necessary when the time of his judgment had arrived.

FEARING GOD

29. Show what proper fear of the Supreme Judge Jehovah means.

²⁹ How can men everywhere of all the many tongues fear this God the Judge and Creator? What does it mean for his human creatures on earth to fear Him as the Supreme Judge and as the only living and true God? We are definitely told in his written Word. One inspired Bible writer, Solomon, the wisest king of ancient time who reigned in Jerusalem centuries before the Buddhist Era began, was a worshiper of God the Creator and said: “The fear of Jehovah means the hating of bad. Self-exaltation and pride and the bad way and the perverse mouth I have hated.” “The fear of Jehovah is the start of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Most Holy One is what understanding is.” “Do not become wise in your own eyes. Fear Jehovah and turn away from bad.” “Fear the true God and keep his commandments. For this is the whole obligation of man. For the true God himself will bring every sort of work into the judgment in relation to every hidden thing, as to whether it is good or bad.”—Prov. 8:13; 9:10; 3:7; 16:6; Eccl. 12:13, 14.

30, 31. How does one learn the proper fear of Jehovah God?

³⁰ The ancient religions of this old world may boast of their wisdom, but it proves to be nothing more than worldly wisdom, which will perish when this bad world passes away in the greatest time of trouble ever in human history. Those ancient religions do not fear Jehovah God the Grand Creator, the Supreme Judge. In order for anyone to be wise in a true sense that leads to his surviving this old world and his gaining eternal life in a righteous new world, he must fear Jehovah God the Most High. To learn to fear him, one must learn about him; and one can do this only by reading, hearing and studying his written Word, the Holy Bible. Then we cease to be wise in our own eyes and we see that God is all-wise and that his prophecies concerning the future never have failed and never will.

³¹ By learning of Him we come to know what his purpose is and what his commandments are. With this knowledge we are able to show our fear of God by turning away from bad and by keeping his commandments. If we wisely keep his commandments, then we never need fear when his judgment time comes, for we shall receive his judicial approval.

32, 33. (a) What is the benefit of having knowledge of Jehovah and proper fear of him? (b) Why is Lot a good example to remember in this regard?

³² If we desire to have a correct understanding of all creation and the purpose in our being live, intelligent creatures, we have to take into consideration at all times Jehovah God the Creator and Judge. Remember: “the knowledge of the Most Holy One is what understanding is.” Such intelligent understanding should go along with wisdom and with our fear of Him. The benefit from this will be eternal. Regarding this, wise King Solomon also wrote: “The fear of Jehovah tends toward life, and one will spend the night satisfied; one will not be visited with what is bad.” “The fear of Jehovah is a well of life, to turn away from the snares of death.” “The result of humility and the fear of Jehovah is riches and glory and life.”—Prov. 19:23; 14:27; 22:4.

³³ For the nephew of the patriarch Abraham, the fear of Jehovah tended to his life and salvation. When Lot and his daughters obeyed God’s command through his angels and abandoned the city of Sodom, they escaped the destruction that suddenly came upon Sodom and the neighboring cities by fire and sulphur from heaven. Regarding the benefit of Lot’s fear of Jehovah, it is written: “He delivered righteous Lot, who was greatly distressed by the indulgence of the law-defying people in loose conduct—for that righteous man by what he saw and heard while dwelling among them from day to day was tormenting his righteous soul by reason of their lawless deeds—Jehovah knows how to deliver people of godly devotion out of trial, but to reserve unrighteous people for the day of judgment to be cut off.”—2 Pet. 2:6-9; Gen. 19:15-29.

34. How is the declaration that the “hour of the judgment by him has arrived” “glad tidings”?

³⁴ To those who obey the command to “fear God and give him glory, . . . and so worship the One” who is the Creator, the flying angel’s declaration is “everlasting good news” and his declaration is welcome; it is “glad tidings.” How is this so? How can the declaration that the “hour of the judgment by him has arrived” be good news? It is because the “judgment by him” means the setting of things right, in favor of righteousness and goodness and justice. The “judgment by him” means liberation forever for those who fear, glorify and worship the Creator and Supreme Judge as the one living and true God. For them it means deliverance from the mighty world organization that has long oppressed them. “Judgment by him” means such a setting of them free because it brings the downfall of their oppressor; it means the breaking of the power of the oppressor, this to occur as an expression of judgment by Jehovah God against the enemy organization. That this is true is shown by the series of angels whom the angel flying in midheaven introduces. Note what the next angel has to announce. We read:

THE SECOND ANGEL WITH GOOD NEWS

35, 36. (a) What was the message of the second angel? (b) Why was the fall of ancient Babylon in the days of Israel a time of rejoicing?

³⁵ “And another, a second angel, followed, saying: ‘She has fallen! Babylon the great has fallen, she who made all the nations drink of the passion-arousing wine of her fornication!’”

³⁶ What did that announcement in Revelation 14:8 mean for those who choose to fear, glorify and worship Jehovah God the Creator? Twenty-five centuries ago the city of Babylon on the Euphrates was a terror among the nations of the Middle East. Even the city of Jerusalem, where the temple of Jehovah God was located, did not escape drinking from the cup of the “passion-arousing wine of her fornication.” Babylon crushed Jerusalem to the earth and took her people, Jehovah’s professed people, into distant exile on enemy territory. When oppressive ancient Babylon fell, it made heaven and earth rejoice. It meant that liberation for Jehovah God’s people from the land of the enemy was at hand! So, then, was not such news, though sad to the Babylonians, gladdening to the fearers and worshipers of God the Creator?

37. What does Babylon’s fall today mean?

³⁷ No less so is it with the angelic announcement of the downfall of Babylon the Great. For oppressed fearers and worshipers today of Jehovah God her downfall must mean the same thing—liberation! It is a vindication of their God, for it proves that he is supreme, almighty, completely devoted to truth and righteousness! It proves that he is the Judge who delivers the righteous and that the downfall of the enemy organization is a judgment from Him!

A THIRD ANGEL

38, 39. What is the announcement by the third angel?

³⁸ As a further expression of the “judgment by him,” let us take note of what happens to those who refuse to fear, glorify and worship God the Creator of heaven and earth and the waters. Let us read what followed the announcements by the foregoing two angels:

³⁹ “And another angel, a third, followed them, saying in a loud voice: ‘If anyone worships the wild beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, he will also drink of the wine of the anger of God that is poured out undiluted into the cup of his wrath, and he shall be tormented with fire and sulphur in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and day and night they have no rest, those who worship the wild beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.’”—Rev. 14:9-11.

40. Give evidence that people today do worship animals and images of them as well as human governments.

⁴⁰ Throughout the earth today there are numberless religious persons who worship literal animals, dumb brute beasts, as if these were superior to intelligent, speaking, upright-walking man. There are great nations that use wild animal creatures as symbols of their nations, such as the British lion, the American eagle and the Russian bear. There are millions who bow down to images or to objects in the sky or in the earth. Many persons even mark themselves or have themselves branded as belonging to a certain god and as worshiping such god. Such persons do not find it hard to idolize and worship a great man-made organization that has the characteristics of a wild beast, or to worship, so to speak, an auxiliary organization that images or duplicates the original beastlike organization. So, by worshiping such human organizations, they add to the gods that they worship. On close examination and study it will be found that all these gods are made by creature man and are not God the Creator of the universe. So, instead of helping, they actually take away, turn attention away from the worship of the one Creator God.

41. (a) Is it reasonable to believe that God would be pleased with all this false worship? (b) Whose approval does the “wild beast” organization have?

⁴¹ Could we, then, expect that, when the “hour of the judgment by him” arrives suddenly upon such worshipers of creations, the Judge who is the Creator himself will be pleased with all these false worshipers because of all their religiousness and because of their seeming sincerity in their form of worship? No! Not according to what this third angel announced. The preceding chapter (Rev. 13:1, 2) makes it plain that the “wild beast” organization has the approval and backing of the Dragon, Satan the Devil; and so its “image” must have the same devilish approval because of imaging, mimicking what the Devil approves of.

42. What will be the fate of false worship and its worshipers?

⁴² But the worshiping of what the Devil likes and supports has the disapproval of God the Creator, and such worship means disobedience to his commandment loudly called out by his angel flying in midheaven. Such false worship, therefore, deserves the expression of the Creator’s anger, and the worshipers of created things will have to drink the undiluted wine of God’s anger, which wine is contained in the “cup of his wrath.” They will drink one draught of expression of his wrath after another, until finally they get so stupefyingly drunk that they will never wake up from their drunkenness. They will feel like Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities of the District in the days of Lot and Abraham, when fire and brimstone or sulphur rained down upon them from heaven.

43. What evidently is meant by the symbolic fire and sulphur that comes upon modern day false worshipers, and what is their reaction to the message preached by Jehovah’s witnesses?

⁴³ The rain of fire and sulphur meant a painful destruction to the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah. The fire and sulphur that will come in expression of God’s wrath upon the modern-day false worshipers in a symbolic way are evidently heaven-sent messages of utter destruction for all these false worshipers who refuse to obey and turn from creature worship to Creator worship. As these burning forerunners of coming destruction fall upon them, they feel great torment. Their religious sensibilities are very much hurt and they take great offense at what Jehovah’s Christian witnesses preach and teach. They undergo this religious torment before the eyes of the holy angels and the eyes of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. These heavenly ones do not interfere with the torment, because the false worshipers deserve it, now that the hour of God’s judgment has arrived and he must hand down his judicial decisions.

44, 45. (a) When will the torment of false religions end? (b) Who will not interfere in the tormenting work against false religion?

⁴⁴ The religious torment of these false worshipers will have no end until they are overwhelmed in destruction corresponding with that which came upon the law-defying, immoral, loosely living cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Lamb Jesus Christ and the holy angels will not interfere for the relief of the false worshipers; and Jehovah God will not call off his Christian witnesses on earth whom he uses to rain down these fiery, sulphurous messages of divine judgment upon the worshipers of man-made creations, modern and ancient. That is what Revelation 14:11 means when it says that “the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and day and night they have no rest.” And the history of the religious world since 1919, as published in newspapers, magazines, court records and other publications, proves that this has been true.

⁴⁵ The torment and restlessness of false worshipers will continue on without interruption until they are destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah, and the smokelike evidence of this utter destruction that was preceded by such continual torment will ascend forever.

46. Since the hour of judgment is a short period of time, what will those worshiping Jehovah not do?

⁴⁶ In view of this we can appreciate why the bearer of “everlasting good news” whom the apostle John saw flying in midheaven called upon all nations, tribes, tongues and peoples to fear, glorify and worship only the one Creator of heaven and earth as the true God. The hour of his judgment, a comparatively short period of time, is no hour in which to be glorifying, idolizing and worshiping the organizations of men, organizations that have a cruel, beastly record in history and that interfere with the worship of Jehovah God. If we desire to avoid drinking the undiluted wine of God’s anger in the cup of his wrath, if we want to escape from the tormenting fire and sulphur that result at last in destruction forever, we must turn to the worship of God the Creator. The third angel seen in John’s vision declared that the worshipers of false gods must now be punished in this way during this “hour” of God’s judgment against this old world. Hence it simply has to be and continue to be just as the third angel declared. Declaration of judgment is under angelic control.

NEED FOR ENDURANCE BY TRUE WORSHIPERS

47. How do we know this judgment period will not be an easy time for true witnesses of Jehovah, and how does Revelation 14:12 show this to be true?

⁴⁷ Because the true worshipers have the favor and approval of God the Creator, we should not think that this judgment period is to be an easy time for them. The false worshipers, by means of their organizations, the symbolic “wild beast” and its “image,” are not in any good humor toward the Creator’s Christian witnesses and worshipers. They make their mighty organizations act like a wild beast toward Jehovah’s witnesses who declare his judgments, his judicial decisions concerning this old world. They try by all means, legal and illegal, to force the witnesses to turn from Jehovah’s worship and to join them in worshiping man-made organizations and systems. That is why, immediately after telling about the worshipers of the wild beast and its image and the torments upon such worshipers, Revelation 14:12 adds: “Here is where it means endurance for the holy ones, those who observe the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” The situation today calls for endurance by God’s witnesses.

48. What, then, will Christian witnesses of Jehovah do?

⁴⁸ What, then, shall we witnesses of the Most High God the Creator do? By his unfailing help we have endured till now, but the proving of our endurance is not over as yet. We are still living and, for the remainder of this “hour” of God’s judgment, we shall continue living in this world surrounded by the false worshipers and their false gods and idols. We cannot turn aside from observing the “commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” We must keep on observing God’s commandments and holding fast our faith in Jesus regardless of how much this course will call upon us yet to endure.

49. Whose lead should we follow in this time of judgment, and how serious is our commission?

⁴⁹ Accordingly, we will continue to follow the lead of the angel flying in midheaven and will take up and relay to “every nation and tribe and tongue and people” the “everlasting good news” that this angel or angelic band introduces “in a loud voice.” We cannot help it that what is “good news” or “glad tidings” to us true worshipers is not good news to everybody else, not good news to false worshipers who are the foes of Jehovah God the Creator. The good news includes the information about the vengeance of God the Creator, and those who are commissioned by God to preach are under orders to proclaim His vengeance.

50. Who else had this obligation, and how did he show he accepted the commission when on a visit to Nazareth?

⁵⁰ This obligation was true also of the loving Lord Jesus, whom Jehovah God anointed with his holy spirit immediately after he was baptized in the Jordan River. In the Jewish meeting place in his boyhood town of Nazareth, Jesus read from the prophecy of Isaiah and applied to himself these words: “The spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, for the reason that Jehovah has anointed me to tell good news to the meek ones. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to those taken captive and the wide opening of the eyes even to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of good will on the part of Jehovah and the day of vengeance on the part of our God; to comfort all the mourning ones.” (Isa. 61:1, 2; Luke 4:16-21) Even he had to preach God’s “day of vengeance.” At the same time he preached the “year of good will on the part of Jehovah.” His sheeplike followers today have to do the same.

REJOICING OVER HIS VENGEANCE

51, 52. (a) Why is even the declaration of Jehovah’s vengeance a cause for rejoicing? (b) Like Moses, how will righteous servants of Jehovah feel?

⁵¹ Even the day of vengeance on the part of our God Jehovah is good news for the meek ones on the earth who have been downtrodden by the powerful; for the brokenhearted ones who have seen the visible organization of God’s true worship broken up by the enemies of the pure and undefiled religion; for those taken captive and restricted in their religious liberty by that organization of the Devil, Babylon the Great; and for the religious prisoners whose eyes have closed, made sightless by the darkness of the religious prison in which they have been unwillingly chained.

⁵² Not for persons who rejoice over the badness of this world of false worship, but for those who mourn over the damage done to the congregation of true worship the proclaiming of the “day of vengeance on the part of our God” is a comfort. When that day finally arrives and they see his righteous vengeance executed on their enemies, who are also God’s enemies, they will enjoy their greatest comfort. They will sing for joy, as Moses did after seeing Pharaoh’s military forces of pursuers drowned in the Red Sea: “Let me sing to Jehovah, for he has become highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has pitched into the sea. My strength and my might is Jah, since he serves for my salvation. This is my God, and I shall laud him; my father’s God, and I shall raise him on high. Jehovah is a manly person of war. Jehovah is his name. Jehovah will rule as king to time indefinite, even forever.”—Ex. 15:1-3, 18; Rev. 15:3, 4.

53. What is our obligation in this still-continuing “year of good will on the part of Jehovah”?

⁵³ It is our obligation, laid upon us by God the Creator, to help persons of every nation, tribe, tongue and people to know about and take advantage of the still-continuing “year of good will on the part of Jehovah.” Thus they may escape in that fast-approaching “day of vengeance on the part of our God.” They must be helped to know who God the Creator is, that they may learn to love him and worship and glorify him with the right kind of fear.

54. (a) For whom was this earth not meant? (b) Therefore, who will clear the world of all false worshipers, and what part do those loving righteousness play in this matter?

⁵⁴ This earth was never meant by the Creator to be a place for false worshipers. It is no rightful place for religious worshipers who worship the created things and not the Creator himself. It is not our business or obligation to clear these thousands of millions of false worshipers off the face of this earth. That is the Creator’s business, for he has the right to uncreate what he has created if the creature departs from God’s way. It is his business and stated purpose to rid the earth of all the false worshipers in his “day of vengeance,” but it is our business to tell them about it in advance. We cannot help it if they do not like it. These false worshipers would be pleased to receive all the physical and material benefits that the “everlasting good news” foretells, but these false religionists are not pleased or willing to accept these everlasting physical and material benefits on God’s terms. They are unwilling to give up the false worship and broad license that their religion allows them, in order to receive the gift of everlasting life in human perfection on a glorious Paradise earth under God’s kingdom.

55. Who is the One we should want to please?

⁵⁵ We can never expect to please them and have their approval for preaching the “everlasting good news” during this brief “hour” of judgment by God the Creator. It is this God the Judge whom we must please and serve, and it is his message that we must declare to those who are teachable and eager to worship the God who is real. He is the One to whom we must give glory.

56. How do the heavens and productive land declare God’s glory, and is this praise alone sufficient? Why?

⁵⁶ Psalm 19:1-4 meaningfully says: “The heavens are declaring the glory of God; and of the work of his hands the expanse is telling. One day after another day causes speech to bubble forth, and one night after another night shows forth knowledge. There is no speech, and there are no words; no voice on their part is being heard. Into all the earth their measuring line has gone out, and to the extremity of the productive land their utterances.” But it is not our proper part to leave to just the speechless visible heavens and to just the glories of day and night the business of declaring God’s glory and telling of the work of his hands.

57. (a) Why do the common people today need help to appreciate God’s good news? (b) What, then, must we do when we appreciate and rejoice in the “everlasting good news”?

⁵⁷ The common people of today have had their religious perceptions distorted by false religion, higher criticism of the Bible and science that is falsely called science, and so we cannot leave it to such people to look at the heavens and observe the things in the great expanse day and night and understand them correctly. We cannot expect them to read the glory of God there and call it the work of his hands. From those inanimate heavens and from the vast expanse beautified by sun, moon, stars and clouds they cannot learn God’s loving purpose for doing away with all badness and for transforming our now misused earth into an indescribably beautiful Paradise and giving the rescued worshipers of God the Creator an everlasting home there under His kingdom. God has created his written Word, the Holy Bible, to tell us and them that “everlasting good news.” We must give them God’s Word. We must help them to “obey the good news.”—Rom. 10:16, 17.

58. In this “time of the end” what is our surpassing privilege?

⁵⁸ Our privilege today surpasses by far that of the shepherds on the fields of Bethlehem who long ago saw the glorious angel and heard him declare “good news of a great joy” for all the people who seek God and his goodwill. Nineteen centuries ago the apostle John saw in vision the angel flying in midheaven to declare gladly all around the earth the “everlasting good news.” Today, by God’s priceless favor, it is our privilege to take up this angel’s declaration of glad tidings and proclaim it speedily all around the earth. Obediently, lovingly, boldly doing this, we shall rejoice to see countless others from “every nation and tribe and tongue and people” turn from false religion to fear God and to give him glory. We shall rejoice to have them unite with us to worship Him our Creator for his endless vindication and for our everlasting salvation.

Truth Spreads in a Jail

AT A circuit assembly in Petersburg, Virginia, one of Jehovah’s witnesses related this experience: “I received a phone call from a prisoner in the city jail. He was anxious to contact one of Jehovah’s witnesses. He had served eight months in a prison camp and was transferred to the city jail to settle another matter. While he was in the camp, he began reading religious literature that was in the camp library. He kept noticing a green book, but everyone discouraged him, saying, ‘That’s that Jehovah stuff, don’t read it.’ But this only caused him to look into it. The following fourteen days he read, reread and looked up the scriptures in the first edition of ‘Let God Be True.’ Being convinced that what he read was God’s truth, he dedicated his life to Jehovah.

“Within a short time another man came to the camp with a red book, ‘This Means Everlasting Life.’ He read this book; as he said, ‘I wore the covers off.’ After having this foundation, he wrote some letters to the Watch Tower Society and received warm replies. Then one Sunday a Witness called and left the Paradise book and the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. Being filled with such a happy hope, this inmate began regular discussions with other inmates, and many showed interest. About seventeen men were willing to have a Bible study. Through his efforts, five of the men in the camp have come to appreciate the truth and are waiting to have a full share in Kingdom work.

“At the city jail I regularly held a Bible study every afternoon with this man. Since his short stay in the city jail, he has spread many seeds of truth with good results. Four men are definitely interested and seven have requested a Witness to call so they can learn more. This man’s conduct since learning God’s truth has been on such a high level that his influence is visibly having effects on fellow inmates. Where once there was filthy talk, now many are reading The Watchtower and Awake! and are looking up scriptures.”

Take Courage to Preach God’s Nearby Kingdom

TODAY Jehovah God’s true ministers are under the obligation to obey the prophetic command: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.” Fulfillment of Bible prophecy shows that Kingdom to be nearby.—Matt. 24:14.a

To obey that command takes courage. Why? Because of the opposition to this Kingdom preaching by this old world that is under the control of Satan the Devil. (1 John 5:19) Jesus Christ was persecuted because of preaching this kingdom, so were his early followers, and so will all today who preach it be persecuted. This persecution has been particularly severe in totalitarian lands such as Spain and those behind the Iron Curtain. Yes, there is no escaping it, “all those desiring to live with godly devotion in association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted.”—2 Tim. 3:12.

What will help you to take courage to preach God’s kingdom? First of all, strong faith. To get that strong faith you must go to the Bible, the Word of God. Therein you will find many express commands to take courage as well as many fine examples of it. Among its many commands is Psalm 31:24: “Be courageous, and may your heart be strong, all you who are waiting for Jehovah.” As for examples, the most outstanding one of all is that of Jesus Christ. Throughout his ministry he displayed confidence and poise, calmness and strength, these qualities being especially in evidence when an armed mob came to take him on the last night of his earthly ministry. Among the many other Scriptural examples that might be mentioned are Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh, David facing Goliath and the apostle Paul when threatened by mobs.

The possession of God’s holy spirit is also a great aid to taking courage to preach God’s nearby kingdom. What courage it instilled in the apostles! They kept on preaching even though imprisoned and commanded not to preach. Courageously they replied: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.” Yes, the spirit that God gives his people by means of his Word and his organization and in answer to prayer is not one of cowardice but of power.—Acts 5:29; 2 Tim. 1:7.

Another aid in taking courage is the association of fellow Christians. Paul, when reaching Rome, took courage upon seeing the brothers who had come out to meet him. In the congregation all are in need of encouragement, including the overseers, and all can have a part in giving encouragement to others.—Acts 28:15; Rom. 1:11, 12; Heb. 10:25.

Among other aids in taking courage are the fear of God and a clear conscience. The fear of God dispels the fear of man, which is a snare and robs one of courage: “Trembling at men is what lays a snare, but he that is trusting in Jehovah will be protected.” “The wicked do flee when there is no pursuer, but the righteous are like a young lion that is confident.”—Prov. 29:25; 28:1.

Nor should the part that love plays in taking courage be overlooked. Love for Jehovah God and for neighbor will make you courageous, for as the apostle John shows: “This is how love has been made perfect with us, that we may have freeness of speech in the day of judgment, because, just as that one is, so are we ourselves in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love throws fear outside, because fear exercises a restraint. Indeed, he that is under fear has not been made perfect in love.”—1 John 4:17, 18.

It does indeed take courage to preach the nearby kingdom of God, for one cannot preach it without arousing opposition, be it in the form of angry looks and ridicule or violence and imprisonment. The record that the Christian witnesses of Jehovah make as annually noted in their Yearbook shows that they do indeed take courage to preach God’s nearby kingdom. Did you know that in Spain, where they have been carrying on underground for many years in the face of bitter opposition, their numbers have increased in ten years from some 120 to more than 2,000?

During the month of October there will be many ways that the ministers of Jehovah can show that they have the courage it takes to preach God’s kingdom. One is by offering to all persons, as they have opportunity, the companion to The Watchtower, the Awake! magazine, on a subscription basis. Another way is to make return visits upon all who have shown a consciousness of their spiritual need and study the Bible with them. And still another way is for all who are not full-time preachers to endeavor to devote at least ten hours to preaching God’s nearby kingdom.

[Footnotes]

A Walk in Spring Leads to Bethel Service

As told by Jules Feller

LITTLE did I realize forty-one years ago, when I first heard the message concerning Jehovah’s purpose for earth, that in 1963 I would find myself in Brooklyn, New York, at the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead!

Yet, here I am in the 38th class, a ten-month course designed to train ministers for additional responsibilities. Could I endure the daily routine of study? Could I overcome the language barrier and keep pace with my fellow students? These and many other questions went through my mind when I came, and I admit my anxiety was great. However, I did not forget the promises God makes in his Word, and I took courage. But how did I come to find myself here? What steps were to make it possible to attend Gilead School?

A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN SPRING

It was spring, 1922. My brother and I had just returned to Berne from a long stay in French Switzerland when an uncle of ours invited us to take a walk with him. We accepted the invitation with pleasure and looked forward to an entertaining afternoon.

It was a beautiful, warm day. Nature seemed to be decked out especially for our outing. This glorious spring weather became the theme of our conversation, and uncle drew our attention to things that appeared quite new to us. At a fitting moment during our walk he drew out of his pocket a book on which the words “The Holy Bible” were attractively embossed in gold. This beautiful day with its atmosphere of peace reminded him of a wonderful parallel, he remarked as he turned its pages. ‘The Bible tells us,’ he continued, ‘that we are approaching a time that will be like paradise for beauty, as lovely as this day or even more beautiful, because it will not be of such short duration. Yes, it will last forever.’

With this introduction, uncle now described for us an earth wherein would be no worry or pain, no wickedness or wars, and where sickness and death would be no more. There would even be a resurrection of the dead, he told us! We were both so glad to hear this, as we remembered our parents, who had died all too soon. This wonderful time was not so far away, he added with emphasis and conviction. We were so enchanted by this narration that we quite forgot where we were and felt we were already living in that glorious time. What amazed us, too, was that he could always read to us a Bible text to substantiate his statements, for instance, Revelation 21:4. The good seed that was sown by our uncle on that day fell on the good soil of our hearts. (Matt. 13:8) In what way? you may ask. So that you will better understand, I must take you back to the years of my childhood.

TRAGEDY

We were a happy family of six: father and mother, two boys and two girls. However, when I was seven years old my mother died. Our happy family life came to an end. Father suffered keenly at the loss and never really recovered from this grief. A few years later he died too, and our family was now completely torn apart.

Then came the harrowing years of World War I. I was fortunate to be a child living in a neutral land, as Switzerland was. But I remember only too well the trains filled with children evacuated from Belgium and France that made a brief halt in Berne before journeying into the interior of our country where it was safer. Also, many trains filled with war-wounded came into our country. This left an indelible impression on my young mind. I asked myself again and again: Why is this? Why must people go through such affliction? Why do the French and Germans kill each other? All this misery, sorrow, suffering and loss awakened in me a longing for better things.

These experiences aroused in me a readiness to listen to truthful answers to the above questions. These answers my uncle gave me on that beautiful spring day. What I was privileged to hear during that afternoon’s walk laid the foundation for my later decision to take up Bethel service. I began to study the Bible and the literature of the Watch Tower Society diligently from that time on. Naturally I attended the meetings in Berne, where I received a warm welcome.

BETHEL SERVICE

In the year 1924—I was not yet twenty-three years old—I heard they were looking for young men in the Watch Tower printing factory in Berne. Again it was my uncle who brought me into contact with Bethel. I was invited to take a tour through the factory and Bethel home to get an idea of the activity in this house. How surprised I was to hear that all there were voluntary workers! I was likewise surprised by their friendliness and cordiality. After I had seen everything I was taken to the responsible one of the Bethel home, who asked me if I would like to enter this service. I answered in the affirmative, because all I had seen and heard deeply impressed me. I was very grateful for a knowledge of Bible truth and wished to serve the Almighty God with all my heart.

Do you know what my first work was in Bethel? The first few weeks I spent pressing wastepaper into bales and wiring them. Although this was a very dusty and laborious task, I was happy to be a coworker here and to know I was serving God. Then I was transferred for a few weeks to the bookbindery, where I learned how books are made. Later I was transferred from the bindery to the pressroom.

A rotary press is able to instill great respect in a novice such as I was. I remember how I stood in awe before this giant monster. I watched this paper-eating machine devouring a great roll of paper in about forty minutes, digesting it as quickly, and finally spewing it out in the form of magazines. But I was not put at this machine just to look at it! I was to learn how to set the rollers, to line up the paper web, to check the folder and stitcher, and to keep an eye on a dozen other things.

After nine months I had to leave that department. The reason for the change was a happy one: we received two new linotype machines. Two men were to be taught how to operate them. A fellow worker from Poland and I were chosen. I remember well how we sweated when we received our first lessons in typesetting from a Witness whose profession it was. He had come from Alsace (France) for the purpose of teaching us the art. We applied ourselves diligently and learned quickly.

When I seated myself at that machine the first day, I never dreamed I would work at it for an uninterrupted period of twenty-two years! To this day I am filled with a great satisfaction and joy when I think of the privilege I had of setting type in nineteen languages on that machine! When a foreign-language manuscript was set before me, I would try to get in mind a picture of the land in which this language was spoken. It was like a refresher course in geography. Before my mind’s eye this land would take shape and I would recall the main occupations of the people living there. So a manuscript page was not simply a piece of paper with typewritten words and letters that I did not understand, but it came alive, took on substance and value. The thought that thousands of people in that country would have a book, a booklet or a magazine explaining the Bible placed in their hands and thus become acquainted with life-giving knowledge was a constant stimulus to me.

My next step was the plate-making department. But only a few months later I went to another post; this time in the factory office. Up to this point I had been doing manual work, but now I had to learn general office work and how to operate a typewriter. Then I was entrusted with the factory working schedule and initiated into the art of purchasing paper and other printing materials.

OPPOSITION

My thirty-eight years of Bethel service did not all pass as bright sunshine without shadow. We were required to weather various storms that involved much distress of heart. I think particularly of the year 1925, which brought a hard testing of faith for many. There were some congregations that shrank in attendance to half or even less. But those who had set their confidence in Jehovah remained steadfast and continued their preaching activity.

Another storm swept over our country in 1940, and it also made itself felt in Bethel. It was the time of World War II when Hitler’s armies forged from victory to victory around the Swiss borders and occupied many countries. Our country was again preserved from actual war, but the totalitarian spirit had penetrated its borders. There were house searchings. In a surprise attack, Swiss soldiers took up strategic positions around Bethel and occupied it for several hours. Other restrictions were placed upon us. For example, everything we published came under censorship. The publication of The Watchtower was prohibited. We were cut off from our brothers in the headquarters at Brooklyn. But despite all these circumstances, we had our spiritual food, which we supplied the Witnesses throughout the country, and even passed on to our Christian brothers in Germany and elsewhere.

These conditions came to an end too. We were overjoyed when the war ended and we were able to come in contact with the Brooklyn headquarters once more. In 1945 the president of the Watch Tower Society, N. H. Knorr, and his secretary, M. G. Henschel, visited us, and we were deeply grateful to Jehovah. Everything sprang into life in our factory. The Watchtower magazine could be published again in German and French, and these now poured without limitation over the frontiers to our brothers hungering for spiritual food.

ENLARGED PRIVILEGES

In 1950 I had the opportunity, together with about seventy other brothers from Switzerland, to attend my first large convention of Jehovah’s witnesses in New York. What an experience! Seeing so many like-minded ones together on one occasion had never been my privilege before. I was also deeply impressed with my visit to the head office, the Bethel home and the factory at Brooklyn.

Then came 1953. It was my privilege to attend a still larger assembly in New York. This time I received even more benefit from the discourses, as I could understand and speak English better now. Then to my delight I was invited to attend the 22d class of Gilead School, which was to begin in September, 1953. My service assignment after leaving Gilead was again Bethel service in Berne, which was cause for great happiness.

In the summer of 1957 I was assigned to serve as branch servant for Switzerland and the little country of Liechtenstein. I am very grateful to Jehovah for this privilege. It has been a pleasure to work with the brothers and to see an increase at the end of each year.

In 1958 I attended one of the greatest of all spiritual feasts, namely, the international assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses in New York city, representing our country there with a good report, to the joy of all present.

Now, in the year 1963, as a student in the expanded Gilead School, it was my pleasure to attend the “Everlasting Good News” Assembly held July 7-14 at Yankee Stadium, New York, and to be one of the delighted throng of 107,483. I also participated in the special tour of the convention grounds given to all students of Gilead School as part of our education and was able to see all the assembly departments in operation.

Now, with the ten-month course of study almost finished, I find I have been able to follow the program to date nicely. I realize that Jehovah has helped me to continue my Gilead training toward its successful conclusion. The anxiety I first had has become smaller and smaller. I thank Jehovah for this marvelous opportunity for instruction.

When, after so many years, one pauses and looks back over the way he has come and sees how Jehovah’s work has expanded throughout the whole earth, it is cause for great joy to have had a share as a full-time minister in Bethel service. Jehovah has so richly blessed the work of his people. He has led us to the very portals of the New World, letting us glimpse inside to see the wondrous things he still has in store for us. Let us therefore be always grateful, ready to sing forth his praise, to honor his name and make it known!

Consequently I entreat you by the compassions of God, brothers, to present your bodies a sacrifice living, holy, acceptable to God, a sacred service with your power of reason.—Rom. 12:1.

A Death That Brought Life

IT WAS the death of Jesus Christ upon the torture stake over 1,900 years ago that opened for us a door to life. Without his death we would have no hope of regaining the state of sinlessness and perfection originally possessed by our forefather Adam. We would have no hope of seeing the day when death no longer would terminate every human life-span. We would have no hope of experiencing a release from captivity to death by means of a resurrection. His life as a perfect human was given up as a ransom for us.

To ransom means to redeem from captivity or punishment by paying a price. A ransom buys back or releases, delivering a person from distress and trouble. Because our forefather Adam broke the law of God he missed the mark or standard of righteousness that God had set for all his creatures. Since no one can “produce someone clean out of someone unclean,” Adam’s offspring inherited the sinful condition he came into by his act of disobedience. (Job 14:4) From his day down to our day all his descendants have been born in sin and have been subject to death. “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.” (Rom. 5:12) Was there any means by which man might be delivered from sin and death? Yes, but it was not up to man to decide how such deliverance could be had; it could be only by the making of atonement in harmony with God’s righteous law. Since, by his disobedience to God, Adam had lost the right to perfect human life for himself and his offspring, what he lost could be regained by obedient ones in God’s due time only if a ransom price were paid that was equal to what had been lost. A corresponding ransom was required to satisfy God’s just law.

No descendant of Adam has been able to provide the required ransom price because none has been sinless and perfect. “Not one of them can by any means redeem even a brother, nor give to God a ransom for him; (and the redemption price of their soul is so precious that it has ceased to time indefinite) that he should still live forever and not see the pit.” (Ps. 49:7-9) Only God could provide it, but he was under no obligation to do so. It was an act of kindness, undeserved by Adam’s descendants, that God lovingly did provide a ransom price for them. The price was his only-begotten Son whose life he transferred from the heavens to the womb of Mary so that his Son would be born a perfect human. With Jesus’ life-force coming from heaven rather than from Adam by means of procreation, he was free from the effects of Adam’s sin. He was sinless.

By giving up his perfect human life, Jesus Christ paid the necessary ransom price that corresponded in value with the life of Adam before Adam sinned. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all.” (1 Tim. 2:5, 6) Once the ransom was paid, another such sacrifice for sins was unnecessary. “Neither is it in order that he should offer himself often, as indeed the high priest enters into the holy place from year to year with blood not his own. Otherwise, he would have to suffer often from the founding of the world. But now he has manifested himself once for all time at the conclusion of the systems of things to put sin away through the sacrifice of himself.”—Heb. 9:25, 26.

The statement that Jesus was a “corresponding ransom for all” must be understood in the light of other scriptures. His death does not benefit all of Adam’s descendants irrespective of personal courses of action and personal attitudes. He did not pay the ransom price for persons who practice sin by willfully violating the laws of his heavenly Father. It is only for persons who appreciate the undeserved kindness God has shown them by providing a means for releasing them from bondage to sin and death. It is for those who acknowledge their need for a ransom and who exercise faith in it. Jesus himself limited the benefits of the ransom to such ones, saying: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Notice the qualification—”everyone exercising faith in him.” Thus the ransom is for all who exercise faith, not for all who live.

By his disobedience Adam fell out of harmony with God and became an enemy. All his descendants, because of inherited sins and personal sins, have come to be in the same position of enmity with God. The ransom sacrifice makes it possible for them to be reconciled to God or brought back into harmony with him. On this point the Scriptures state: “But God recommends his own love to us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For if, when we were enemies, we became reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, now that we have become reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Rom. 5:8, 10) Here, then, are two of the many benefits that have been brought to us by Christ’s death. We can be brought into harmony with God and we can be saved.

Being saved means to be released from captivity to inherited sin and death. This is indicated by the scripture at John 3:16, which was quoted above, and by the following verse. As the scripture points out, Christ’s sacrifice made it possible for persons who exercise faith to have everlasting life, and thus be saved, rather than experience destruction, as would be the case if no ransom had been paid. Joh 3 Verse 17 states: “For God sent forth his Son into the world, not for him to judge the world, but for the world to be saved through him.” The world of mankind will not perish in death, because Christ’s ransom sacrifice has made it possible to save from extinction men of all kinds who exercise faith. They will be given the gift of eternal life in God’s righteous new order now so near at hand. Many of them will even be resurrected from the dead. This could not be if Christ had not died as a ransom sacrifice.

We today can approach God and receive forgiveness of our sins, enjoying a clean standing before God, because of Christ’s sacrifice. When death approaches, we can, because of that sacrifice, have a firm hope that we will not remain forever in the extinction of death but will be brought back to life by resurrection. During Christ’s thousand-year reign, we can anticipate confidently regeneration to the state of human perfection enjoyed by Adam; and we can look forward to receiving the gift of “everlasting life which God, who cannot lie, promised before times long lasting.” (Titus 1:2) Thus the death of the perfect man, Jesus Christ, brought life to dying mankind.

Sharing the Magazines with Others

NOW SHARING THEM WITH NEIGHBORS

A woman witness of Jehovah in the United States, in Arkansas, writes: “I have been working in a territory three years with The Watchtower and Awake! One householder would take magazines irregularly. During the Awake! campaign I gave the sermon and offered the year’s subscription. Both the man of the house and his wife heard the sermon. The man said, ‘We have so much to read already.’ I showed how Awake! was a timesaver in many ways. He subscribed. I delivered the copies of Awake! until the subscription started coming through the mail and also left copies of The Watchtower. During December I placed the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures with them. In January I called and gave the lady of the house the sermon, ‘Who Are Jehovah’s Witnesses?’ She said, ‘You come back.’ I returned in two weeks, and she subscribed for The Watchtower. I have been delivering the latest copy of The Watchtower and at the same time conducting a Bible study in the ‘Good News’ booklet. The man of the house was at home when I called recently. He said, ‘I have had opportunities to get this literature for years, but I have just come to realize how interesting every article is in these publications, and every one is true.’ And he added, ‘I gave some copies to a neighbor last week that likes to read them too.’”

SHARING THEM WITH COLLEAGUES AND PATIENTS

A Witness in Missouri reports: “When I visited my chiropractor I drew his attention to the Awake! and its article ‘The Art and Science of Chiropractic.’ He asked me for a copy and also an extra one. I promised to return with another copy. Shortly afterward, I arrived home and the telephone rang; it was the chiropractor. He was very enthusiastic over the article and wanted to raise his order to twenty copies. When I delivered them, I found out he was going to distribute them to other chiropractors. My doctor then ordered twenty more copies of Awake! A few weeks ago a Witness was approached by a person who asked if this chiropractor was one of Jehovah’s witnesses. The Witness answered no, and wanted to know why this person had asked, since the doctor is a Catholic. She replied, ‘I was in his office and he gave me a copy of Awake!’”

MAILING THEM ON TO FRIENDS

A man who is not one of Jehovah’s witnesses but who is a consultant, public utilities, in Washington, D. C., wrote the Watchtower Society, saying: “I am a subscriber to Awake! and The Watchtower. Some time ago I made an experiment which was so successful I am passing it on to you. After reading these publications I enclose them in the same wrapper and readdress them to some friend [adding the small amount of postage]. In another experiment I furnished one of your representatives a list containing the names of eight friends, to which she mailed a certain issue. Within two weeks I received replies from six of these friends. They are now subscribers to your publications. In the light of the above tests, I think it would be an excellent plan if you would have printed on the front page of each publication, a one-line request that readers pass the publication on to some friend when they finish reading it. This, I am sure, would bring to your Society many thousands of new members each year. Your Society is doing a marvelous job in the general public interest, especially in holding back the tide of moral decadence that is pressuring our people 365 days of each year.”

SHARING THEM WITH TEACHERS

In a small town in Ohio a young girl regularly took The Watchtower and Awake! to her third-grade teacher. Subsequently a Witness met the teacher in the regular house-to-house work and this teacher wanted a copy of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. The teacher commented about the young Witness in her third-grade classroom. The result was that the father of the young girl arranged to call on the teacher, the father and his young daughter making the call together. A home Bible study was started. The young Witness is now taking the magazines regularly to her fourth-grade teacher.

Questions From Readers

● Why do the Watch Tower publications state that Matthew wrote his Gospel first in Hebrew, since it is supposed that Hebrew was a dead language in his day?—E. W., United States.

There are a number of reasons for believing that Matthew wrote his Gospel first in Hebrew. For one thing, we cannot assume that Hebrew was a dead language, as G. Ernest Wright points out in his work Biblical Archaeology (p. 240): “Roman soldiers and officials might be heard conversing in Latin, while orthodox Jews may well have spoken a late variety of Hebrew with one another, a language that we know to have been neither classical Hebrew nor Aramaic, despite its similarities to both.” Also, in the book Daily Life in Bible Times, Albert Edward Bailey gives a picture of the training of Jewish youths in the time of James, son of Zebedee:

“Boys were trained in piety from their earliest days. This would mean that the boys had a knowledge of the Law, which they showed by being able to read it, write it and explain its obvious meaning. . . . The boys sat on the ground in a half-circle facing the teacher. There James was taught to read the Law in Hebrew beginning with the Book of Leviticus, the contents of which it was necessary for every Jew to know if he was to regulate his life acceptably to God; and he must pronounce the words correctly and reverently. Hebrew was a strange language to him, for at home and at play they spoke Aramaic, and later when he began to do business he would have to speak Greek. Hebrew was only for the synagogue. . . . After learning to read came writing, probably in Hebrew and certainly in Aramaic.”—Pp. 248, 249.

As to the testimony that Matthew wrote his Gospel first in Hebrew, there is a considerable array of statements from writers of the second through the fourth centuries A.D. A few of them are here given: Papias of the first and second centuries wrote: “Matthew put together the oracles [of the Lord] in the Hebrew language.” (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I, p. 155) Origen of the second and third centuries wrote that Matthew’s Gospel was “published for Jewish believers, and composed in Hebrew letters.” (M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia, Vol. 5, p. 890) Quoted in the same work are the words of Eusebius of the third and fourth centuries who states: “The evangelist Matthew delivered his Gospel in the Hebrew tongue.”

Then there is Jerome of the fourth and fifth centuries who said in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers that Matthew “composed a Gospel of Christ in Judaea in the Hebrew language and characters, for the benefit of those of the circumcision who had believed. . . . Furthermore, the Hebrew itself is preserved to this day in the library at Caesarea which the Martyr Pamphilus so diligently collected.”

A statement by a modern Bible scholar, Hugh G. Schonfield, is also of interest. He writes on page 11 of An Old Hebrew Text of St. Matthew’s Gospel: “As far back as the fourth century we hear of a Hebrew Matthew preserved in the Jewish archives at Tiberias.”

Further reason for believing that Matthew wrote his Gospel first in Hebrew is based on the fact that a careful examination of his quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures shows that he quoted directly from the Hebrew and not from the Septuagint Version. If Matthew had written his Gospel first in Greek, it is likely he would have quoted from the Septuagint.

In view of the testimony of the early writers, the use of Hebrew in synagogues and Matthew’s quotations from the Hebrew, we arrive at this conclusion: It seems reasonable to believe that Matthew first wrote his Gospel in Hebrew, and later he himself most likely translated it into the koine Greek.

● How can the accounts of the death of King Ahaziah of Judah as they appear at 2 Kings 9:27 and; 2 Chronicles 22:8, 9 be harmonized?—C. S., United States.

The account at 2 Kings 9:27 reads: “Ahaziah the king of Judah himself saw it and took to flight by the way of the garden house. (Later Jehu went in pursuit of him and said: ‘Him also! Strike him down!’ So they struck him down while in the chariot on the way up to Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he continued his flight to Megiddo and got to die there.)” As for the account at 2 Chronicles 22:8, 9, it reads: “It came about that as soon as Jehu had entered into controversy with the house of Ahab, he got to find the princes of Judah and the sons of the brothers of Ahaziah, ministers of Ahaziah, and he proceeded to kill them. Then he went looking for Ahaziah, and they finally captured him, as he was hiding in Samaria, and brought him to Jehu. Then they put him to death and buried him.”

The apparent difficulty is solved when we note that Bible writers did not always put events in strict chronological order. Also, they did not have punctuation as we do today to indicate parenthetical expressions or diversions from the chronological order. The writer of the account of Kings, having touched on Ahaziah and his flight, simply continued with the information he had as to the rest of his life, or his death, not indicating whether all this followed in chronological order with what he had yet to tell or not. That is why the New World Translation not only puts in parentheses these events that happened later but also translates the Hebrew conjunction waw, which opens the parenthetical material, as “later.” In regard to this Hebrew word waw, the Foreword of the New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, Volume 1, page 18, 1953 edition, says:

“Although waw (‘and’) is very repetitious in Hebrew, we do not ignore it and leave it untranslated as if unnecessary or cumbersome or old fashioned in style, but we express it by using transitional words or phrases with the sense that the Hebrew leads us to feel. We bring out the force of the waw in its relationship to the verb with which it is combined. So this simple word waw in the Hebrew is used to convey many a shade of meaning besides its mere basic meaning ‘and.’”

So it was later that Jehu resumed his pursuit of King Ahaziah by sending his men after him. It appears that the record in the book of Chronicles relates the incidents as they occurred, although that account does not name the location where Ahaziah was mortally wounded at Jehu’s command nor does it tell of the place where the king finally died, as does the account in Kings.

Combining the two accounts, we have what apparently took place: Jehu, on the way to Jezreel, met Jehoram and Ahaziah. Jehu struck down Jehoram but Ahaziah fled. At this time Jehu did not pursue Ahaziah, but continued to Jezreel to finish his executional work there. Meanwhile, the fleeing Ahaziah tried to make his way back to Jerusalem; however, he only got as far as Samaria, where he tried to hide himself. Jehu’s men, pursuing Ahaziah, discovered him in Samaria and captured him, and he was brought to Jehu, who was near the town of Ibleam, not far from Jezreel. When Jehu saw Ahaziah, he ordered his men to kill him in his chariot. They struck and wounded him on the way up to Gur, near Ibleam; but Ahaziah was allowed to escape, and he fled to Megiddo, where he died of his wounds.

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

During the month of October, Jehovah’s witnesses, with courage and faith in their God, will take advantage of every opportunity to acquaint others with Jehovah’s kingdom and the blessings in store for all who love and serve him. As an aid in this work, they will offer a year’s subscription for the Awake! magazine, together with three booklets on Bible themes, on a contribution of $1.

HOW CAN A DEAD CITY AFFECT YOUR LIFE?

Why should a city that had its beginnings over forty centuries ago be of vital interest to you today? Because God’s Word says, “Get out of her, my people”! Yet that ancient city, Babylon, is now only an uninhabited tourist stop on the railway from Baghdad to Basra. How, then, can we heed this warning from the Bible? And why is Babylon such a deadly thing today? The answers to these questions have a direct bearing on your future. Be informed! It means your life! Read “Babylon the Great Has Fallen!” God’s Kingdom Rules! Send only 75c.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

October 27: “Everlasting Good News” for the “Time of the End,” ¶1-28. Page 585.

November 3: “Everlasting Good News” for the “Time of the End,” ¶29-58. Page 591.