The Watchtower — December 15, 1966

Repelling the Attack of Wicked Spirits

Ensnaring spiritistic practices are found in every land. What can you do to protect yourself and loved ones?

TODAY it is more urgent than ever before to pray, “Deliver us from the wicked one”—the closing words to the model prayer Jesus Christ gave his disciples. (Matt. 6:13) They are a petition to Jehovah God for deliverance from wicked spirit forces. But who specifically is the “wicked one” whose attacks we need to repel?

Jesus Christ gave us the identity of this “wicked one.” In his illustration of the weeds in the field, he said: “The weeds are the sons of the wicked one, and the enemy that sowed them is the Devil.”—Matt. 13:38, 39.

The “wicked one,” then, is Satan the Devil, a powerful wicked spirit, concerning whom the Holy Bible says: “The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19) Jesus’ instruction on how to pray shows, however, that deliverance from the power of this “wicked one” and other wicked spirits is possible. Also illustrating this is the Bible account that describes all the troubles that the Devil brought against the righteous man Job, and yet Job came off triumphant. This is encouraging, for Job was an imperfect human just like us, and still he came off victorious over all the malicious attacks of that “wicked one.”—Job 1:1–2:10; 42:10-17.

VICIOUS, DESPERATE WICKED SPIRITS

But why is it so urgent to pray, “Deliver us from the wicked one”? Because, as Revelation chapter twelve shows, a war has been fought in heaven with far-reaching consequences for the earth. God’s kingdom in the hands of Jesus Christ proved victorious, and the Devil and his demon angels were hurled down to the vicinity of the earth. (Rev. 12:7-9) They were cast, not away from mankind, but in the direction of mankind! Did this forebode good for those dwelling on the earth and those on the sea? No! The Bible shows it would be a time of unprecedented woe: “Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.”—Rev. 12:12.

The Devil and his demons are thus very close to mankind, and they know their time is very short. When Jesus Christ cast out demons from a man in the first century, they requested that he not order them to go away into the abyss, so Jesus allowed them to go into a herd of about 2,000 swine, which then plunged off a precipice into the sea and drowned. (Luke 8:27-33; Mark 5:1-17) If 1,900 years ago the demons, knowing that someday they would be cast into the abyss, manifested such a violent disposition, surely now when the time of their abyssing is so near, they must be more vicious and desperate than ever. These spirit desperadoes are out to accomplish all the wreckage among mankind they can, especially to crush Christian personalities, since they are anti-God, anti-Kingdom, anti-Christ, anti-all who are Jehovah’s Christian witnesses. (Rev. 12:17) Thus we see the urgency of knowing how to repel the attack of wicked spirit forces.

MANY FORMS OF ATTACK AND HARASSMENT

Demon activity appears to be on the increase, varying in degree and form from place to place. The more prevalent that spiritistic practices are in a certain area, the more problems there are likely to be with demon afflictions and harassment.

The attack by wicked spirit forces can take many forms. From actual cases, we know there may be physical attack, as well as mental attack. There may be a bodily blow, a slap in the face, a throwing of one to the ground (Mark 9:17, 18), bodily illness and pain, doctors being unable to find a cause. (Luke 11:14; Mark 1:26; 9:25; Matt. 12:22) One may be disturbed while trying to sleep, due to the prevalence of abnormal noises in the house. There may be a tugging of bed covers, a shaking of the bed, an apparition such as a face or a pair of vicious eyes. Often a “voice” is heard that harasses and terrorizes. The voice usually suggests or commands a certain course of action, which, if followed, can lead to spiritual collapse, violence, insanity or suicide.

HOW THEY GET INVOLVED

But how does one get involved, so as to come under such demon attack? One may be dabbling in practices associated with spiritism, such as astrology, Yoga, extrasensory perception, water witching, hypnotism, using a ouija board or a pendulum device for divining. The Bible clearly condemns divination of any kind, magical arts, sorcery, binding others with a spell, fortune-telling, consulting a spirit medium or inquiring of the dead and ‘looking for omens.’ (Deut. 18:10, 11; Isa. 8:19) Hence, if one engages in these practices involving “uncanny power” or associates with persons who do, he is putting himself in a dangerous situation.—1 Sam. 15:23; 1 Cor. 15:33; Rev. 22:15.

Some may “look for omens” in their dreams and in other incidents in their lives and then endeavor to relate these to the future. This is highly dangerous. Also, by showing undue interest in occult matters and absorbing oneself in such books, one may come under demon attack.

Others become vulnerable to demonic thinking by filling their mind with this world’s spirit of violence. One may be regularly reading mystery or detective books or watching TV shows that feature violence and killing. One Christian woman made a hobby of reading such books despite the counsel at Philippians 4:8, and in time was so disastrously affected that she appealed for help, fearing she would kill her own beloved husband and children. Some do not seek help but yield to the compulsion to kill, as we so often read in the newspapers. For example, the New York Times of November 18, 1965, told about a youth who shot four persons, killing three in a bank robbery:

“He was driven, he said, by a compulsion that took visual form in his mind last May, a ‘picture’ of himself shooting four persons, including a woman, as they lay on a floor. In June, he said, ‘it seemed there was nothing else’ in his mind. . . . [He] said his pistol jammed with the first shot and ‘I wanted to run out of the bank.’ [But] ‘it seemed like someone was pulling on me,’ the youth responded. ‘I couldn’t go. I had to shoot them.’”

Others get in trouble by going to one who heals by spiritistic means. Consulting witch doctors, psychic healers, psychic diagnosticians, Spiritualists or one who uses any kind of therapy involving extrasensory perception can bring one into contact with the demons. The book Evidence of Satan in the Modern World tells of a woman who went to a magnetic healer for treatment, but when she resisted his advances, he cast a spell on her, causing many kinds of attacks by the demons.

Yet others unknowingly move into a house long haunted by demons and then, when they come under attack, instead of moving out, they try to defy the demons on their “home ground” or even dare them in some way or other, bringing trouble upon themselves.

It is very frequently found that one who is having difficulty with the demons has a relative or acquaintance engaged in spiritism. Further investigation usually reveals that such a one has received a gift from the one who is under influence by the demons. Soon after the object or article was brought into one’s house, trouble followed. Sometimes, after a spiritist dies, a surviving relative unwisely takes the household effects of the spiritist into his own home, with tragic consequences. False religious pictures and symbols have also been implicated.

DO NOT LISTEN TO DEMON VOICES, NOISES

One of the most common forms of demon attack is a mental one, the wicked spirit speaking out loud. One clearly hears a “voice.” What if you hear such a voice? Should you panic or feel you are falling away from the Christian faith? By no means! The Devil has long used such verbal attacks, starting with Eve. But you do not need to heed a demon’s voice, as Eve did! (Gen. 3:1-6) Remember, the Lord Jesus Christ was spiritually the strongest person on earth, yet he came under attack. (Matt. 4:1-10) If Jesus was so attacked, are we to think that none of his followers would have a wicked spirit voice speak to them? By no means!—Matt. 10:24, 25.

The thing to do if one is harassed by a demon voice is to follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, who refused to consider the Devil’s suggestions for a moment. So do not heed anything the “voice” says. Do what God says. If the voice tells you to stay home from Christian meetings, obey God, who says go to such meetings.—Heb. 10:25.

The voice may pretend to be a good spirit, flattering one’s vanity, but it is a lying spirit. Reject demon suggestions or teachings! (1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Thess. 2:9, 10; John 8:44) God is not bypassing his own Holy Word and giving individuals special communication today.

Demon voices may try to break up Christian marriages. In one case, when the husband had to work late, he would phone his wife; afterward, a “voice” would stir up doubts in the wife’s mind by saying audibly to her: “You see, he is going away with some other woman; he has no love for you.” Believing any demon voice will cause havoc in one’s marriage and spiritual life; believe God and you will have success.—Josh. 1:8; Eph. 5:21-33.

Sometimes a demon does not speak audibly but tries to force his wicked suggestions upon one’s mind. One may hear an authoritative statement in his mind. It is persistent and foreign to one’s Bible-based beliefs. The suggestions are always opposed to God’s truth.

If you hear voices or demon-caused noises, what can you do? Turn your attention to the things of God! Refuse to listen to the demons! Dull your ear to them, mentally speaking, and immediately appeal to Jehovah God in prayer for deliverance. Proverbs 18:10 says that the name of Jehovah “is a strong tower” and the righteous will run into it and be protected. So if demons make attacks upon you mentally, the thing to do is to exert yourself mentally in the opposite direction and forcefully brush aside these demonized impressions and actively start one’s mind working with the things of God’s Word, even quoting scriptures out loud, or in a subdued tone. (Phil. 4:6-8, 13) Do not weaken in this course of action, but pray to God for strength to become more powerful as a Christian personality.

INVESTIGATING HOUSE AND HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS

One under demon attack should calmly, not in hysteria, investigate his house and household articles. In some few cases the house may be the cause of trouble and the best thing to do is move out. Some demons delight in haunting a place. So if you experience trouble shortly after moving into a house, investigate. Was the house unoccupied for a long time? Why? Did people frequently move in and out? Why? Does it have a history of being haunted? Neighbors usually know, though the seller of a house almost always keeps the fact concealed.a

But if a house has a clean history, instead of moving out, investigate objects in the house. If you at one time practiced black magic, witchcraft or other form of spiritism, did you burn up all articles relating to demonism upon learning of God’s truth? Get rid of every vestige of demonism. What did the early Christians in Ephesus do? On learning true Christianity they burned up all their magic books, even though their value was an astounding 50,000 pieces of silver! (Acts 19:18, 19) It would have been exceedingly dangerous to keep such works on how to perform the magical arts; in fact, to keep any appendage of demonism is perilous. One must be absolutely free of any relics of spiritism, so as to allow the demons no beachhead.

A vital question to ask if one experiences trouble with the demons is: Have you accepted any gifts from relatives or persons who dabble in spiritism? Any kind of article from such a person can cause trouble. In some actual cases it has been a radio, a sewing machine, a pair of shoes, jewelry, a “good luck” charm, a bathrobe, a blanket, a book. One woman had her bed tipped up at night when she tried to sleep on a mattress given her by her Spiritualist mother. A young woman had a fever of 106 degrees when wearing a garment given her by a Spiritualist.

Another Christian woman kept a handbag given her by an aunt who was a fortune-teller. Using the handbag in the ministry, she experienced powerful thoughts of “Go home!” Bad thoughts rushed into her mind almost audibly, all of them anti-kingdom. She could not understand herself, as these negative thoughts entered her mind as if by telephone, so that she complained of “hearing herself think.” Only after getting rid of the handbag did she get relief.

Sometimes keeping a letter from a spiritistic relative has brought trouble. Some persons have reported gaining relief by burning letters from relatives who dabble in spiritism. Even if an article from a spiritist is an expensive one, is keeping it worth the danger? One woman was tormented for years by the demons; finally she got rid of many household effects that came from a spiritistic relative. “The material loss,” she wrote, “was worth the peaceful calm that came over our house and family.”

That objects from spiritists are implicated is clearly evident because relief almost invariably follows getting rid of them. The principle is similar to that used in sorcery, in which the demonist wishing to cast a spell will transfer an object into the possession of the intended victim.

However, sometimes objects through which demons make contact resist burning, indicating demonic anger at efforts to destroy them. Some persons have found it difficult to burn up ouija boards or books on occultism. Others have reported experiences similar to that of the woman who had much distress at home after wearing a dress originally belonging to a witch. Learning of the source of trouble, she set out to burn it. “We poured gasoline on it, so it would burn quickly; but what amazed us very much was the fact that the dress did not want to burn.” Persist in your efforts to get rid of suspicious objects and relief in some measure usually follows.

When investigating objects, be reasonable, however. Do not burn up everything in fearful panic. Pray for Jehovah’s direction in your investigation, and he will deliver you from the wicked one.

KEEPING ON THE SUIT OF ARMOR FROM GOD

Every Christian is in a fight against “wicked spirit forces.” So the apostle Paul counsels you to “put on the complete suit of armor from God that you may be able to stand firm against the machinations of the Devil.” Anyone under demon attack should check his spiritual armor. Is it weak in any place?—Eph. 6:10-18.

First, are your “loins girded about with truth”? Are you holding close to God’s Word of truth, the Bible, living closely in harmony with its teachings? Do you always have on “the breastplate of righteousness”? Any who disobey Jehovah’s commandments and turn to unrighteousness lay themselves open to attack. (1 Sam. 15:22, 23) Further, are your feet shod “with the equipment of the good news of peace”? Do you regularly engage in the ministry of the good news, in harmony with Matthew 24:14? If one does not have his feet so shod he is not doing as James 4:7 says: “Subject yourselves, therefore, to God; but oppose the Devil, and he will flee from you.” It is a matter, not only of opposing the Devil, but also of submitting to God! If we do both of these things, the Devil will flee from us.

Then there is the “large shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the wicked one’s burning missiles.” One under attack should examine his faith, asking: Is the trouble with me? Do I have works to back up my faith? Or is my faith weak?

Also check your mental attitude, for we must “accept the helmet of salvation.” Such helmet protects our mind, our hope. (1 Thess. 5:8) But if we feed our mind on the Devil’s propaganda that infuses one with the spirit of the world, we may lose our hope, our helmet of protection. Is your mind “fixed on the things above”? (Col. 3:2) Or are you filling it with the spirit of this world, which is really what makes one God’s enemy and unworthy of his protection? (Jas. 4:4) If under attack, keep on the “helmet” by calling to mind the promises of God’s Word and his assurances that give us basis for hoping in our ultimate triumph.

You need also “the sword of the spirit,” God’s Word. Do you study the Bible regularly, making Bible reading a daily practice?

Finally, it has been found that many under demon attack are not “vigilant with a view to prayers.” (1 Pet. 4:7) They are not carrying on prayer “on every occasion in spirit.” (Eph. 6:18; Rom. 12:12) Pray for God’s deliverance, even out loud if under attack, calling upon Jehovah’s name. (Ps. 121:1-3) Avoid anything that would destroy your faith, your righteousness, your service to God, your hope. Keep on your suit of armor.

WHEN TROUBLE PERSISTS

If trouble persists, remember that we do not expect exemption from all forms of demon attack; that is why we must wear the suit of armor until the demons are put out of operation by God. But even long-standing cases are being cleared up by making careful investigations. One woman troubled for twenty-four years with demons finally had books on occultism cleared out and reported: “There have been no more attacks.”

Keep in mind that with most cases improvement is gradual. Jesus did not get instant relief after one attack; he had to face up to three of them! In warfare, does an enemy attack only once? Keep repelling the attacks! Never give in one inch to the demons! Never say, “If I can hold out,” but be determined to resist in God’s strength. If we put on the suit of armor, we can expect to “resist in the wicked day” and to do so successfully.—Eph. 6:10-18.

AID FROM MATURE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS

Do not try to fight this warfare alone. Seek aid, never from any spiritist, but from your mature Christian brothers. Do not hold back, feeling they will not believe what is happening. They know the demons are more active than ever before and these brothers will understand and give you help.

Not only will they pray for and with you but they will study this and other articles with you, helping you to analyze your suit of spiritual armor to see if it is “complete.” (Jas. 5:13-15) Be frank with them. Probing questions may help you to locate possible causes of trouble. They may ask about gifts received about the time the trouble began, also about your house, relatives, associations and morals. They may explore, too, your motives. Are you sincerely resisting, or is there a trace of pride due to the attention the demons are giving you? Is one resisting only in a half-hearted way? So your brothers will make a diligent effort to determine the cause of the problem.

Then apply their counsel. If you are too busy to put on the suit of armor, how can you expect protection? If you do not go out in the ministry, nobody else can do it for you. If you do not take in the counsel from the Bible, nobody can do it for you. So if trouble persists, it may be that you are not applying the good counsel given you.

Finally, be sure your real fear is Jehovah, not the demons. (1 Chron. 16:25) Jehovah is the all-powerful One, the Sustainer of the whole universe; and he can sustain you to repel attacks. (Pss. 16:8; 46:1; 55:22) Reflect on the reassuring statement: “He has not looked upon any uncanny power against Jacob, and no trouble has he seen against Israel. Jehovah his God is with him . . . For there is no unlucky spell against Jacob.”—Num. 23:21, 23.

That means, if we are really faithful to Jehovah, the attacks of wicked spirits will be repelled. The “wicked one” and his demons may cause trouble or tests, as they did with Job and Jesus, but they cannot win out over us. Victory is assured if we keep on resisting. Be strong in faith, letting your prayer be: “Deliver us from the wicked one.”

[Footnotes]

No Healing Till Houses Are Without Man

“And I began to hear the voice of Jehovah saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I proceeded to say: ‘Here I am! Send me.’”—Isa. 6:8.

1, 2. (a) How did the prophet Amos date the time of his prophecy? (b) What other prophet referred to the same notable event as did Amos, and in connection with what movement of the earth?

HOW many houses were destroyed the record of the earthquake does not state. But the earthquake was so notable that the time of its occurrence was used to date an important prophecy of the ninth century B.C.E. The prophet opens his inspired book saying: “The words of Amos, who happened to be among the sheep raisers from Tekoa, which he visioned concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah the king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, the king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.” (Amos 1:1) This would locate the earthquake about the year 809 B.C.E. However, it made such an impression that it was called to mind three centuries later (in 519 B.C.E.) and it was used in God’s prophecy through Zechariah to make a comparison with another movement of the earth, in these words:

² “And his feet will actually stand in that day upon the mountain of the olive trees, which is in front of Jerusalem, on the east; and the mountain of the olive trees must be split at its middle, from the sunrising and to the west. There will be a very great valley; and half of the mountain will actually be moved to the north, and half of it to the south. And you people will certainly flee to the valley of my mountains; because the valley of the mountains will reach all the way to Azel. And you will have to flee, just as you fled because of the earthquake in the days of Uzziah the king of Judah.”—Zech. 14:4, 5.

3. How is an earthquake in the days of King Uzziah described in the Antiquities of the Jews, by Joseph ben Matthias?

³ Six centuries after that prophecy, Joseph ben Matthias, the Jewish historian of our first century, wrote his Antiquities of the Jews and graphically described the earthquake of King Uzziah’s days, in Book 9, Chapter 10, paragraph 4, saying:

. . . Accordingly when a remarkable day was come, and a general festival was to be celebrated, he put on the holy garment, and went into the temple to offer incense to God upon the golden altar. But Azariah the high priest, who had eighty priests with him, affirmed that it was not lawful for him to offer sacrifice: and that none besides the posterity of Aaron were permitted so to do. And when they cried out, that he must go out of the temple, and not transgress against God, he was wroth with them and threatened to kill them, unless they would hold their peace. In the mean time a great earthquake shook the ground, and a rent was made in the temple, and the bright rays of the sun shone through it; and fell upon the king’s face, insomuch that the leprosy seized upon him immediately. And before the city, at a place called Eroge, half the mountain broke off from the rest on the west, and rolled itself four furlongs, and stood still at the east mountain: till the roads, as well as the king’s gardens, were spoiled by the obstruction. Now as soon as the priests saw that the king’s face was infected with leprosy, they told him of the calamity he was under, and commanded that he should go out of the city as a polluted person. Hereupon he was so confounded, that he did as he was commanded; and underwent this terrible and miserable punishment for a presumptuous intention, and for that impiety against God which was implied therein. So he abode out of the city for some time, and lived a private life, while his son Jotham took the government. He died with grief and anxiety, at what had happened to him; when he had lived sixty-eight years, and reigned fifty-two; and his body was buried in his own garden.

4. (a) Does Joseph’s timing of the earthquake agree with that given by Amos? (b) Does the Bible itself mention an earthquake at the time of Uzziah’s invasion of the temple, but what does it indicate about some earthquake?

⁴ As King Uzziah died from leprosy in the year 774 B.C.E, the time of the earthquake as indicated by the Jewish historian Joseph does not agree with that given by the prophet Amos, unless there were two earthquakes. The Bible’s own account of what happened to King Uzziah when he invaded the holy compartment of the temple of Jerusalem is given in 2 Chronicles 26:16-23 and; 2 Kings 15:1-7. It mentions no occurring of an earthquake on that occasion. Nevertheless, the reign of King Uzziah was historically marked by a notable earthquake deserving of repeated mention. But the extent of damage to private houses and other properties the Bible does not say. Yet there must have been considerable damage if the people fled from their homes because of the earthquake.

5, 6. What quivering of the temple took place in the year that King Uzziah died, as reported in Isaiah 6:1-4?

⁵ However, in the year that King Uzziah died the temple of Jehovah was shaken at its thresholds, likely after the death of the stricken King Uzziah. The prophet Isaiah observed this quivering at the temple, and he tells us about the occasion of its happening, in Isa chapter six, verses one to four, saying:

⁶ “In the year that King Uzziah died I, however, got to see Jehovah,a sitting on a throne lofty and lifted up, and his skirts were filling the temple. Seraphs were standing above him. Each one had six wings. With two he kept his face covered, and with two he kept his feet covered, and with two he would fly about. And this one called to that one and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of armies. The fullness of all the earth is his glory.’ And the pivots of the thresholds began to quiver at the voice of the one calling, and the house itself gradually filled with smoke.”

7. What contrast between Uzziah and Isaiah is there in connection with the king’s invasion of the temple and the prophet’s vision of the temple?

⁷ What a contrast is here shown between King Uzziah and the prophet Isaiah! King Uzziah presumptuously invaded territory forbidden to the king on his throne. He wanted to start off a new and closer connection between king and Jehovah God and to practice direct worship of God, and thus to set aside God’s appointed priesthood. As an impious intruder he saw the inside of the holy compartment of the temple, where golden lampstands, tables of the “bread of presence” and the golden altar of incense were located. But he did not see Jehovah’s face of approval and got no special commission from Him. In contrast with this, the prophet Isaiah did not brush aside Jehovah’s priesthood and trespass on a holy area, but he was given a vision of Jehovah in His holy temple. He suffered no bad effects from this but was honored with a commission from the God of his nation. The seraphs who attended the lofty and lifted-up throne of Jehovah covered their faces in order not to presume to look upon the enthroned God, but Isaiah was allowed to look at Jehovah in a vision.

8. (a) What caused the pivots of the temple thresholds to quiver, and how did Jehovah’s glory fill the house? (b) How do those whose spiritual vision is sharpened share a privilege like that of Isaiah?

⁸ The prophet Isaiah enjoyed a rare sacred privilege. This fact is set out in bold relief in that the seraphs said back and forth to one another in a responsive way: “Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of armies. The fullness of all the earth is his glory.” That is to say, what fills the earth is the glory of Jehovah of armies. The weighty importance of this seraphic announcement was enough to cause the pivots of the temple thresholds to quiver. The glory of Jehovah of armies manifested itself by filling the house of worship with miraculous smoke. Today those God-fearing people are highly favored whose vision is sharpened by means of fulfilled prophecies of the Holy Bible. They see that Jehovah God has come to his spiritual temple. They are filled with awe at this.

9, 10. How was Isaiah affected by the vision, and why?

⁹ At what Isaiah saw and heard he felt very unholy, very unclean, and he was filled with fear. He tells us: “And I proceeded to say: ‘Woe to me! For I am as good as brought to silence, because a man unclean in lips I am, and in among a people unclean in lips I am dwelling; for my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of armies, himself!’”—Isa. 6:5.

¹⁰ This was only a vision, and yet because the vision was inspired by Jehovah God, Isaiah had reason to fear that he would die, be brought down into the silence of death. He doubtless remembered when the prophet Moses asked to see Jehovah’s glory and that Jehovah God replied to Moses: “You are not able to see my face, because no man may see me and yet live.” (Ex. 33:20) And here Isaiah had seen “the King, Jehovah of armies, himself!”

11. (a) Why did Isaiah and his people have nothing to fear because of King Uzziah’s death? (b) What fact is it wonderful for us to realize today?

¹¹ Jehovah was the real, although invisible, King of the kingdom of Judah. Hence, even though King Uzziah died in the year that the prophet Isaiah had this temple vision, Jehovah of armies remained King of Judah. So neither Isaiah nor the people had any reason to fear because of the death of such a powerful king as Uzziah had been, with such highly developed military equipment. (2 Chron. 26:1-9) How wonderful it is today to realize that Jehovah God is the King of the universe, the “King of eternity,” and that therefore we as his worshipers and servants have nothing to fear as regards rulership of our earth!—Rev. 15:3; Jer. 10:10.

CLEANSING NEEDED BEFORE COMMISSIONING

12, 13. Why did Isaiah feel in no condition to receive a commission from Jehovah, but how was this overcome?

¹² The prophet Isaiah felt in no condition fit for him to get a commission from the King, Jehovah of armies, at his holy temple. He felt that a person who acted as the spokesman for such a holy and glorious King-God should have clean lips, whereas Isaiah’s lips were unclean in themselves. They were also soiled by the uncleanness of lips of the people among whom he lived and whose speech he heard. But if Isaiah thought that this was an unconquerable obstacle, he was made to see his mistake, for he tells us:

¹³ “At that, one of the seraphs flew to me, and in his hand there was a glowing coal that he had taken with tongs off the altar. And he proceeded to touch my mouth and to say: ‘Look! This has touched your lips, and your error has departed and your sin itself is atoned for.’”—Isa. 6:6, 7.

14. Why could the glowing coal cauterize away the uncleanness of Isaiah’s lips?

¹⁴ The seraph tonged the glowing coal from the copper altar of animal sacrifice in the priests’ court of the temple. When the glowing coal from the holy fire of the altar was put to Isaiah’s mouth, it figuratively burned away all uncleanness of his lips. Not the animal sacrifice upon the altar, nor its shed blood, but this glowing coal was what cleansed Isaiah’s lips, making him suitable to serve as Jehovah’s mouthpiece. God’s fire from heaven had originally lit the wood of that temple altar, in the days of the temple builder, King Solomon. (2 Chron. 7:1-3) So now the seraph could rightly say to Isaiah: “Your error has departed and your sin itself is atoned for.” Since God’s fire consumed sacrifices that were offered for cleansing away error and sin, well, then, the glowing coal from the same altar of sacrifice could consistently cauterize away the uncleanness of Isaiah’s lips.

15, 16. (a) Why had Jehovah waited, and what did he now say? (b) Why was this unmistakably an invitation for Isaiah to serve?

¹⁵ Jehovah God does not use unclean persons as his approved mouthpieces or prophets. Consequently, Jehovah waited till Isaiah was cleansed before offering him a commission of prophetic service. Thus Isaiah, with cleansed lips, now says in the right order of things: “And I began to hear the voice of Jehovah saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’”—Isa. 6:8.

¹⁶ Jehovah raised this question in the hearing of Isaiah, and with Isaiah being the only one beholding the vision. So this was unmistakably an invitation for Isaiah to answer the call to service as Jehovah’s messenger, the sent one.

17. By using the plural pronoun “us” in his question, to whom was Jehovah God referring?

¹⁷ When Jehovah asked, “Who will go for us?” he was not using an editorial “us” or using a plural personal pronoun in the sense of majesty and thus referring to himself with recognition of his own dignity. By switching from the singular personal pronoun “I” to the plural pronoun “us,” Jehovah was now including someone with himself, at least one other person. That other person was his only-begotten Son, Michael, who became the man Jesus Christ. That he is the one associated with Jehovah at the temple and included in the pronoun “us” is made certain for us in John 12:36-41,b which has reference to Jesus Christ. Thus Jehovah and his only-begotten Son are two distinct individuals, not a trinity!

18. (a) How did Isaiah respond to Jehovah’s question, and why? (b) For whom today is Isaiah thus a fine example?

¹⁸ Isaiah was willing to go for Jehovah God and his only-begotten Son, and so Jehovah could send him on any particular mission. Appreciating now his cleanness of lip, and not desiring to let Jehovah go begging for someone to send, Isaiah responded to the opportunity. He tells us: “And I proceeded to say: ‘Here I am! Send me.’” (Isa. 6:8) The task on which Isaiah would be sent might be a disagreeable one, but Isaiah was willing to go, just to serve the interests of Jehovah and to benefit Jehovah’s people. Isaiah was willing to continue being an active prophet of Jehovah regardless of further hardship that this might bring upon him. The nation of Israel was Jehovah’s dedicated people, redeemed by Him and brought into a national covenant with him, and Isaiah, as a member of that nation, was a dedicated man. He desired to prove his dedication by doing Jehovah’s will and going on a mission for him. In this Isaiah was a fine example for Jehovah’s Christian witnesses of today. (Isa. 43:10-12) Knowing, like Isaiah, that they are sent by “the King, Jehovah of armies,” they can go forward on their mission with confidence, as having the highest authorization.

19. What did Jehovah’s commission to Isaiah state?

¹⁹ Isaiah’s offering of himself to go was at once accepted by Jehovah of armies. But now what was he to do or say, and to whom was he to be sent? Isaiah wrote down his commission from Jehovah, for he writes us: “And he went on to say: ‘Go, and you must say to this people, “Hear again and again, O men, but do not understand; and see again and again, but do not get any knowledge.” Make the heart of this people unreceptive, and make their very ears unresponsive, and paste their very eyes together, that they may not see with their eyes and with their ears they may not hear, and that their own heart may not understand and that they may not actually turn back and get healing for themselves.’”—Isa. 6:9, 10.

20. In what way was Isaiah to tell “this people” to see and not get knowledge and to hear and not understand?

²⁰ Not to the Gentile nations, but to “this people,” his own people, Isaiah was to go. Was he actually to tell “this people” not to understand and not to get any knowledge? No! But by repeatedly going to “this people” and letting them “hear again and again,” he was to let the people show themselves as not understanding or not wanting to understand. He was likewise to let them see again and again with their eyes of observation and discernment and thus let them show themselves as not getting any knowledge. Not that Isaiah was a poor teacher and demonstrator, but, rather, that “this people” was too self-centered and selfish to understand and take in knowledge from even a good teacher.

21. (a) How, then, was Isaiah to make the heart of the people unreceptive? (b) Why was Isaiah to keep speaking out boldly?

²¹ Hence it would not be Isaiah who was making their hearts of appreciation unreceptive and their ears unresponsive or pasting their eyes shut so as to blind them. No, but by patient educational prophetic work among “this people,” he was to prove to them that they themselves had made their hearts of appreciation unreceptive and their ears unresponsive and that they themselves had pasted their own eyes shut with selfish ideas in order that they might not see the significance of what Isaiah was doing as Jehovah’s messenger and mouthpiece. Isaiah did not fail to speak out boldly, and he let the people hear the sound of his words. He needed to do this in order to prove something to them. What? That the reason why they did not hear with benefit to themselves was that they themselves had shut their own ears in an uninterested, unteachable way, thus taking no serious account of his words.

22. Why was there a failing of Isaiah’s efforts to turn the people back and a failure of their getting healed?

²² Jehovah forewarned Isaiah that, despite all his prophesying, preaching and teaching, he would fail to reach the hearts of “this people.” His continuous, patient efforts with them were to make them literally testify against themselves as having made their own hearts unreceptive. For this reason their hearts of appreciation would feel no strong emotion, for they would not understand the serious meaning of Isaiah’s words and deeds. True, he was trying to turn them back to God, but the failure of Isaiah’s efforts to turn them back was due to their willfully refusing to turn back. Isaiah would try to help them get healed of their lack of spirituality and lack of good relations with God, but they did not consider themselves to be spiritually sick and on bad terms with Jehovah. So they proudly declined to “get healing for themselves” and come into healthy relationship with their Ruler, “the King, Jehovah of armies.”

“HOW LONG, O JEHOVAH?”

23. At this point of Jehovah’s commission to him, how did Isaiah interrupt, and why?

²³ Was the situation really to get into such a serious state as that? Isaiah was horrified. God forbid that the nation should get into such a bad, dangerous condition as that! Why, if “this people” did not get any healing, it would mean their death, and O what that would mean for them! Here Isaiah sort of objected to having things go so far, and he interrupted Jehovah’s speech, as he tells us: “At this I said: ‘How long, O Jehovah?’”—Isa. 6:11.

24. Was Isaiah asking how long he was to be sent and he had to go, or what?

²⁴ By this question of partial protest, Isaiah was not asking, ‘O Jehovah, how long are you purposing to send me to this people, and how long must I keep going to this people?’ No, Isaiah was not thinking about himself, but was concerned about the people. His words, “How long, O Jehovah?” were asking how long Jehovah would let this bad spiritual state of “this people” keep on. Till the situation was beyond correcting? Till the unhealed condition of the people could not be cured with mild remedies? Till the worst came to the worst? O no, no! Do not let the people keep on in this bad state so long as to need drastic treatment!

25. How was Isaiah’s “How long?” like that of Asaph in Psalm 74:9-11?

²⁵ The sense of Isaiah’s “How long?” was like that of the prophet Asaph, in Psalm 74:9-11, saying: “Our signs we have not seen; there is no prophet any more, and there is no one with us knowing how long. How long, O God, will the adversary keep reproaching? Will the enemy keep treating your name with disrespect forever? Why do you keep your hand, even your right hand, withdrawn from the midst of your bosom to make an end of us?”

26. Over what was Jeremiah’s question “How long?” in Jeremiah 4:14?

²⁶ The prophet Jeremiah also protested with a “How long?” when he said to the nation of Judah: “Wash your heart clean of sheer badness, O Jerusalem, in order that you may be saved. How long will your erroneous thoughts lodge within you?”—Jer. 4:14.

27. (a) Why was what was implied in Jehovah’s commission unpleasant to Isaiah? (b) What would determine what kind of message Isaiah had to deliver?

²⁷ Likewise, for Isaiah it was not a pleasant thought that his own people would be allowed to come to such a low spiritual level that finally God would need to take extreme action against them, to punish them in a manner most unusual and severe. How long, then, would the Israelites continue to make their hearts unreceptive and their ears unresponsive and paste their eyes shut and consequently refuse to turn back to God for spiritual healing? Surely not so long as to be beyond recovery and hence to come to ruin! So Isaiah recoiled at the thought and could not help breaking out with the question, “How long, O Jehovah?” Jehovah God foreknew, and his foreknowledge as revealed to Isaiah would make certain the kind of message that the prophet Isaiah would have to deliver against his own people. O, then, how long will they go on?

28. What did Jehovah say in answer to Isaiah’s question?

²⁸ Isaiah’s exclamation of alarmed protest served as a leading question for Jehovah God. So in answer to Isaiah he continued with his statement, as Isaiah next tells us: “Then he said, ‘Until the cities actually crash in ruins, to be without an inhabitant, and the houses be without earthling man, and the ground itself is ruined into a desolation; and Jehovah actually removes earthling men far away, and the deserted condition does become very extensive in the midst of the land.’”—Isa. 6:11, 12.

29. (a) According to this, how far was the spiritual decline of the people to continue? (b) What message was Isaiah therefore obligated to declare, and why did he prove a faithful witness?

²⁹ Alas, the spiritual decline of Isaiah’s people was thus bound to continue until the terrible consequences of their ungodly conduct came upon them according to what Jehovah God, in his own written covenant with the nation of Israel, foretold would come upon the stubborn covenant breakers. (Lev. 26:22-41; Deut. 28:49-68) Isaiah would therefore be obliged to declare a message of coming ruin, desolation and deportation to his own people. And this he actually did. He could not escape doing so, for this was a correct prediction of the future. It was Jehovah’s message to “this people,” and the prophet Isaiah had offered himself and had asked to be sent, saying: “Here I am! Send me.” He did not back down from this offer and request. He did not choose to do so, no matter how hard the message from Jehovah would be against his people. Accordingly, he proved to be a faithful witness of Jehovah.

30. (a) Did Isaiah keep going with Jehovah’s prophetic message till the houses were without man? (b) Did his obediently going prove to be in vain?

³⁰ Isaiah kept prophesying until into the righteous reign of Hezekiah, the great-grandson of King Uzziah, or from about 775 to about 732 B.C.E., or about forty-three years. So he himself did not preach until Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed by Babylonian armies in 607 B.C.E. and the whole land of Judah was left desolate, the houses without earthling man, and there was a removing of the surviving Jews from the land of Judah to the distant land of Babylonia, to languish there as exiles. A small number of low-ranking Jews was left in the land, but they were frightened off by fear of the vengeance of Babylon and fled down to Egypt, to die there. Thus, although Isaiah finished his prophetic work about 125 years before this national disaster, the hard message that Jehovah sent him to proclaim to his own people proved to be most painfully true. He had not been sent in vain. He had not gone obediently in vain.—2 Chron. 36:15-21; 2 Ki. 25:1-26.

A “HOLY SEED” LIKE A TREE STUMP

31. What did Jehovah add that made the message entrusted to Isaiah not a completely hopeless one?

³¹ However, the message that was entrusted to Isaiah at the temple of Jehovah was not completely hopeless, for Jehovah added these final words: “And there will still be in it a tenth, and it must again become something for burning down, like a big tree and like a massive tree in which, when there is a cutting down of them, there is a stump; a holy seed will be the stump of it.” (Isa. 6:13) This comforted Isaiah with the assurance that there would be found a holy remnant in among “this people.” Although the nation of Israel would have a repeated burning, like a big tree or a massive tree that has been cut down for fuel, there would remain a vital stump of the symbolic tree of Israel. At the scent of water this stump would sprout again and there would be a regrowth of the tree. This remnant or stump still rooted in the ground would be a seed or offspring that was holy to Jehovah.

32. (a) How did this consoling part of Isaiah’s message prove to be true? (b) What did this make possible concerning that same temple prophecy, and how did it also affect our day?

³² This consoling part of the message that Jehovah sent Isaiah to deliver also proved to be true. After seventy years of utter desolation of the land of Judah, a repentant God-fearing remnant of Jews did return from exile in Babylon in 537 B.C.E. They rebuilt Jehovah’s temple, at the same time rebuilding their city of Jerusalem. In this way the “holy seed” was used to restore the pure worship of Jehovah God in the land of Judah. (2 Chron. 36:20-23; Ezra 1:1 to 6:22) This restoring of the Jews to their God-given homeland made it possible for the second fulfillment of Jehovah’s prophecy as given to Isaiah at the temple to take place, and this in connection with a Greater Isaiah. Both of these historical fulfillments upon the people of natural Israel provided a prophetic picture of a third fulfillment of Isaiah’s temple prophecy in our own modern times. This let us now see.

[Footnotes]

See also the footnote on Isaiah 6:1 as given in Dr. Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Volume 4.

[Picture on page 748]

“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

[Picture on page 751]

“Until the cities actually crash in ruins, to be without an inhabitant.”

Have You Said: “Here I Am! Send Me”?

1. When did the second fulfillment of the prophecy given to Isaiah at the temple take place, and how may the one be designated whom Jehovah raised up in that connection?

NUMEROUS prophecies of the Holy Bible have been found to have a triple fulfillment, this third and final fulfillment coming in our own twentieth century. This makes such prophecies of most vital concern to us, such as this prophecy given during Isaiah’s vision of Jehovah God at his holy temple. (Isa. 6:1-13) The second fulfillment of this highly important prophecy took place nineteen centuries ago, when Jehovah God raised up a second Isaiah, a Greater Isaiah. Who was this Greater Isaiah? We find out in Heb chapter two of the letter written to the Christianized Hebrews, as preserved for us in the Holy Bible.

2. What did Isaiah say regarding his children, and how was this quoted to identify the Greater Isaiah?

² The original Isaiah had been a married man with two or three children by his Israelite wife, a prophetess. For the sake of prophecy, Isaiah was inspired to say: “Look! I and the children whom Jehovah has given me are as signs and as miracles in Israel from Jehovah of armies, who is residing in Mount Zion.” (Isa. 8:18) Almost eight hundred years later, a Bible writer wrote, in Hebrews 2:11-14, with reference to Jesus Christ: “For both he who is sanctifying and those who are being sanctified all stem from one [from God], and for this cause he is not ashamed to call them ‘brothers,’ as he says: . . . ‘Look! I and the young children, whom Jehovah gave me.’ Therefore, since the ‘young children’ are sharers of blood and flesh, he also similarly partook of the same things, that through his death he might bring to nothing the one having the means to cause death, that is, the Devil.” This identifies Jesus Christ as the Greater Isaiah.

3. (a) Why did this Greater Isaiah not need a vision of Jehovah at his temple? (b) How did his human name go well with the title of his office?

³ Did this Greater Isaiah need a miraculous vision of Jehovah enthroned in his temple with seraphs attending upon him, such as the original Isaiah had had? No, for he had been the heavenly Son of God and had beheld “the King, Jehovah of armies,” on his heavenly throne itself, and enjoyed heavenly glory with Jehovah. (John 17:5, 11, 20-24) By laying aside his heavenly glory and by having his life force transferred from heaven to earth by Jehovah’s miraculous power, he had become the man Jesus Christ. (Luke 1:26-38; Phil. 2:5-11) The human name that Jehovah God commanded to be given his Son on earth was Jesus, which is the shortened form for Jehoshua. Its meaning corresponds with that of the name Isaiah, only in reverse order. Jesus (or Jehoshua) means “Jehovah Is Salvation,” whereas Isaiah means “Salvation of Jah (Jehovah).” This circumstance goes well with the fact that Jesus Christ is the Greater Isaiah. Before becoming a man, he as the heavenly Son of God had been with Jehovah at the time that He said to the prophet Isaiah in the temple vision: “Who will go for us?” that is, ‘for me Jehovah and for my only-begotten Son.’—Isa. 6:8.

4. When and where did Jesus, as it were, say: “Here I am! Send me,” and how was he commissioned as the Greater Isaiah?

⁴ Thus Jehovah God sent his obedient Son from heaven. But when did the Son of God on earth say in response to Jehovah’s invitation: “Here I am! Send me”? This was at the time that he presented himself to be baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, in the autumn of 29 C.E. It was then that, with an audible voice from heaven, Jehovah God announced his acceptance of his baptized Son Jesus. So Psalm 40:6-8 is quoted as applying to Jesus Christ at the time of his baptism, in these words in Hebrews 10:5-9: “Hence when he comes into the world he says: ‘ . . . “Look! I am come . . . to do your will.”’” There, after Jesus’ baptism in water, Jehovah God anointed him with holy spirit to be the Christ (Anointed One) and thus commissioned him to preach as the Greater Isaiah, to his own people, Israel.—Matt. 15:24; 10:5, 6.

5, 6. How did Jesus show whether he realized that he must give a further fulfillment to the commission given to Isaiah at the temple?

⁵ Isaiah fulfilled the commission that he received at the temple. Did Jesus Christ now realize that he was ordained by Jehovah to give a further fulfillment to the commission that Isaiah had received at the temple vision? Yes, Jesus showed this by the way he quoted and applied the words of that divine commission. Jesus did this in the year 31 C.E., after he had told to great crowds of his people the parable of the sower who scattered seed on various types of soil. Afterward, Jesus explained to his disciples why he spoke to the people in parables or illustrations, saying:

⁶ “To you it is granted to understand the sacred secrets of the kingdom of the heavens, but to those people it is not granted. For whoever has, more will be given him and he will be made to abound; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them by the use of illustrations, because, looking, they look in vain, and hearing, they hear in vain, neither do they get the sense of it; and toward them the prophecy of Isaiah is having fulfillment, which says, ‘By hearing, you will hear but by no means get the sense of it; and, looking, you will look but by no means see. For the heart of this people has grown thick, and with their ears they have heard with annoyance, and they have shut their eyes; that they might never see with their eyes and hear with their ears and get the sense of it with their hearts and turn back, and I heal them.’”—Matt. 13:1-15.

7. What comment by the apostle John shows that the commission to Isaiah was also being fulfilled in Jesus Christ?

⁷ Two years later, and just four days before Jesus Christ was put to death at the urging of the Jewish rulers at Jerusalem, he spoke of himself as the Light of the world. Commenting with regard to this incident, the Christian apostle John says: “Jesus spoke these things and went off and hid from them. But although he had performed so many signs before them, they were not putting faith in him, so that the word of Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled which he said: ‘Jehovah, who has put faith in the thing heard by us? And as for the arm of Jehovah, to whom has it been revealed?’ The reason why they were not able to believe is that again Isaiah said: ‘He has blinded their eyes and he has made their hearts hard, that they should not see with their eyes and get the thought with their hearts and turn around and I should heal them.’ Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory, and he spoke about him.”—John 12:36-41; Isa. 53:1; 6:1-10.

8. What did most of the Jewish rulers not believe regarding Jesus, and so with what did they seek to interfere?

⁸ The most of the Jewish rulers did not believe in Jesus as being the Messiah (Christ) sent by Jehovah God and as being the spiritual High Priest like Melchizedek. (John 12:42, 43; Ps. 110:1-4; Heb. 6:19 to 7:28) So they schemed and worked to bring about his death, thinking to interfere thus with Jesus’ priestly duties and his offering spiritual incense to God, as pictured by Israel’s high priest on the annual Day of Atonement.—Lev. 16:12, 13.

9. (a) In what light to Jehovah’s eyes did this put those Jewish rulers, and what occurred evidently to indicate this? (b) How did they keep up their opposition to Jesus after he ascended to heaven?

⁹ This, of course, put the Jewish rulers in a bad light in the sight of Jehovah God. It was not without serious meaning, therefore, that, when Jesus died on the torture stake on Calvary, while the Jewish rulers derided him, there was a great earthquake at Jerusalem and the inner veil of the temple was ripped in two, from top to bottom. (Matt. 27:39-54; Luke 23:35-48; John 18:35; 19:15-21; Acts 3:17, 18) Even after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his ascension to heaven, the Jewish rulers expressed their opposition to him by persecuting his disciples, who, by being anointed with holy spirit at Pentecost, had become spiritual underpriests to Jehovah’s High Priest, Jesus Christ.

SECOND FULFILLMENT OF TEMPLE COMMISSION

10. Why did the second fulfillment of Isaiah’s commission not end with Jesus’ death?

¹⁰ Fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophetic commission did not end with Jesus’ death, but from Pentecost of 33 C.E. onward the resurrected Jesus directed from heaven the fulfillment of the commission by means of his anointed disciples on earth. These disciples were foreshadowed by Isaiah’s children, whom, as Isaiah said, Jehovah had given to him as signs and miracles in Israel.—Isa. 8:18.

11. When writing to Rome about 56 C.E., how did Paul indicate that the fulfillment of Isaiah’s commission was still being carried forward?

¹¹ So these spiritual “children” carried forward the commission that Jehovah God had given to the Greater Isaiah, Jesus Christ. That was why the Christian apostle Paul, when writing to the congregation in Rome, quoted words from Isaiah’s commission as given at the temple and wrote: “The very thing Israel is earnestly seeking he did not obtain, but the ones chosen obtained it. The rest had their sensibilities blunted; just as it is written: ‘God has given them a spirit of deep sleep, eyes so as not to see and ears so as not to hear, down to this very day.’” (Rom. 11:7, 8) Paul wrote that about 56 C.E., about twenty-three years after the Lord Jesus Christ, the Greater Isaiah, died and was resurrected.

12, 13. How did Paul later, in Rome itself, indicate that the temple prophecy of Isaiah still applied?

¹² Still later, about the year 60 C.E., the apostle Paul found himself under house arrest with a soldier guard in Rome. Some days after he was put in custody there the “principal men of the Jews” and others came to speak with him, by appointment. After the discussion together, Paul again showed that the temple prophecy of Isaiah was still applying to the Jews, for we read:

¹³ “And some began to believe the things said; others would not believe. So, because they were at disagreement with one another, they began to depart, while Paul made this one comment: ‘The holy spirit aptly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your forefathers, saying, ‘Go to this people and say: “By hearing, you will hear but by no means understand; and, looking, you will look but by no means see. For the heart of this people has grown unreceptive, and with their ears they have heard without response, and they have shut their eyes; that they should never see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn back, and I should heal them.”’”—Acts 28:17-27.

14. (a) In prophecy Jesus foretold that the Jews would persist in their bad condition—for how long? (b) When and how did his prophecy come true?

¹⁴ By that time the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple was drawing near. The Greater Isaiah, Jesus Christ, had foretold it, thus indicating that the Jews in general would continue in their blind, deaf and hardhearted condition—for how long? Till the worst came upon them, to correspond with what happened to Judah and Jerusalem and its first temple in 607 B.C.E. The worst did come upon the Jews of apostolic times in the year 70 C.E. Then, as Jesus foretold in his prophecy on the end of this system of things, Jerusalem and her temple were destroyed, the surviving Jews were led away captive, and the land of Judah was desolated by the Roman armies under General Titus.—Luke 21:5-7, 20-24.

15. (a) Did the Christianized Jews in Judea keep going there till the houses were without earthling man? (b) By their prompt course, what did they prove to be, in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy?

¹⁵ Note this fact, however. The Christianized Jews did not stay in the land of Judah till the cities crashed in ruins, “to be without an inhabitant,” and the houses were without earthling man, and the land itself was ruined into desolation by the Roman legions. No, but after they saw the sign of doom for Jerusalem appear in the year 66 C.E., they followed Jesus’ counsel and got out of Jerusalem and all Judea at once and fled across the Jordan River into Perea. Thus they escaped the horrible destruction of the Jews in Judea in 70 C.E. as a second fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. (Isa. 6:11, 12) Thus those Christianized Jews who followed the Greater Isaiah were the “holy seed” that carried forward the pure, true worship of Jehovah God, which worship needs no earthly holy city and no earthly temple on Mount Moriah.—Isa. 6:13.

MODERN-DAY FULFILLMENT OF TEMPLE COMMISSION

16. (a) How is it that a final fulfillment of Isaiah’s temple commission can be carried out today? (b) In the midst of what national group is this taking place?

¹⁶ Since then nineteen hundred years have passed. The prophecy contained in the divine commission given to Isaiah at the temple is not yet completely fulfilled. The Greater Isaiah, the glorified Jesus Christ, is directing the third and final fulfillment of the prophetic commission. He has yet on earth a small remnant of those regarding whom he can say: “Look! I and the children whom Jehovah has given me are as signs and as miracles in Israel from Jehovah of armies.” (Isa. 8:18; Heb. 2:13, 14) Today these are in the midst, not of natural Israel with its little republic in the Middle East, but in spiritual Israel. On the day of Pentecost of 33 C.E., when the Greater Isaiah poured out holy spirit upon his faithful disciples in Jerusalem, a spiritual Israel was brought into existence whereas natural Israel as a nation was rejected.

17. How did a professed spiritual Israel come to exist alongside the true spiritual Israel?

¹⁷ About three and a half years after that, holy spirit began to be poured out also upon non-Jewish people who became disciples of the Greater Isaiah, Jesus Christ. (Gal. 6:14-16; Acts 2:1-42; 10:1 to 11:18) Three hundred years afterward Christendom was set up by Emperor Constantine the Great, the Pontifex Maximus of Rome, with the bishops of a corrupted Christian religion. Down to this day this Christendom has claimed to be spiritual Israel. In the midst of it, as well as outside of it, the true God-given “children” of the Greater Isaiah, Jesus Christ, are to be found.

18. However, what ones said to Jehovah at his temple: “Here I am! Send me,” and, in their case, what corresponds with Isaiah’s temple vision?

¹⁸ So, then, in the midst of all Christendom today, who are the ones that have said to Jehovah at his temple: “Here I am! Send me”? The spirit-begotten “children” of the Greater Isaiah have done so. These anointed Christians, not the religionists of Christendom, have discerned that the Lord God Jehovah is now at his spiritual temple, and this discernment of theirs corresponds with Isaiah’s vision of “the King, Jehovah of armies,” at the temple in the year that Judah’s King Uzziah died of leprosy.—Isa. 6:1.

19. When was the Lord’s coming to the temple impressively called to attention at a convention in Cedar Point, Ohio, and how?

¹⁹ Jehovah God has been present at his spiritual temple for a judgment work since the year 1918. This was impressively called to the attention of these “children” of the Greater Isaiah on Friday, September 8, 1922, the outstanding day of the second general convention of the International Bible Students at Cedar Point, Ohio, U.S.A. The main convention address that day was on the theme “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 4:17, AV) This address was later published in the November 1, 1922, issue of The Watch Tower, on page 334 of which, under the heading “Coming to His Temple,” and on page 336 of which, under the heading “Change of Work,” we find the pertinent information. It has since been confirmed from the Bible’s timetable and the fulfillment of Bible prophecy that Jehovah came to his spiritual temple in the spring of 1918, in a modern-day fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi 3:1-5.a

20. Whom did Uzziah king of Judah foreshadow, and why was Uzziah struck with leprosy?

²⁰ In the year 1918 the impious conduct of the political rulers of Christendom reached a climax, as foreshadowed by the presumptuous conduct of King Uzziah of the kingdom of Judah. Uzziah was king but had no priestly functions or privileges. So he pictures the political ruling elements of Christendom, which claims to be spiritual Israel. When Uzziah had built up the nation to great strength in a military and economic way, he became presumptuous. He presumed to take to himself the office of priest in God’s holy temple and thus to brush aside Jehovah’s designated priesthood that had been established in the family of Aaron the brother of the prophet Moses. Evidently before Isaiah’s vision of Jehovah’s enthronement at the temple, King Uzziah of the tribe of Judah invaded the holy chamber of the temple to offer incense like an Aaronic priest of the tribe of Levi. High Priest Azariah and eighty priests protested. When King Uzziah became enraged with those faithful priests, Jehovah God struck with leprosy presumptuous King Uzziah. He had to relinquish “Jehovah’s throne” to his faithful son Jotham, and died in 774 B.C.E.—2 Chron. 26:1-23.

21. (a) What general measures did Christendom’s political rulers take to win World War I? (b) What stand did the God-given “children” of the Greater Isaiah then declare, and to what work did they decide to stick?

²¹ Like impious Uzziah, the ruling factors of Christendom displayed their great military advancement and might in the years 1914-1918. They brought all their economic resources into play to win World War I. They regimented the whole populations of the nations, only four out of twenty-nine nations embroiled in the war being no part of Christendom. However, the God-given “children” of the Greater Isaiah, Jehovah’s anointed witnesses, could not go along with the political rulers in their world war over the issue of world domination. Specifically in the January 1, 1916, issue of The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, pages 5, 6, under the heading “Militarism and Navalism—How Long?” this remnant of childlike disciples of the Greater Isaiah, Jesus Christ, declared their neutrality.b They recognized themselves to be the spiritual underpriests of Jesus Christ, Jehovah’s heavenly High Priest, as declared in 1 Peter 2:5-9. They recognized that the Gentile Times of the worldly nations had run out in 1914 and that God’s Messianic kingdom had come into power in the heavens. So they needed to stick to their spiritual priestly duties to God.

22. How did the political rulers of Christendom proceed to act like presumptuous King Uzziah?

²² Then the ruling factors of Christendom began to trespass upon the field of service of those who were or who professed to be the ordained ministers and priests of the Most High God. In order to enforce total regimentation, the political rulers, backed up by the military officials, tried to invade the ministerial, priestly office of God’s servants. They called upon them to pray in behalf of winning the war; they issued propagandistic war material for the preachers to use in their pulpits; they had the churches converted into war recruiting posts; they called upon ministers to serve as army chaplains; they painted up the fight as a “holy war” that obligated Christian ministers to support it. Thus, like King Uzziah of old, they invaded the holy chamber of the Christian ministry to offer up what they regarded as sweet-smelling to God.

23. What was the attitude of the clergy of Christendom toward the presumptuousness of the modern-day King Uzziah?

²³ Did the clergy of Christendom, Catholic and Protestant, take the stand of High Priest Azariah and his eighty underpriests and object to this? No! They ‘presented arms’ and violated Christian neutrality and branded conscientious objectors as “cowards.” They fell right in line with the political rulers and militarists of Christendom. They chose Caesar as king rather than God.c

24. How did the political authorities of Christendom proceed against the priestly “children” of the Greater Isaiah because of their objections?

²⁴ What the political authorities did to religious clergymen was impious and sacrilegious enough. But this modern-day King Uzziah acted even more presumptuously than that. Because the God-given “children” of the Greater Isaiah, Jehovah’s witnesses, refused to agree with such presumptuous conduct of the modern King Uzziah, they got enraged and persecuted these priestly disciples of the Greater Isaiah. Finally, with full approval and applause of Christendom’s clergy, the militarized political rulers banned the Bible literature of these witnesses of Jehovah God. They threw the president and secretary-treasurer and six other key members of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society into Federal penitentiary, sentenced to stay there for twenty years at least.d

25. What did the modern King Uzziah think thus to do, and what prophecies of the Greater Isaiah did he thus fulfill?

²⁵ Thus the modern King Uzziah thought to silence forever these priestly witnesses of Jehovah who protested against the politically dictated style of worshiping God. They fulfilled what the Greater Isaiah said in Matthew 24:9 and what he had revealed about the blasphemous wild beast that came out of the abyss of the sea, in Revelation 11:7-10 and Re 13:7-12, 18.

26. With what was the modern King Uzziah then struck, and this in what sense?

²⁶ Then it was that Jehovah God, present at his spiritual temple, struck the modern-day King Uzziah with spiritual leprosy.e Not just because the Gentile Times of earthly domination for these political rulers had run out in 1914, but now because they opposed God’s High Priest Jesus Christ and his underpriests, the political rulers become loathsome like lepers in Jehovah’s sight. They have no part in the Priesthood and Kingdom of God. Their offices of political rule over earth are doomed to destruction in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Armageddon.—Rev. 16:14, 16.

RESPONDING TO GOD’S CALL

27. (a) When and under what circumstances did Jehovah at his temple ask about whom to send to Christendom? (b) Who responded, and in what condition?

²⁷ World War I ended November 11, 1918, and the following year the imprisoned officials of the Watch Tower Society and their companions were released. World wide the persecuted “children” of the Greater Isaiah were gradually freed from their restraints, especially restraints due to fear and trembling at earthling men. The postwar era of worldwide opportunity for preaching about God’s established kingdom opened up. Then, from 1919 onward, Jehovah God at his spiritual temple, began to ask whom he should send and who would go for him and his Greater Isaiah, to speak to the people of spiritually blind, deaf, hardhearted Christendom. Not the politically dominated clergy of Christendom, but the cleansed “children” of the Greater Isaiah, the anointed witnesses of Jehovah, responded with ancient Isaiah’s words: “Here I am! Send me.” With lips cleansed as by the “glowing coal” of God’s holy spirit, they held their first postwar general convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, September 1-8, 1919, and reorganized for expanded service.

28. When, with greater appreciation and enthusiasm, did they renew their request to be sent?

²⁸ It was at the second convention of the International Bible Students at Cedar Point, Ohio, September 5-13, 1922, that these anointed “children” of the Greater Isaiah really got their eyes opened by means of God’s holy Word and spirit and his temple organization, and they appreciated that Jehovah had been present at his spiritual temple, not since 1878, but since a more recent time.f So with fuller appreciation and even greater enthusiasm they renewed their request to be sent on a mission like Isaiah’s.

29. Have others of the “children” of the Greater Isaiah responded since those Cedar Point conventions, and what must they now do?

²⁹ Others of the anointed “children” of the Greater Isaiah who were not present at those two conventions of 1919 and 1922 at Cedar Point have since discerned Jehovah God as being at his spiritual temple since 1918 and have answered to His invitation to service, in effect saying: “Here I am! Send me.” A remnant of these are yet alive today. Are you one of these? Have you said: “Here I am! Send me”? If so, you must now fulfill your commission.

30. Who, particularly since 1935 C.E., have taken their stand with the “children” of the Greater Isaiah?

³⁰ Particularly since 1935 C.E. many sheeplike persons have heard those anointed “children” of the Greater Isaiah speaking and serving as signs and miracles amidst Christendom, the nominal spiritual Israel. This “great crowd” of sheeplike people have shown that they have not shut their ears or pasted together their eyes or made their hearts unreceptive, as Christendom has done. Before the foretold destruction comes upon Christendom, these have taken their stand with the anointed “children” of the Greater Isaiah and rejoiced at the vision of Jehovah at his temple.

31. (a) To what invitation have this “great crowd” of “other sheep” said, in effect, “Here I am”? (b) What, then, should these keep doing, and why are they to be considered happy?

³¹ To Jehovah’s invitation to cooperate with this anointed remnant, this “great crowd” of “other sheep” has said, in effect: “Here I am! Send me.” (Rev. 7:9-15; John 10:16) Are you one of these “other sheep”? Have you, as such, said those words? Then keep on aiding the anointed “children” of the Greater Isaiah in carrying out their divine commission from the temple. Join them in speaking to the people of Christendom and warning these that Christendom’s “houses” will be left without man and her estate be reduced to a desolation because she persists in refusing to see, hear and understand. Happy are you because you see, hear and understand with your heart, and you also act accordingly. Thus you will escape her utter, everlasting ruin!—Matt. 13:13-16.

(More with regard to how the temple commission is being carried out world wide today by Jehovah’s witnesses will appear in the next forthcoming issue of The Watchtower, in a world report.)

[Footnotes]

On the above-mentioned page 334, par. 8, the printed speech said: “We believe, therefore, that the day of preparation ended in 1914, and that in 1918, or thereabouts, the Lord came to his temple. This coming to the temple was for judgment, because judgment must first begin at the house of God. (1 Peter 4:17)”

Unrest—Why So Widespread?

HAVE you noticed how unrest today flares up at the most unexpected places, sometimes in the remotest places in the earth? Suddenly we find ourselves confronted with outbreaks in every quarter. In democratic countries where people can express themselves freely, demonstrations or even riots can occur at the slightest provocation. Even at pleasure resorts and other places, riotous mobs, for no reason at all, where no issue of principle is involved, damage property and injure and kill innocent people. And not only in the “free” nations, but likewise in lands where the governments are more restrictive, such as the Communist lands of Russia and China, we see the same things occurring. Moreover, no place is too far removed from “civilized” life for violent uprisings to occur, for example, in sections of Africa, where the way of life has been simple and little concern about the outside world has existed heretofore. What is the reason?

It is because there is a certain spirit permeating this world, motivating the unrest. It is so widespread because its propagation does not depend merely on human individuals or organizations. This spirit brings forth the same fruitage everywhere. It is more active because of the failure of the world’s religions and ideologies to bring spiritual health. They give their people no power to fight the world’s spirit. Religious leaders of Christendom are saying ‘God is dead,’ and their religion itself is almost dead and unable to bring what the people need. Buddhism, Shintoism, Mohammedanism—all worldly religions have failed to provide a solution; as a matter of fact, they help to fan the flames. On the other hand, atheistic communism has also failed, as a Moscow student group demonstrated recently when one of them cried: “Give us something to believe in!”

SEVENTH PLAGUE POURED UPON THE AIR

It is with this spirit that the seventh plague of the Bible book of Revelation deals when it says: “And the seventh [angel] poured out his bowl upon the air. At this a loud voice issued out of the sanctuary from the throne, saying: ‘It has come to pass!’” (Rev. 16:17) Why does the Bible say that the bowl was poured out upon the air instead of upon the spirit? The Giver of the Revelation is using air symbolically, just as he used the “sea,” “earth” and “rivers” symbolically in the preceding plagues. We know that he does not have reference to the pollution of the air by some atomic or nuclear device causing fallout and contaminating the very air we breathe, although nuclear devices have to some extent done this. Extensive pollution would cause the death of all of us, for the air we breathe means our life, our very soul. (Gen. 6:17; 7:15, 22; Job 9:18) One can do without food for a considerable time and even go for several days without water, but interference with the air supply causes almost instantaneous effects. For these reasons the seventh plague poured upon the air represents something more devastating than the previous plagues on the earth, the sea, the rivers and fountains of water.

We can see what the air symbolizes by going to the Bible and also by turning back to the beliefs of ancient religion. According to the ancient Babylonians, the air was the abode of evil spirits and devils. Of the seven evil spirits whom they feared, the first one was the South Wind, the sixth a whirlwind, and the seventh a storm (hurricane). There were also triads of devils, the demons that caused sickness seeming to form a class by themselves. But each of these devils had a name and was thought to have a monstrous form of some kind. The followers of Pythagoras believed our atmosphere to be peopled with spirits under the control of a chief who held his seat of empire in the air. Such spirits were thought to be powerful but malignant, bent on inciting men to do wickedness.

In the Bible the Greek word for “air,” in which these demon spirits were thought to dwell, is aēr, as in the word aeroplane. Air in motion becomes wind and as such exerts force, driving power. Like air, people breathe in the spirit of this world. So the spirit of this world exerts a force upon people that can be observed in their actions. Who is in control of this force against which God has such great indignation that he pours out the final bowl of his anger upon it? Let us look into the Bible to see.

WHO CONTROLS THE SPIRIT OF THE WORLD

The Bible speaks of an invisible realm in which dwell spirit persons, the angels, much more powerful than man, who are able to travel through interstellar space where there is no atmosphere such as we on earth live in and, of course, they are beyond the need of any air such as we breathe and are not under its influence or control. They are as invisible as the air and, if they exert an active force to direct the actions of men and in fact direct their lives, they can be said to have authority in the air. The Bible uses that very expression in regard to Satan the Devil, who is declared to be “the prince of the power of the air” or “the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience.”—Eph. 2:2, AV, NW.

It follows that the spirit of the world, which is against God, is therefore a spirit that is controlled by Satan and is also the spirit of Satan himself, who has opposed God from the beginning of his rebellion. We do not want to deceive ourselves by underrating his powers. He is a mighty angelic creature. At Hebrews 2:14 he is described as the one having the means to cause death. He gained this power after he induced Adam and Eve to sin in the garden of Eden and thus bring death upon all of their offspring. Since getting mankind under sin, he is able to work on their imperfection to bring about degradation on the part of some; also, he is able to use men under his influence to kill others, especially in warfare. He was given special permission, for the purpose of the test of integrity upon Job, to cause the death of Job’s ten children by a windstorm. The heavenly scene is described in the book of Job, where Satan is shown appearing before God. Since he said in reply to Jehovah’s question as to his activities that he came from roving about in the earth and from walking up and down in it, he most likely had been roving about within earth’s air or atmosphere, carrying on his activities to influence men against God.—Job 1:7, 18, 19; 2:2, 6.

As the book of Job shows, during the time allowed for settling the issue raised concerning God’s sovereignty and the related question of man’s integrity to God, Jehovah God has permitted Satan to have access to the earth to test His servants. So Satan, having a powerful organization of wicked demons, is called the ruler of the authority of the air. Sons of disobedience among mankind therefore breathe in, as it were, the spirit of Satan the Devil. It is this spirit that motivates them and causes them to mold their lives according to this system of things of which Satan is the god.—Eph. 2:2; 2 Cor. 4:4.

GOD’S ANGER AGAINST WORLD’S SPIRIT

From these things we can see that when the seventh angel poured his bowl out upon the air, he was actually pouring God’s anger on the sphere of influence of Satan the Devil, and on the spirit of the Devil and its fruitage among men. This indicates that God was angry with the spirit of the Devil that the disobedient men on earth displayed in their lives. Also, the plague of God’s anger being poured on it indicates the disastrous results to the realm of Satan and to those sons of disobedience, just as a disaster would result to mankind if the air in which they live was made unfit to breathe.

Whose was the loud voice that issued from the heavenly sanctuary at the outpouring of this seventh bowl? It was none other than that of Jehovah God himself. Revelation 15:8 shows that God is determined to stay in the sanctuary until the plagues are finished. Then he must receive a report from the angels with the bowls. This plague was all that was necessary to complete the expression of God’s anger. It was poured out on one of the last things necessary for man’s life, namely, the air. Now the angels could go back into the sanctuary and report on the finish of their obedient action.—Rev. 16:17.

The chief target of Satan and his wicked spirit organization is the remnant, the remaining members of Christ’s spiritual brothers on the earth. They, along with their companions, the great crowd of “other sheep” who have earthly hopes, have a fight, especially since Satan the Devil and his demon angels were hurled out of heaven in 1914 C.E., immediately after Jesus Christ was installed in Kingdom power. Since then they have been confined to the atmosphere of our earth and this has resulted in a greater test on God’s servants as well as all kinds of woes upon mankind, inasmuch as Satan knows his time is now very short. These invisible enemies of God and man can therefore stir up unrest everywhere on earth simultaneously. So the fight these true Christians have is not against any man or earthly government, but is against wicked spirit forces in the invisible heavens.—Rev. 12:5-12; Eph. 6:11, 12.

SEVENTH PLAGUE ANNOUNCED BY CHRISTIANS

In their fight against Satan and his demons these Christians, Jehovah’s witnesses, have used the Sword of the Spirit, God’s Word, to fight against the strongholds of false doctrine of Babylonish religion and the ideologies created by Satan’s spirit. Therefore, it has been granted to them to have the privilege of announcing the plagues. A marked evidence of the declaring of God’s anger in connection with the seventh bowl was manifested on Sunday morning, August 5, 1928, at an international assembly of dedicated Christian Bible Students, now known as Jehovah’s witnesses, at Detroit, Michigan. A resolution entitled “Declaration Against Satan and for Jehovah” was submitted by the then president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, J. F. Rutherford. Its third proposition stated:

Third: . . . that Satan the Devil has caused strife amongst the nations and is responsible for all the cruel wars, wicked murders, all heinous crimes and other corrupt acts that have been committed; that until now Jehovah has not restrained Satan from the exercise of power and influence over men; . . . that for many centuries Satan has been the invisible ruler of the world, constantly defaming the name of Jehovah God and working great injury to men and nations.

In the public talk that immediately followed the presentation of the resolution, the crowd of 12,000 and an unseen audience listening by means of a network of 106 radio stations heard the supporting speech entitled “Ruler for the People.” In this speech a strong exposé of the Devil’s influence on mankind was made as the speaker said:

“ . . . the Bible designates him under the title Satan, Serpent, Dragon and Devil. All the unrighteous wars that have been fought between men, and all the cruel murders committed by men, have been due to the wicked influence of Satan the Devil because he was the first murderer and the father of lies. (John 8:44) All the tears of bitterness that have flowed from those who have been dealt with unjustly and sorely oppressed must be traced to the influence of Satan because he is the great and wicked oppressor. (Ps. 72:4) All the bitterness that has existed and been exhibited between professed Christian people, all the religious intolerance and persecution of Christians, must be laid at Satan’s door. All the foul aspersions against Jehovah God and all the defamation of his holy name must be laid to the charge of Satan the Devil.

“ . . . it was Satan, the invisible ruler of this world, who caused the death of Jesus. Such wicked persecution could not have proceeded from Jehovah God against his own Son. From then till now the Christians have suffered violent persecution. . . .

“Afterwards the Romans persecuted and put to death many Christian people. . . .

“All the evidence shows that Satan, the invisible ruler of this world, is the responsible one for such wrongful acts, and the conclusion is in harmony with the words of Jesus, . . . The fight of the Christian has not been against men, but against the invisible Satan and his cohorts of evil. . . .—Eph. 6:11, 12, Weymouth.”

The speaker went on to describe in detail the wickedness of Satan in this world and in doing so quoted from various publications. He then said:

“The charge is often made that Jehovah is a cruel and bloodthirsty God. That charge is wholly false. Bear in mind that Jehovah is the only source of life. . . . Jehovah God will shortly overthrow the Devil’s established organization and will set up righteousness in the earth. . . .

“ . . . This Declaration is against the common enemy of all creation. It is against the enemy who for centuries has defamed the name of Jehovah God and brought unbounded sorrow to man. It is against Satan and his allies in darkness and evil. It is a testimony to the fact that Satan’s evil rule must shortly end and that Jehovah, for his name’s sake and the salvation of the people, will establish a righteous government that all the nations of earth shall be blessed.”

The resolution was adopted by the assembly. It and the talk “Ruler for the People” were printed in booklet form and distributed by the millions of copies in many languages world wide. At this same convention the book entitled “Government” had been released on August 3 and began to be circulated in many languages. This put men on notice that God’s anger was being poured out on the “air” of this wicked invisible ruler of the air, Satan the Devil.

MULTITUDES ACT ON ANNOUNCEMENT

Many millions of people up to this time were unaware that Satan is the god of this system of things and that he does exercise a malevolent influence on the lives of men by permeating this world with his spirit of disobedience to God. Millions also up to this time had not recognized that the increased troubles that have come upon this earth since 1914 are due to Satan’s activities now being confined to the earth and that he is trying desperately to maneuver all mankind into a position of fighting against God, to their destruction.

It is now more than thirty-eight years since that declaration was made to put men on notice and to warn them to avoid the spirit of this world and to encourage them to seek refuge under Christ’s kingdom and to be guided by the spirit of God, which is a spirit of obedience to his Word and commandments. Certainly the time is much shorter now for all men who desire life to take the same position as those adopting the declaration in 1928. That hundreds of thousands more are doing so was emphasized by 454,977 attending the series of “Everlasting Good News” assemblies in different parts of the earth in 1963. These adopted and distributed earth wide a resolution, which in its last two paragraphs stated in part:

THAT, although at present we are obliged to be in this world, we will not breathe in the spirit of this world, For it is not the spirit of God but is the spirit of the devilish “ruler of this world.” Led by the spirit of its unseen ruler, the world of mankind has for thousands of years cultivated the works of the fallen, degraded flesh. Now the world is reaping the results of breathing in the spirit of Satan the Devil and cultivating the works of their flesh, which is at enmity with God. Babylon’s modern religious counterpart has not cultivated in the people the spirit of God, that they might reap the fruitage of God’s spirit to the attainment of eternal life in His new order of things. . . .

. . . We thank Jehovah God for the ministry of his holy angels under Jesus Christ in our behalf. With their help and with the help of his holy spirit and Word we will continue to declare to all peoples without partiality the “everlasting good news” concerning God’s Messianic kingdom and concerning his judgments, which are like plagues to his enemies but which will be executed for the liberation of all persons who desire to worship God the Creator acceptably with spirit and with truth.

The contaminated “air,” the spirit of the Devil in the world, as revealed by the plague, can kill you spiritually and find you physically dead at God’s hands in the coming “war of the great day of God the Almighty.” Do not take it in and let it involve you in the death-dealing unrest and violence of the world, but breathe the fresh, pure, invigorating, life-giving spirit obtained by reading God’s Word, the Bible, and by associating with those who believe and teach its truths.

Jehovah’s angels pour out the plagues and his servants on earth are empowered by his spirit to announce the plagues. Jehovah expresses satisfaction when they do the work. But since the plagues express not only God’s anger as declared but also the actual spiritual and physical results of his anger upon the world, bringing calamity to his enemies and good to all following God’s Word, we will await the next issue of The Watchtower for a description of the world-shaking outcome of the outpouring of the seventh plague.

Full-Time Service Brings True Riches

I CAN picture myself, more than fifty-five years ago, standing in front of a shop window on a street in northwest London. There were many books and pamphlets on the Bible in that window, but the attraction to me was a booklet entitled “What Say the Scriptures About Hell?”

There was a reason why I wanted that booklet. On his way to work the previous day my brother had been handed a tract entitled “The Wages of Sin Is Death, Not Eternal Torment.” Later in the day he gave the tract to me. It was of special interest because for the past two years we had both been members of the North West London Gospel Mission and had been using our weekends in open-air preaching and at mission halls. The theme of our message? It was: “Get saved now, the unbeliever will spend eternity in everlasting torment!”

That is why I had the urge to read that booklet in the shop window! Looking up over the shop, I read the words “Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.” For the first time I realized that this was the London center of the Society that had published the pamphlet handed to my brother. I had started on the road to obtain riches of unsurpassed knowledge founded on the book of truth, the Holy Bible.

Before long I was convinced of the need to dedicate my life to God. So in 1910, along with forty others, I was baptized in water to symbolize my dedication to do the will of God.

From the earliest days following my dedication I had a desire to serve the brothers in the faith. How glad I was when, on one of the visits of the Watch Tower Society’s first president, C. T. Russell, he read out a list of names, among which was my own, of those recommended to serve as “elders” and “deacons” in the London Tabernacle, where we had our meetings. Now I was to enjoy riches of service among my spiritual brothers by ushering them to their seats and also by conducting group studies in the Bible-study aid entitled “The Divine Plan of the Ages.”

FULL-TIME PREACHING BEGINS

It was in June of 1914 that the vital question arose: Should I make the full-time preaching work my career? J. F. Rutherford, who was to become the second president of the Watch Tower Society two-and-a-half years later, was starting a Bible lecture campaign in Britain. Large halls throughout the country were being booked for his talk “Where Are the Dead?” Full-time workers were needed to call on the people who left their names at these meetings.

At this time I received a letter from the Society asking me if I would join these ministers in this full-time service. It is strange how the mind reasons at times. I thought to myself: “I am an appointed servant of the London Tabernacle congregation. I am conducting four group studies weekly. I am on the list of speakers for public meetings. What more can I do?” All the same, I had no obligations to hinder me from entering this full-time service.

Therefore, I made a decision, the right one. I entered full-time preaching service. And what a year to do so, for 1914 was marked out in Bible prophecy! We Bible Students knew that something would happen in the autumn of that year, but we did not know exactly what it would be. We were within a few months of the greatest war in history up to that time, although the people in Britain were unaware of the woes awaiting the nations.

PREACHING THROUGHOUT THE BRITISH ISLES

Soon after those events I married one who is still with me in full-time service. Then, a short time later, we received a letter from the London office of the Watch Tower Society. Would we go to Lancashire to aid people who had become interested in the message of Bible truth? Of course we would! Before long we were working in our new assignment, an area where no congregations existed at the time. Incidentally, the local tribunal exempted me from military service as a minister and I was allowed to work on my assignment all during the four years of World War I.

We enjoyed the work in Lancashire but found it a difficult assignment because of very limited travel facilities and acute war conditions. But we were richly blessed in seeing the growth of three congregations and were able to baptize upward of sixty persons in symbol of their dedication to Jehovah.

Later, another letter came from the London office asking me to take up what was then called the “Pilgrim” work. This meant visiting all the congregations in Britain. Two Bible talks were given each day to different congregations, with a weekend visit to a larger congregation. The work of a “Pilgrim” was to visit and strengthen those who were in the truth in those critical years, for the brothers needed to maintain a good outlook on the future and be prepared for the service ahead.

In 1926, after eight years in that feature of the ministry, we were assigned to territory covering England’s beautiful Lake District, southeast Scotland and Northern Ireland. We fixed up four halls in different towns and gave four lectures a week in each one of them. We put up advertising posters for the lectures and gave out handbills from door to door. One rich experience in connection with this work in Northern Ireland happened when we gave a series of talks in County Sligo. A man got one of the handbills we distributed, but did not attend the lecture. Instead, he sent to London for literature. Later he accepted the truths of God’s Word, along with several members of his family. But I was not to meet this man until thirty-four years later, in 1963! That was at the “Everlasting Good News” Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses at Twickenham, London. What a joy that was!

Instructions now came for my wife and me to continue our ministry in Eire. Using bicycles, the best means of transportation for those parts, we commenced in the northern counties of Eire and worked our way south in what was to be a five-year stretch of intensive preaching.

It was in Eire where we came to appreciate more fully the protective power of unseen servants, the angels, those who are “spirits for public service.” (Heb. 1:7, 14) This was so because we met up with violent opposition from Catholic Action. We were manhandled, stoned, threatened, chased from village to village; our literature was stolen from railway stations and also burned in a market square in a town in Tipperary; and we were even made to look down the barrel of a revolver. A lovable people had been sadly prejudiced by Babylonish religion. Yet, among them were a praiseworthy few whose homes were opened to us in time of need.

In time sound cars had come into use in the preaching work and we were asked to take over one of these. On the outside of the car were the words “This Gospel of the Kingdom Must Be Preached.” With this we were to spend two years working many parts of Scotland where no congregations existed. In this interesting land our loudspeakers boomed out the message of God’s truth, in lowlands and highlands, over the lochs, the mountains and the plains.

After this we received further assignments in England. There we began to see the long-awaited increase of Jehovah’s gathered ones as the forward movement of the preaching work brought many to a knowledge of Bible truth and dedication.

SERVICE AT LONDON BETHEL

In 1942 I was asked to come to the London headquarters of the Society. Help was needed because a number of the leading brothers in the London Bethel were imprisoned due to their Bible-based neutral stand during World War II.

I went into Bethel for the duration of the war and started a four-and-a-half year period of service that was unforgettable. Life in a Bethel home brings service of the highest order no matter what form that service takes. I was privileged to work at the service desk and be in touch with all the congregations in Britain. That was a very happy and rich experience.

Those were also very hazardous years. London was made the center of attack by enemy aircraft. The “Battle of Britain” raged. High explosive and incendiary bombs fell almost nightly on London. But the amazing thing was that the Witnesses in London never let up on their preaching work. Instead, they increased it! They visited people with the “good news of the kingdom,” bringing comfort to many. Under these difficult circumstances we were learning about the true riches of Jehovah’s care in providing protection for his people.—Matt. 24:14.

MORE RICHES

In 1946 the Society invited me, with Sister Guiver, to do circuit work. Next to life in the Bethel family, the work of a circuit servant was one of the richest, spiritually rewarding privileges that one could enjoy. That is how it appealed to me. It called for great love and much kindness toward young and old. But there is a special joy in serving the brothers and in taking new ones out into the preaching work. Sixteen years thus passed, until 1962.

My wife and I then were enrolled on the special pioneer list, serving on the south coast of England, where it is more suitable to our health. But there is no retiring! The days are busy serving in the local congregation and in the full-time preaching work.

Looking back after more than fifty years of activity in a variety of ways since making the full-time service my career, there comes to mind what many said when I was deciding on this way of life: “What will you do when you get old?” I can honestly say I have never lacked anything I really needed. The essentials always have been there, as Jesus promised when he said: “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you.” (Matt. 6:33) Truly, what we have gained in a spiritual way since making the full-time service our career are enduring riches that can never fail.—Matt. 6:20.

Questions From Readers

● Ephesians 5:3 says: “Let fornication . . . not even be mentioned among you.” Therefore, is it not sinful to discuss fornication or publish anything on this subject?—M. N., U.S.A.

At Ephesians 5:1-5, the apostle Paul gave this inspired admonition: “Let fornication and uncleanness of every kind or greediness 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 or unclean person or greedy person—which means being an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Christ and of God.” Of course, even in this instance the apostle mentioned fornication, making the powerful point that a fornicator has no “inheritance in the kingdom of the Christ and of God.” So, there are times when it is not at all sinful to mention or discuss fornication.

Paul was urging the Ephesians to watch their conduct, speech and thoughts. They were to become imitators of God, who is perfect, clean and upright in every way. Certainly, then, fornication was not to be a subject of regular conversation among them. They should not pruriently describe immoral acts and discuss fornication for the purpose of deriving sensual pleasure in some manner from such discussion.

However, if one took the position that it is always a sin to consider anything about fornication, he would have to delete from his reading material certain portions of the Bible. This would not please God, for there should be no such personal editing of the Scriptures. (Deut. 4:2; Prov. 30:5, 6; Rev. 22:18, 19) Yes; the Bible itself frankly discusses fornication a number of times and condemns those who practice it. For example, the Scriptures state: “Flee from fornication.” “For this is what God wills, the sanctifying of you, that you abstain from fornication.” “But as for the . . . fornicators . . . their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This means the second death.” (1 Cor. 6:18; 1 Thess. 4:3; Rev. 21:8) Some may think it indelicate to discuss the Scriptural view of fornication. Others may actually oppose ‘letter-of-the-law’ adherence to portions of the Bible, while themselves personally violating what is said at Ephesians 5:3. But Christians know that Scriptural warnings against fornication are a safeguard to individuals who are inclined toward righteousness.

Hence, in its publications the Watch Tower Society at times publishes Biblically-based information regarding fornication. For instance, in Awake! of May 8, 1966, there appears an article entitled “Does Your Minister Approve of Fornication?” While it discloses the startling fact that many clergymen do approve of fornication, this article proves from the Holy Scriptures that Almighty God does not.

Is it important to realize that Jehovah God condemns fornication and is it imperative to shun it personally? Indeed it is, for the apostle Paul candidly wrote under divine inspiration: “What! Do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit God’s kingdom.”—1 Cor. 6:9, 10.

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

Jehovah’s witnesses know that the things that God says in his Word are true, and by their ministry they endeavor to aid others to have that same conviction. (Rom. 3:4) For that reason, during December they will be calling at the homes of persons everywhere to talk to them about the Bible, and, to aid in a study of God’s Word, they will offer them the modern-English New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures and the 416-page book Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God, with two booklets, for only $1.50.

1967 YEARBOOK AND CALENDAR

Freedom has taken on a new meaning due to the “God’s Sons of Liberty” District Assemblies this past summer. Likewise, interest in the preaching of the liberating effects of God’s kingdom has been stimulated on a worldwide scale. Therefore, the 1967 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses gains new importance as it brings you an informative and heartwarming report of this modern-day example of preaching as Jesus did it. Get your copy for only 50c. A beautifully illustrated calendar for 1967 will also bring you pleasure throughout the coming year. It is only 25c. Send today.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

January 15: No Healing Till Houses Are Without Man. Page 745. Songs to Be Used: 114, 109.

January 22: Have You Said: “Here I Am! Send Me”? Page 752. Songs to Be Used: 108, 107.