The Watchtower — February 1, 1968

Real Security in a Violent World

REAL security is much desired by all decent people. But with so much trouble and violence in the world today, can such security be a reality?

Many persons feel that security can be attained if the country in which they live is strong. Is your hope for security based on your country’s military might?

The United States, one of the two most powerful nations on earth, now spends about $75,000,000,000 a year for defense, or what is often called “national security.” Yet news reports tell of an increase of 15 percent in the Soviet Union’s expenditures for armaments to counter the military might of the United States.

NO SECURITY IN NUCLEAR WAR

What kind of security has been purchased with this fantastic annual spending by both countries? A congressman in the United States noted recently that if only eighteen of Russia’s giant hydrogen bombs were to hit the United States, three out of five persons could be killed! That would be over 120,000,000 persons! And many, perhaps most, of the survivors would be injured. The congressman showed that each bomb would create a fire storm 170 miles in diameter, an area of about 22,500 square miles!

It is claimed that even this could not destroy the capacity of the United States to retaliate with her own missiles. Thus, even if Russia struck first, she would be devastated by nuclear weapons from the United States. Most of Russia’s citizens would be annihilated.

What kind of security is it when all that the citizens of the two most powerful nations can hope for is that only a small part of the population will be spared from annihilation in a nuclear war?

Also, in a devastating nuclear exchange between larger powers, atomic fallout would kill and cripple people in other nations hundreds of miles away.

LESSON OF HISTORY

Those who look to military might for security would do well to note the lesson of history in this regard. There have been many powerful nations and empires in ancient history. But how many of them have survived as great powers to this day? Not a single one of them! All came down to defeat, the security of their inhabitants shattered!

One such example was the mighty world power of Babylon. The city of Babylon itself was surrounded by massive walls and protected by a huge army. She was thought to be impregnable. Yet when Babylon was near its height of power, God’s prophet Jeremiah foretold this: “Babylon must become piles of stones, the lair of jackals, an object of astonishment and something to whistle at, without an inhabitant.”—Jer. 51:37.

True to God’s prophetic Word, in one night mighty Babylon’s power was smashed by invading Medo-Persian armies in 539 B.C.E. In time Babylon was abandoned and became a mound of rubble. To this day it remains just what God’s Word foretold, a pile of stones, the habitation of wild animals!

What of the mighty Roman Empire that came later? Through military strength she dominated the entire Mediterranean world. But what happened to her? In time her strength was sapped by internal dissension, corruption and immorality. The book An Outline of Ancient History adds:

“The imperial government became so expensive that it could no longer raise taxes sufficient to meet the required expenditures. . . . it kept on spending more than it received, and consequently it ran hopelessly into debt. As a result the currency was inflated until it became practically worthless. . . . hatred and envy ruled everywhere . . . roads were no longer secure.”

The gross corruption, the idolatrous worship of pagan gods and emperors, along with the glorification of pleasure and violence, brought internal decay. Soon, even Rome’s famous military legions could not stop the invaders from the north. The Roman Empire collapsed. Are Babylon and Rome exceptions? Did the rest of the nations fare any better in world history? How much security is there in any system of man-made government? Historian Arnold J. Toynbee, in his book A Study of History, states:

“We are faced with the fact that, of the twenty-one civilizations that have been born alive and have proceeded to grow, thirteen are dead and buried; that seven of the remaining eight are apparently in decline; and that the eighth, which is our own, may also have passed its zenith for all that we as yet know.”

The facts of history testify that there is no true and lasting security for any nation in this system of things. The time comes when each crumbles, either from inside or outside pressures, or both. And, really, it cannot be otherwise. Why not? Because when nations disregard God’s laws for human behavior, they cannot succeed. And for nearly 6,000 years now every nation has eventually done just that! Historian Toynbee says:

“The sense of drift . . . is one of the most painful of the tribulations that afflict the souls of men and women who are called upon to live their lives in an age of social disintegration; and this pain is perhaps a punishment for the sin of idolatry committed through worshipping the creature instead of the Creator; for in this sin we have already found one of the causes of those breakdowns from which the disintegrations of civilizations follow.”

Today, many nations are experiencing a shocking growth of violence and immorality. Without God’s laws to act as a restraint, this is what can be expected.

Do the officials of your country really depend upon God and his laws? Do they show this by encouraging their citizens to follow these laws of God? Do they stimulate interest in God’s Word, the Bible, so that people can line themselves up with its right principles?

You will find, if you look closely, that no world ruler on earth does this. Instead, there is evidence of moral disintegration at high levels of government as well as within the general population. God’s laws are not truly respected and his Word is ignored.

With such conditions prevailing, military might alone is an empty refuge for persons looking for security. God will positively not protect any nation’s security when leaders and people alike ignore his laws and his Word! Instead, God’s Word declares: “If you leave him, he will cast you off forever.”—1 Chron. 28:9.

MILITARY ALLIANCES FAIL

History also shows that military alliances are no guarantee of lasting security.

In the eighth century before the Common Era, King Ahaz of Judah saw Syria and Israel coming to war against him. The Bible says of Ahaz and his people: “His heart and the heart of his people began to quiver.”—Isa. 7:2.

These people professed to worship Jehovah God. On many previous occasions God had protected them when they relied upon him. The prophet Isaiah told them: “Jehovah of armies . . . should be the object of your fear, and he should be the One causing you to tremble.”—Isa. 8:12, 13.

But King Ahaz did not turn to Jehovah for help. Instead, he sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser, king of mighty Assyria, and pleaded: “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me out of the palm of the king of Syria and out of the palm of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” Ahaz then took silver and gold and “sent the king of Assyria a bribe.” (2 Ki. 16:7, 8) God’s Word states of all this: “There was an acting with great unfaithfulness toward Jehovah.”—2 Chron. 28:19.

While Assyria temporarily aided Ahaz, what eventually happened? The Bible notes that in time “the king of Assyria came against him and caused him distress, and did not strengthen him.” The very one Ahaz looked to for help turned on him!—2 Chron. 28:20.

TRUSTING IN JEHOVAH

After King Ahaz died, he was succeeded by Hezekiah. In King Hezekiah’s time, the mighty world power of Assyria again threatened Judah. What would Hezekiah do? Would he imitate faithless Ahaz and look for a military alliance to halt Assyria?

King Sennacherib, monarch of invading Assyria, sent messages to Judah. He urged the people: “Do not let Hezekiah deceive you people, for he is not able to deliver you. And do not let Hezekiah cause you to trust in Jehovah . . . Who are there among all the gods of these lands that have delivered their land out of my hand so that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?”—Isa. 36:13-20.

There might seem to be logic in his appeal. Assyria’s gigantic military machine had already crushed all opposition. Not a single nation or city had been able to withstand her forces.

What did Hezekiah do? “Hezekiah began to pray to Jehovah, saying: ‘O Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, sitting upon the cherubs, you alone are the true God of all the kingdoms of the earth. . . . And now, O Jehovah our God, save us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Jehovah, are God alone.’”—Isa. 37:15-20.

Hezekiah did not resort to military alliances. He turned to Jehovah in faith. With what result? “The angel of Jehovah proceeded to go forth and strike down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. . . . Hence Sennacherib the king of Assyria pulled away and went and returned and took up dwelling in Nineveh.” Never before had the Assyrian army suffered such a devastating defeat! Even boastful Sennacherib was later killed by his own sons while worshiping his false god Nisroch. So Hezekiah trusted in Jehovah. It brought real security.—Isa. 37:36-38.

WHEN JESUS WAS ON EARTH

When Jesus was on earth many turned to the wrong place for security. When the Jewish chief priests and Pharisees noted the miracles that Jesus was performing, they said: “What are we to do, because this man performs many signs? If we let him alone this way, they will all put faith in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”—John 11:47, 48.

The priests were fearful of upsetting their relationship with the world power, Rome. They had turned away from God and to the politicians for security. How foolish! Little did they realize that in spite of such turning to political and military might for security, it would do them no good!

In that very generation, in the year 70 C.E., Roman armies came and devastated Jerusalem. Within a few years most of the land of the Jews was torn asunder. More than a million died, including priests and Pharisees! Thousands more were enslaved. Yet, true Christians who trusted Jehovah were guided to security and lived through that time of desolation. History testifies that they were spared.—Luke 21:20-24.

END OF ALL MILITARY MIGHT NEAR

Today, the nations are armed to the teeth with fantastic weapons of destruction. Each year this military preparation escalates. But just as Jehovah wrecked the military power of Assyria, so he will grind into the dust today’s military-political forces that work against real security.

Soon, God himself will fight the last war that this system of things will ever see. At this war, called Armageddon in the Bible (Rev. 16:14, 16), God will use his almighty power to bring to nothing the military and political elements that have brought such havoc to the earth. God invites “all the birds that fly in midheaven” to this occasion. Why? The Bible states: “Come here, be gathered together to the great evening meal of God, that you may eat the fleshy parts of kings and the fleshy parts of military commanders and the fleshy parts of strong men and the fleshy parts of horses and of those seated upon them, and the fleshy parts of all, of freemen as well as of slaves and of small ones and great.”—Rev. 19:17, 18.

Thus, God clearly warns that all who do not trust in him for security will be led to disappointment. They will be destroyed along with the wicked system of things they prefer to support.

But what of those who do turn to Jehovah, who do put their trust in him? God’s Word promises them: “Seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of the earth, who have practiced His own judicial decision. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.”—Zeph. 2:3.

The only real security in the approaching time of trouble sure to come is to be found in Jehovah God. He can, and will, protect those who turn to him for security. These he will preserve alive into a righteous new system of things where they “will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.” Such earth-wide peace will exist in that new system of things because Jehovah promises that “the bow and the sword and war I shall break out of the land, and I will make them lie down in security.”—Ps. 37:11; Hos. 2:18.

Shocking Religious Persecution in Malawi

SUDDENLY persecution of a zealous religious minority has again broken out. It has flared up with a violence and brutality that one associates more with the Dark Ages than with the last third of this twentieth century. During the year just ended thousands of dedicated Christians have had their homes, stores and places of worship burned to the ground or otherwise destroyed because they endeavored to live in harmony with the Bible. They have been robbed, over a thousand women have been raped, men have been beaten unconscious and a number of them have been killed. Where? In Malawi, a narrow, landlocked country in Central Africa, somewhat to the southeast.

Yes, it is in this new nation of some four million inhabitants, formerly known as Nyasaland, that this shocking religious persecution is taking place. At Lilongwe in central Malawi, 170 homes of these Christians were burned down in three nights. In the Fort Johnston district, slightly to the south, 34 homes and 18 food storage places were burned down toward the end of October. At Mbalame on October 27 the Christians of two congregations all had their homes burned down while they, including the women, were stripped of their clothes and brutally beaten. In some of these places persecutors used trucks to haul away the confiscated household furnishings of these Christians before destroying their homes.

A traveling minister in the country wrote: “On October 27 I was robbed of all my possessions. . . . My wife and I were badly beaten up. Hundreds of our Christian brothers have had their homes destroyed. Many places of worship have been demolished.”

In one place a number of these Christians were beaten unconscious and one of them placed on top of a pile of wood, which was then set afire, all at the instigation of a member of Malawi’s parliament. But then this politician began to have second thoughts about the matter and so had the unconscious Christian hurriedly pulled off the pile.

In another place one night a group of these Christians was awakened by Congress Party officials. The men were beaten and slashed with sticks and pangas [machetes] and then were forced to look on while ten of their women were raped. Two of the women were pregnant, one of whom later had a miscarriage as a result.

Late in October a large number of Christian women from the Mlanje area were assaulted and raped, and on October 25, 1967, a fifteen-year-old girl at Mkuwila Village, because of refusing to compromise her religious convictions, was tied to a tree and raped six times. How sadistic these persecutors were can be seen from the fact that they even forced a wooden plug into one Christian woman.

This shocking persecution has sent many of these Christians to hospitals, and at least five of them were killed up to the end of November 1967. Hundreds have fled to the bush wilderness for safety while literally thousands of others have taken refuge in the neighboring Portuguese province of Mozambique, where they have been provided with food and shelter.

The Times, of Blantyre, Malawi’s chief industrial city, situated in the southern part of the country, in its issue of November 9 told of 3,000 of these Christians appearing in court at Lilongwe, charged with being members of an unlawful society. Checking this report, two missionaries visited Lilongwe. There they found 2,400 of them in prison and learned that five babies had been born there and that 800 Christians were being held at the police station. Although most of these had spent the night sleeping under an open sky and it had rained, they were in good spirits, determined to stand firm. Truly, such faith is commendable, but is not a government that treats them so harshly making itself an object of shame before the world?

Who Are the Victims?

These persecuted victims belong to a religious minority group known as the Christian witnesses of Jehovah, who are noted world wide for their strong Bible-based faith. No doubt you know some of Jehovah’s witnesses in your community and have observed that they put their religion first in their lives, even as Jesus commanded his followers to do when he said: “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness.” (Matt. 6:33) The same is true of Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi.

These Christians have been found in Malawi ever since World War I and have been organized for the preaching of “this good news of the kingdom” since 1933 by the Watch Tower Society. (Matt. 24:14) By August 1967 there were 18,519 Christian witnesses of Jehovah in Malawi actively carrying on their educational work with comparatively little interference. When they held their “Disciple-making” District Assemblies in the summer of 1967, a total of 25,830 persons, or upward of 7,000 more than there were Witnesses in the country, attended and listened with interest. Among those present were government observers who could not help but be impressed by the love, unity and peacefulness manifested by the Witnesses, as many thousands of persons from differing tribes mingled together just like one big family.

Why the Persecution?

Since this is the way the witnesses of Jehovah conduct themselves, why, then, all this violent persecution of them in Malawi? One of the main reasons is that the Witnesses refuse to buy membership cards in Malawi’s Congress Party as well as refuse to buy and wear badges with the picture of the President of Malawi, Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda. Other religious organizations, Catholic, Protestant and Moslem, have all yielded to pressure in these respects, but Jehovah’s witnesses have not. Why? Because of their strictly adhering to the Word of God.

As Christian witnesses of Jehovah they follow the example of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who kept free from the politics of his day. He said that his followers were “no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.” (John 17:16) And before the Roman political ruler of Judea, Pontius Pilate, he testified: “My kingdom is no part of this world. If my kingdom were part of this world, my attendants would have fought that I should not be delivered up to the Jews. But, as it is, my kingdom is not from this source.” (John 18:36) Previously, when the Jews wanted to seize him to make him king, he eluded them and retreated alone into a mountain.—John 6:15.

Yes, Jesus preached and gave his allegiance to “the kingdom of the heavens,” “the kingdom of God.” Following Jesus’ footsteps as sincerely dedicated Christians, Jehovah’s witnesses have no alternative but to keep separate, “without spot from the world.” Since they can give their allegiance only to Jehovah God and his kingdom, they feel obligated to refrain from participating in any action that gives such devotion to political leaders. So they remain neutral as to the political affairs of Malawi, even as they do regarding the political affairs of every other land in which they happen to live. It is because of this Christian neutrality that they are being persecuted in Malawi.—Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:15; Jas. 1:27.

Who Are the Persecutors?

The people of Malawi are known for being a peace-loving people, and they know that the Christian witnesses of Jehovah are also lovers of peace. Then why the persecution? It is due to the spirit of nationalism that has inflamed so many of the people of this country, especially the youth who are members of the Youth League. They bear a resemblance to the Nazi youths who committed so many depredations against the Jews when Hitler was in power in Germany, and to the Red Guards who have terrorized so many in Communist China who, they felt, were not sufficiently nationalistic. To be good citizens, in the eyes of these groups, it is not enough to pay taxes and obey all the laws of the land, which Jehovah’s witnesses have been faithfully doing, but everyone must now become a member of the Malawi Congress Party and prove it by buying a membership card and wearing a badge with President H. Kamuzu Banda’s picture on it.

Even months before Malawi gained its independence on July 6, 1964, the Christian witnesses of Jehovah, from January to March 1964, experienced a wave of brutal violence and ruthless persecution because of their stand in this matter. At that time 1,081 of their homes and more than 100 of their Kingdom Halls were burned down or otherwise demolished. Also, 588 fields of maize (corn), millet, beans, casava and cotton were destroyed. Many Witnesses were hospitalized, women were raped, and eight Witnesses died from beatings or were killed outright. For weeks many of these persecuted Christians had to sleep out in the open wilderness bush with hardly anything to eat, while enduring the rigors of the rainy season and the threat of snakes and other wild animals.

At that time Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi through their representatives did their best to try to reason with the responsible ones in government positions so they would call a halt to this violent persecution of innocent men, women and children. On one occasion they had a meeting with the then Minister of Home Affairs, Yatuta Chisiza (who later rebelled against Dr. Banda, the president, and recently was shot by Malawi’s security forces). He made it clear that he was highly displeased that the Witnesses were the only ones that refused to buy Malawi Congress Party membership cards and he told the spokesman for the Witnesses that unless he changed his mind he would “experience a very sad accident.” Here again it was to be seen that the Witnesses were being persecuted because of their neutral stand regarding national politics.

However, in spite of the unsatisfactory manner in which this meeting with Minister Chisiza, as well as a previous one with President Banda, ended, the situation in Malawi for the Witnesses improved. For the most part they were able to return to their villages and rebuild their homes and Kingdom Halls. Many of those who had once mistreated Jehovah’s witnesses now came and asked forgiveness, and a number of them are now Witnesses themselves. During this time the Witnesses in Malawi might be said to have “entered into a period of peace, being built up,” much as did the early Christians under similar circumstances.—Acts 9:31.

“A Bolt Out of the Blue”

In view of the reasonably favorable conditions under which the Christian witnesses of Jehovah were able to carry on their ministerial activities in Malawi during 1965 and 1966, it was indeed like “a bolt out of the blue” when the Witnesses tuned in their radios on April 23, 1967, and heard President H. Kamuzu Banda make an attack upon them. In a message of about a half hour in length, in which he discussed various problems facing his nation, he spent one-third of the time making an extended attack upon the Witnesses. Among other things he stated:

“I have been alarmed by the reports reaching me from almost every district, of deliberate provocation of my supporters, members of the Malawi Congress Party, particularly members of the Youth League and Young Pioneers by Jehovah’s Witness. This deliberate provocation of the members of my party . . . takes various forms. One form is for Jehovah’s Witness themselves to refuse to pay tax. But instead of just stopping at refusal to pay tax themselves, the Jehovah’s Witness stop or try to stop others from paying tax. And when Party officials tell them not to tell people not to pay tax, they become deliberately abusive to Party Leaders. . . . Another form is for the Jehovah’s Witness to stop members of the Malawi Congress Party from renewing their membership cards or buying new Malawi Congress Party membership cards. Again, when the leaders of the Malawi Congress Party . . . tell them not to stop the people from renewing their Malawi Congress Party membership cards or buying new cards, Jehovah’s Witness say, ‘Yes, I want you to beat me, you cannot stop me from stopping them. I am doing this deliberately so that you can beat me, so that I can take you to the police.’ . . . The government will protect every law-abiding citizen from molestation by anyone and everyone . . . but it will not give licence to Jehovah’s Witness to provoke anyone. . . . I want to make this quite clear. Jehovah’s Witness must stop provoking others, provoking people. And if they do not stop and they continue doing that, then they must not complain if and when they are beaten up.”

Known for Paying Their Taxes

The charges that the Christian witnesses of Jehovah do not pay their taxes and that they try to keep others from paying their taxes are not true. Repeatedly their literature points out the Scriptural obligation of Christians to pay taxes as required by the governments of this system of things, for Jesus ordered the paying of taxes when he said, “Pay back, therefore, Caesar’s things to Caesar, but God’s things to God.” And so did the apostle Paul when he wrote to the Christians at Rome: “Render to all their dues, to him who calls for the tax, the tax; to him who calls for the tribute, the tribute.”—Matt. 22:15-22; Rom. 13:7.

In fact, so well known is the reputation of Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi as taxpayers that when Dr. Banda accused them of not paying taxes many persons openly disagreed with him. More than that, if any Christian witness deliberately refused to pay taxes or interfered with others’ paying their taxes, he would be disfellowshiped or excommunicated from his congregation. In this regard it is indeed of interest that one of the false charges brought against Jesus Christ, the Son of God, at the time of his arrest was, “This man we found subverting our nation and forbidding the paying of taxes to Caesar.” (Luke 23:2) Now the government of Malawi has chosen to pursue the same course as those men who brought about the death of Jesus Christ.

Those familiar with Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi report that the Witnesses not only conscientiously pay their taxes but also shoulder their share of the burdens of the so-called self-help projects of the government by helping to build schools, hospitals, and so forth. In fact, Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi have been so exemplary in supporting these projects that many village headmen and chiefs have publicly praised the Witnesses for their conscientious efforts in these matters. They have even been praised by many government officials and native authorities for being the best taxpayers in the country. And when a Portuguese official checked on a large group of those who had been forced to flee to Mozambique he found that every last one of them was able to produce his Tax Receipt, thus exposing as a deliberate lie the charge that they “refuse to pay tax.”

No Evidence of Provocation

The charge that the Witnesses deliberately provoke others to attack them is equally without foundation in fact. Remember, these nationalistic youths and others did not stop with merely beating up the witnesses of Jehovah, but carted away the possessions of the Witnesses by the truckload. They burned down the homes and Kingdom Halls of the Witnesses, raped women and even killed men. Surely it strains credulity to charge that the Witnesses deliberately invited these depredations against themselves. The very fact that thousands of the Witnesses took refuge in Mozambique of itself stamps the charge of provocation as false.

Furthermore, there is legal evidence to the contrary, for this was not the first time the charge was made. Thus acting judge Mr. L. M. E. Emejulu, in the judgment of the Criminal Case No. 46 of 1964, when Dafter Biziweck and seven others were convicted of the murder of Elton Mwachande, one of Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi, said:

“I see no evidence of provocation. It is true that Jehovah’s Witnesses determinedly propagated their faith and sought to win converts, but they were alive to their civic duties and they did all they were asked to do, including community development. They only refused to join any political party. . . . There is no evidence that they ever forced or tried to force anyone to accept their religion. The evidence is to the contrary. The Constitution guarantees them the right to belong or not to belong to any political party. I find no evidence of provocation.”

Regarding this particular murder trial The Glasgow Herald (Scotland) on Thursday, October 29, 1964, reported:

“Eight Sentenced to Death. Murder of Jehovah’s Witness. Blantyre, Malawi. Wednesday.—Eight men, including three officials of the Malawi Congress Party, were sentenced to death by the High Court this week for the murder of a Jehovah’s Witness who refused to register for the General Elections. Mr. Elton Barnett Mwachande was ‘cut down and killed,’ the evidence showed, at Mlanje last February when Jehovah’s Witnesses fled from men who were burning houses of people who refused to register.—Reuter.”

Witnesses Banned

Although the position of Jehovah’s witnesses had thus been legally upheld in 1964, on September 18, 1967, The Times, of Blantyre, Malawi, carried a large front-page headline: “MALAWI MAY OUTLAW JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES.” It reported that the Congress Party, in its annual meeting held in mid-September (at which President Banda and all his cabinet ministers were present), had passed twelve Resolutions, the eighth of which stated: “Recommend strongly that the Jehovah’s Witnesses denomination be declared illegal in this country as the attitude of its adherents is not only inimical to the progress of this country, but also so negative in every way that it endangers the stability and peace and calm which is essential for the smooth running of our State.”

The Times also reported Dr. Banda’s comments on this Resolution, which were broadcast to the entire nation:

“They are causing trouble everywhere . . . The Government may pass a law in such a way that every area or district can decide for itself whether it wants Jehovah’s Witnesses or not. If the people in any area say ‘No,’ then there would be no Jehovah’s Witness there. Any area would have the right to decide for itself and if the Jehovah’s Witness did not pack up they would go to prison.”

“Causing trouble everywhere”—how that calls to mind a similar charge in apostolic times! That Christian missionary and apostle to the nations, Paul, was likewise falsely accused of stirring up trouble everywhere.—Acts 24:2-9.

The Resolution that the Malawi Congress Party had adopted at its political convention recommending that Jehovah’s witnesses be banned was not discussed nor debated in Malawi’s fifty-member Parliament, 90 percent of whom profess to be Christians. Moreover, instead of leaving it to each district, the government decided to ban Jehovah’s witnesses throughout the land, even as reported by The Times, October 23, 1967, under large bold-faced headlines: “MALAWI BANS ‘DANGER SECT.’” It went on to say:

“The Jehovah’s Witnesses religious organization has been declared ‘dangerous to the good government of Malawi’ and is therefore now an unlawful society. This announcement is made in a special Government Gazette Supplement published at the weekend. The notice No. 235, is signed personally by the President Dr. Banda, and declares that the action is taken under Section 70 (2) (ii) of the Malawi Penal Code. The effect of the announcement is that the Jehovah’s Witnesses may no longer hold meetings, sell or distribute literature or collect money . . . The law affecting unlawful societies states that anyone who manages or assists in the management of an unlawful society is guilty of an offense and is liable to imprisonment for 14 years. Other sections of the law state that no member may allow a meeting of the society or of members of the society to be held in ‘any house, building or place’ belonging to him or occupied by him. The penalty here is a jail term for seven years. The Penal Code also provides for the search by police of any premises belonging or occupied by the society or its members. No member may display signs or ‘shout or utter any slogan or make any sign’ associated with the society. The law also provides for the appointment of an officer to wind up the affairs of an unlawful society.”

Two weeks later, on November 7, the eight European and American Witness missionaries, some of whom had been in the country for as long as ten years, were given the ultimatum: “You are hereby ordered to leave Malawi within 24 hours of the serving of this Notice and Order unless you sooner appeal to a Magistrate.” At the same time the modern and well-equipped headquarters’ building of Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi was taken over by the government and put under police control. All literature published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society was confiscated.

However, the missionaries, knowing that they had done nothing wrong, made no move to leave the country voluntarily. The following day the police came and arrested all eight of them. Four were at once put on planes under police escort. The remaining four were held in Chichiri Prison from whence, two days later, they were deported to Mauritius.

The Times, November 9, carried a large front-page headline, “3,000 IN COURT AS LEADERS LEAVE,” in which also were published pictures and the details of the deportation. It further reported that a member of the Malawi Parliament, J. D. Gunda, “over the weekend warned former members of the banned Jehovah’s Witnesses religious sect of the heavy penalties which would be imposed on those who deliberately violated the Law by continuing to be members of the proscribed organization.”

The Charges Change

Although Jehovah’s witnesses had been charged with being a dangerous organization that is lawless and provokes others to lawless deeds, they are now being accused as simply being “foolish and stupid”—surely no great crime! Thus The Malawi News, the mouthpiece for the government, devoted the entire upper third of the front page of its issue of November 24, 1967, to headlines about Jehovah’s witnesses, such as “JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES ARE FOOLISH AND STUPID.” “THEY ARE NOT WORTH THE BOTHER OF ANYBODY.”

Among other things it reported: “The President Ngwazi [the Conquerer] said that these people were foolish and stupid because if they did not believe in the government but belonged to heaven why did they send their children to school, come to hospitals when sick, and sought protection from the police after ‘one small scratch.’” But ridicule is no substitute for logic, nor can it nullify the facts. As taxpayers Jehovah’s witnesses have the perfect right to send their children to public schools, they have the right to come to government hospitals when they are sick and to appeal to the police for protection when attacked. But it may well be asked, Is it just “one small scratch” when houses are robbed and burned down, when women are raped and men are beaten unconscious and even killed?

Why should Jehovah’s witnesses be banned one month because of being a dangerous sect, and then the very next month be described simply as “foolish and stupid”? Further, if the Witnesses are truly “not worth the bother of anybody,” why has the government taken such drastic action against them?

It is evident that the government’s position is not a consistent one. Why? Because the charges are not true. The fact is that a campaign of public vilification is now being carried on in a desperate endeavor to justify the actions of the government before the public.

The President of Malawi

Since such shocking persecutions are going on in Malawi, some readers might think that President Banda is merely a provincial chieftain who knows little of democratic principles. But such an opinion would be mistaken. Not only has Dr. Banda had the full benefits of a Western education—having attended three institutions of higher learning in the United States and practiced medicine in London for seven years—but he has also had much contact with Christendom’s religions. It was the Methodists, we are told, that helped him get to the United States in the first place and that put him through high school. He has also been an elder of the Church of Scotland, one of the stricter Protestant denominations. He has said, “I am a man of God.”

At a private luncheon with U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, June 8, 1967, he stated that his sentiments were those of the man who once said: “I know not what course others may take, as for me, give me liberty or give me death.” He further told President Johnson: “I would like you to know, Mr. President, that whatever it may cost me, I always do what I think is the right thing according to my conscience.”—United States Department of State Bulletin, July 10, 1967.

Dr. Banda has been highly praised by Europeans. At the time of Malawi’s gaining her independence a prominent British official stated: “Thank heaven for Dr. Banda; he is a man of unblemished integrity, perhaps the most remarkable living African.” (The Christian Century, June 17, 1964) European officials employed in Malawi, who are the backbone of trading and government administration, have been highly pleased with Dr. Banda. They have said: “You can be anything you like here except a Communist. We dread to think of anything happening to Banda.” (Newsweek, July 8, 1966) But now a person cannot legally be one of Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi!

It was to the well-educated president of Malawi, Dr. Banda, that a letter was sent on November 4, 1967, by the presiding minister of Jehovah’s witnesses in Malawi. The letter called the President’s attention to the shocking persecution of the Christian witnesses of Jehovah, and respectfully requested him to use his power to stop this violence. It reminded him that he had said that “this government will protect every law-abiding citizen from molestation by anyone and everyone.” In closing, it urged him to use all his “powers to stop such acts of violence against innocent people.” But he turned a deaf ear to this plea.

Public’s Reaction to Ban

How have the common people of Malawi felt about this ban? Here again we can find a Biblical comparison. Just as in the days of Jesus’ apostles the ruling powers among the Jews banned their preaching whereas the common people heard them gladly, so in Malawi. For one thing, the radical nationalistic youth groups, far from being popular with the people, are feared by them. Some of these common people, when they heard of the ban of Jehovah’s witnesses, exclaimed: “Now we know that we must be coming to the end of the world, when God’s people are forbidden in our country!” And when a senior police officer heard of the deportation order for the foreign missionaries of Jehovah’s witnesses, he asked with excitement in his voice, “Where is all this going to end?”—Acts 5:28; 6:7.

After the first warning of a ban on Jehovah’s witnesses, a prominent member of the Malawi Congress Party went during the middle of the night, even as Nicodemus came to Jesus under the cover of night, and asked: “What must I do to become one of Jehovah’s witnesses? I would rather be dying in prison with you than on the outside with no Jehovah’s witnesses around.” (John 3:1, 2) On the last day that the missionaries were still in Malawi, a young man came to their headquarters’ office in Blantyre to ask forgiveness for the way he had mistreated the Witnesses. He said that from now on he was going to change his ways and expressed a heartfelt desire to study the Bible with one of the Witnesses.

Fighting Against God

Jehovah’s witnesses are not going to quit serving God just because their Christian course is not approved by President Banda. They are like the first-century Christians who put obedience to God ahead of obedience to men. When they were haled before the rulers who said to them: “We positively ordered you not to keep teaching on the basis of this name, and yet, look! you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you are determined to bring the blood of this man [Jesus Christ] upon us,” the apostles fearlessly replied: “WE MUST OBEY GOD AS RULER RATHER THAN MEN.”—Acts 5:28, 29.

On the other hand, neither will they rise up in revolt against the government and repay evil for evil. The weapons that these Christians use are not fleshly but spiritual, primarily the Word of God. They recognize the obligation to imitate the model their Leader, Jesus Christ, set for them, concerning whom it is written: “When he was being reviled, he did not go reviling in return. When he was suffering, he did not go threatening.” They do not seek to avenge themselves but “yield place to the wrath,” knowing it is written: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says Jehovah.”—1 Pet. 2:21, 23; Rom. 12:19.

No, it is not from Jehovah’s witnesses that President Banda and his supporters have anything to fear, but from Almighty God himself. They have set themselves in opposition to Jehovah God and made themselves fighters against God. (Acts 5:38, 39) But they do not need to continue in that course. They can change. Will they? That is a question that must be faced, not only by Dr. Banda, but by every member of his cabinet, by every member of Malawi’s Parliament as well as by every official in Malawi. Yes, that question must be faced by everyone who supports him as a member of his political party.

Others Care What Happens

The President of Malawi may believe that what he does as president of Malawi is his business, and not that of the rest of the world. But ought he not be helped to realize that the rest of the world takes note when justice is trampled underfoot and innocent Christians are cruelly abused? Ought he not to have forcefully driven home to him the fact that he has not made himself more popular either with his own people or with right-minded persons in any other part of the world by the action he has taken?

If you are a person who prizes freedom, truth and righteousness, it is your privilege to speak out on behalf of those who are so cruelly mistreated because of their faith in God. Letters of protest may be directed to:

His Excellency

Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda

President of Malawi

P.O. Box 53

Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. J. D. Msonthi, M.P.

Minister of Transportation and Communication

Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. G. W. Kumtumanji, M.P.

Minister of Local Government

and Minister of Health

Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. M. Q. Y. Chibambe, M.P.

Regional Minister for the Northern Region

Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. A. M. Nyasulu, M.P.

Minister of State

in the Ministry of External Affairs

P.O. Box 943,

Blantyre, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. G. Chakuamba, M.P.

Minister of Education

Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. Aleke Banda

Minister of Economic Affairs and of Works

Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. J. T. Kumbeweza, M.P.

Regional Minister for Central Region

Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. J. Z. U. Tembo, M.P.

Minister of Finance

Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. A. A. Muwalo

Minister of State in the President’s Office

Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

The Hon. A. B. J. Chiwanda

Minister of Labor

Zomba, Malawi, Central Africa

Parents’ Moral Responsibility

“Go on bringing them up in the discipline and authoritative advice of Jehovah.”—Eph. 6:4.

1. In what respects do human parents differ considerably from animal parents?

HUMAN parents are not in a class with animals that give suck to their young, protect them until they can forage for themselves and then separate perhaps never to see them again, and without further concern as to their future. Human parents with a right sense of responsibility are definitely concerned about the present and future welfare of their children. In fact, as long as they live they will keep track of their children, showing keen interest in their successes, deep sympathy for their setbacks.

2. Why does God require so very much more of human parents?

² All of this is quite rightly so, for human parents who exercise the God-given, procreative function should bear in mind that man was created originally “in God’s image.” (Gen. 1:27) God, therefore, requires much more of those creatures made in his own image than he does of animals. Human children are born equipped with latent powers of intelligence, thought, discrimination. They have the capacity for love, and they have an innate longing to receive love, not an adoring love, but a steady, dependable, principled love. The child’s powers and capacities need to be developed, molded and trained in such a way as to bring God’s favor, the only sure way of success.—Prov. 8:35.

3. With the birth of the first child, what responsibility now devolves upon the parents?

³ When parents produce their first child a family has come into existence, one of those “families of the ground” that are envisioned in God’s promise to Abraham as blessing themselves by their course of action in relation to God and his provided Seed, Christ Jesus. (Gen. 12:1-3) From that time on parents should take the lead in planning, thinking, working and playing as a family. As a family they should receive instruction from God and serve him. (Josh. 24:15) When the children grow up, get married and themselves become parents, they should always be able to look back with gratitude and respect to the ones who gave them their start in life.

AVOID COMMON FALLACIES

4. Why cannot parents count too much on the innocence or guilelessness of their young children?

⁴ Parents who are truly Christian will refuse to entertain the sentimental notion that their own children are little angels. They are not. They are imperfect and very immature humans, of whom the Bible, God’s own Word, says: “Foolishness is tied up with the heart of a boy; the rod of discipline is what will remove it far from him.” (Prov. 22:15) And this holds true of little girls also. Even in young children it is only too true that “the heart is more treacherous than anything else and is desperate.” (Jer. 17:9) They are governed mainly by their feelings, their fleshly desires, and are capable of deceit and trickery to gain their ends. As one psychiatrist expressed the matter: “Potentially delinquent children have powers of persuasion and observation beyond their years.” Parents have the responsibility to mold and train the thinking patterns of their children.

5. What unwise course do some parents pursue, and why is it unwise?

⁵ Unwise parents, those not guided by Jehovah’s counsel, dote upon their children, indulge their every whim, placate them and give in to their tantrums. How unwise at that early stage to give the child the idea that he will be yielded to all through his life! Parents sometimes justify this course by claiming they do not want to give the infant the idea that he is not loved. So they fail to reprimand, punish or otherwise discipline him properly. God, who knows much better, advises: “The one holding back his rod is hating his son, but the one loving him is he that does look for him with discipline.” (Prov. 13:24) Children long for correction and discipline, and if they do not get it they will conclude that nobody cares about them.

6, 7. In the matter of giving generously, what principle do some parents overlook, and with what lamentable results?

⁶ Another foolish error into which some parents fall is to determine that they will give their children all the things that they themselves did not enjoy in youth, undisciplined freedom, toys aplenty, generous cash allowances, and so forth. Soon, with heartache, they come to realize that their children have no more appreciation for a roomful of toys than they themselves had for one old broken doll. At this as at all other stages of life the principle holds true that a satisfying life, any life, ‘does not result from the things possessed.’—Luke 12:15.

⁷ So often, parents end up spoiling their children. They overlook the practical rule that gifts should be in proper proportion to the ability and sense of the recipient to make use of them. (Matt. 25:15) Money that is not going to be spent wisely is not a good gift. It is the kind of gift that adds sorrow eventually, for it tends to produce irresponsibility. The child reasons, “There is more where this came from,” and then goes ahead and spends it foolishly.

8. What far outweighs all the material gifts that parents could give their children?

⁸ Far more valuable to the child than the richest of material gifts is the time that loving parents devote to his welfare in the way of discussion, answering of questions, training in the processes of right thinking. At a later stage of life it is easy to distinguish between children who have been starved for parental companionship and those who have been blessed with it. The latter prove to be more balanced, less childish, mature in their thinking.

ADOPT GOD’S COUNSEL

9. What choice must parents begin to make for their children from an early stage in their lives?

⁹ The Christian parent who has genuine love for his child is concerned about training him to be the recipient, not of the rewards of a selfish world, but of the favor and blessing of the Creator. What value could there be to teaching him the way of worldly success? The Bible expressly advises: “Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world.”—1 John 2:15, 16.

10. How does God’s Word say to bring up children, and where is his “authoritative advice” to be found?

¹⁰ Parents, fathers and mothers, need to adopt the divinely-inspired counsel transmitted by the apostle Paul: “Go on bringing them up in the discipline and authoritative advice of Jehovah.” (Eph. 6:4) That matchless advice is to be found distributed throughout the pages of the Holy Scriptures. There is no other dependable source in which to find the true and righteous standard of conduct that is pleasing to Jehovah God.

11. What questions might parents ask themselves with benefit, in considering their qualifications for their job?

¹¹ Parents do well to examine their own qualifications for this job. Are they themselves qualified to teach, or at least putting forth systematic effort to become better qualified? Are they leading a clean, godly life as followers of Christ Jesus? Do they have the appreciation of God’s worshipfulness to impart to their child? The most vital part of the teaching program in the home is that given by example. Only certain hours may be given to oral teaching, but the child is forever scrutinizing his parents and patterning his course in accord with what he observes.

12. What continuing course of instruction is indispensable to all parents if they are to prove successful?

¹² Before they can give out beneficial spiritual instruction parents must take it in. So there is urgent reason to schedule hours for personal study, study that is undertaken with a view to being able to pass it on effectively to the children. At regular assemblies at the Kingdom Hall it is possible to observe a great variety of lively and interest-capturing teaching methods. If the parents cultivate an interest in what is going on in the world and then awaken the interest of the family, it should be possible to combat any tendency for the children to become self-centered.

URGENT REASONS FOR PARENTAL ACTION

13. What urgent reasons are there for parents to undertake the family-training program without delay?

¹³ There are urgent reasons why godly parents should no longer delay getting a family training program under way. It is estimated that 90 percent of young children today are regular readers of comic books in which, not comedy, but horror and violence are paraded before their impressionable minds. Children, too, spend many more hours than do parents scanning the TV screen and learning in a graphic manner the selfishnesses, the infidelities and the corruptions of the adult world. Sex is frequently depicted in its uglier manifestations, and certainly with a lot of sloppy sentimentality.

14, 15. Why must the youngsters have adequate training at a very tender age?

¹⁴ When the time comes for the children to go to school and spend many hours away from a godly home, will they be adequately protected against the corruption of worldly attitudes? They need to be, for this world presents a most degraded picture. Sex, smoking and narcotics are already common topics of conversation among schoolchildren. The situation is intensified at the high-school level. According to statistics, half of the young girls who marry are no longer virgin, and young men do not seem to care whether they are marrying a virgin or not. In many high schools the boy or girl who turns down invitations to have sex adventures is considered socially backward.

¹⁵ Senseless crimes, sadistic brutalities and defiance behavior mark the rising generation, while indulgent parents look on helplessly, little realizing that theirs is a good share of the blame for these developments. Mental imbalance and suicidal tendencies are showing up among young people as never before. As one writer expressed it, people today “seem less able to contain their anxieties, less able to tolerate frustrations than was true when children were reared according to more rigid codes of behavior.”

16. What is the obvious reason for the sex revolution that has today turned human society upside down?

¹⁶ People profess amazement at the sex revolution that is taking place in our midst today, a revolution marked by the fact that more and more husbands and wives are tolerating infidelity in their mates, living a life of surface respectability as though they were the best mates in the world, but surreptitiously, and sometimes even with the tacit consent of the mate, carrying on extramarital affairs. There is no mystery about the source of this kind of trouble. Such adulterers and adulteresses are simply convicting their own parents of failure to ground them in the Bible’s teaching on cleanness and honesty.

17. How are the social reformers and clergymen reacting to the great tide of immorality now engulfing society?

¹⁷ Modern social reformers, including clergymen, are advocating the legalizing of adultery, fornication, sodomy and other sex perversions. They are, in effect, throwing up their hands in helplessness before today’s encroaching tide of immorality. Having lost faith in God’s Word, if they ever did have any, they are ready to adopt without a struggle the supine policy: If you cannot beat them, join them. They still maintain the outward pretenses of godly morality, but they have proved false to the power of godliness for cleaning up immoral conditions.—2 Tim. 3:5.

18. To what extent are parents responsible for todays bumper crop of delinquents?

¹⁸ In a report that took a professor of Harvard Law School about ten years to compile, note the following statements as to parental responsibility for today’s delinquents: “There are mothers of ample income who neglect their children just as much as tenement mothers do, and there are fathers who might as well not be there, for all the time they spend with their children. . . . Fifty percent of the delinquents studied began to show clear signs of maladjustment and bad behavior at the age of 8 and under. . . . World War II children are more and more left alone, and go as they please. In the home and outside, the trend has been steadily toward more permissiveness, that is, placing fewer restraints and limits on behavior.”

19. Do juveniles themselves discern the cause of today’s moral breakdown?

¹⁹ Perhaps one of the most melancholy features of this era of lawlessness is the fact that many teen-agers have been able to assess the cause and point unerringly to the culprits. Not long ago the magazine This Week conducted an opinion survey among teen-agers, and here are some of the findings: “The significant fact, we found, is that teen-agers respect discipline. They look to parents for guidance—and firm guidance. In our survey an amazing 86 percent of the teen-agers gave the opinion that a prime cause of juvenile delinquency is the absence of correct example, discipline, and leadership in the home.”—Vital Speeches, June 15, 1965, page 526.

20. What is the fact that above all others marks this time as one of greatest urgency to parents and children?

²⁰ By all the evidences this system of things is hastening to its final confrontation with the God of justice at Armageddon. Parents and children who fail to gain the “mark on their foreheads,” that is, an adequate appreciation of God’s moral standard, are sure to suffer. Parents will be held accountable for their children, and children will suffer for the failure of their parents. The prophet overheard the instruction issued to the angelic executioners: “Do not feel any compassion. Old man, young man and virgin and little child and women you should kill off—to a ruination. . . . Their way I shall certainly bring upon their own head.”—Ezek. 9:4-6, 10.

DISCHARGING THE RESPONSIBILITIES

21, 22. How should parents deport themselves, and why?

²¹ In view of these urgent reasons, parents need to take stock of how they are presiding over their own households. (1 Tim. 3:4) Do the children see and hear them wrangling and quarreling? Do the parents shout and scream at the children and in bad temper inflict excessive punishment? Can the children truthfully charge that the parents are provocative and dictatorial? (Eph. 6:4) Do the parents give an excellent example to children in being tidy, clean, honest in every way and morally above reproach? Impartial self-examination on such matters can be most beneficial.

²² From time to time it will be advantageous for father and mother to talk privately about their joint responsibility, so they will always be able to present to the children a united administrative front. Otherwise, children can take advantage of differences and play one parent off against another. Youngsters are sharp to detect whether parental unity is genuine or simply a veneer, and they are quick to exploit a situation to their own advantage.

23. What fine example should fathers of families look to and follow?

²³ The father is the proper head in each household. If Christian, he should look to Christ Jesus as the perfect example of husbandly ownership and tender fatherhood. (Eph. 5:23) No doubt about it, Jesus had the respect of his whole family of followers. Why? Because his attitude and conduct were based on principled love. He gave them of his time, he trained them, he reprimanded them, he encouraged them by frequent commendation.

24. What is the mother’s role in connection with authority in the family?

²⁴ In the family circle mother should be the foremost supporter and respecter of the father’s position, whether he is Christian or not. As perfect Eve was provided to be a suitable helper for Adam, so a wife’s proper role in the household is to promote, not impede, her husband’s discharge of his responsibilities. The mother who gives evidence of genuine respect for her husband is, in fact, aiding her children to appreciate the importance of complying with God’s arrangements in everything.—Eph. 5:33.

25, 26. What are some of the moral precepts on which children should be thoroughly grounded in the home? What will help?

²⁵ The Bible and its principles should be recognized as the constitutional law of the Christian home. What God’s Word has to say on any issue should be considered as final and binding on all members, parents as well as children. Children need to be taught, for example, that “everyone liking and carrying on a lie” is abominable to Jehovah. (Rev. 22:15) Theft, too, in all its various manifestations, should be seen as a violation of God’s moral standard. (Eph. 4:28) From a tender age they should be helped to understand that happiness and peace can be maintained only by frank, honest, just dealings, inside and outside the home. Cheating at school or failing to give honest return for secular wages should be exposed for what they are, a combination of lying and stealing.

²⁶ As soon as it is feasible, young people should have some explanation of what is involved in the admonition of the apostle: “Let marriage be honorable among all, and the marriage bed be without defilement, for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.” (Heb. 13:4) In view of the proper delicacy of the subject, parents need to guard against the extremes of undue reticence and brutal frankness. Articles in Awake! magazine of June 8 and July 8, 1965, offer helpful suggestions to fathers and mothers who are concerned about transmitting to their children essential knowledge of God’s provision of sex.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR RESPONSIBLE PARENTS

27. What aids should parents avail themselves of in undertaking these duties for which they often feel inadequate?

²⁷ Often it is true, parents feel quite inadequate for the task of training up their children successfully. However, instead of becoming frustrated and giving up easily, why not avail themselves of the aids that God provides? For example, there is the congregation of Christian witnesses, an association of godly friends who are happy to extend aid. Congregational gatherings for study of the Bible afford excellent opportunities for your family to integrate with other families who want to worship God in spirit and in truth. Remember, those meetings are designed so that those attending may “consider one another to incite to love and fine works.” (Heb. 10:24, 25) However, parents must take, not send, their children to these meetings, in order to gain fullest benefit.

28. What is the objective toward which parents can steer their children, with what great satisfactions as experienced by parents of old?

²⁸ Parents who always keep before their children the excellent goal of giving themselves wholly to Jehovah God for his service will be truly blessed. Elkanah and Hannah must have rejoiced to see their boy Samuel grow up and enjoy marvelous privileges as a servant at God’s holy tent and as a judge of Israel. (1 Sam. 1:11) Manoah and his wife surely must have been thrilled to hear of their son Samson doing mighty exploits by virtue of God’s spirit. (Judg. 13:5, 12) Zechariah and Elizabeth must have gained great satisfaction from the self-denying course of their son John, of whom the Lord Jesus himself later declared: “Among those born of women there has not been raised up a greater than John the Baptist.”—Matt. 11:11.

29. Children should be trained with what vital step in mind, and what moral responsibility rests upon parents in connection therewhith?

²⁹ Children of Christian parents who have been properly trained will eventually offer themselves willingly in dedication to Jehovah. Before permitting the child to undergo water baptism, however, the parents should be satisfied that he knows exactly what is involved. Being baptized will not make him enjoy the preaching work, if he does not already enjoy it. Baptism will not necessarily add to his sense of responsibility. Before baptism he should have sufficient experience with study of the Bible and with telling others what he has learned to realize that these are features of his worship of the true God.

30. Periods of relaxation should be employed in what manner?

³⁰ Another important feature of family life is the planning and executing of family projects in which every member can find enjoyment and satisfaction during hours set aside for relaxation. It may mean going to some clean, upbuilding form of entertainment together, going on a picnic, going to visit some new place, building up a neglected garden, any one of a number of things. By enthusiastic planning on the part of the parents, the whole family can be kept in safe and healthful unity, protected from outside associations that could undermine faith in God and adherence to his right standard.

31, 32. What are the satisfactions now gained by godly parents, and what future rewards can they confidently expect?

³¹ There is truly much to do to discharge successfully these responsibilities that rest upon God-fearing parents. It is a huge job. But, then, there are so many joys and satisfactions to be gained along the way as you see your children develop into fine, upright, God-honoring men and women. And what a thrill for parents to know that they have indeed helped their children to comply with the command that bears a promise: “Honor your father and your mother”! Worldly parents often make it very difficult for their children to honor them in harmony with God’s requirement. But Christian parents have the joy of knowing that they did what was humanly possible, and, with Jehovah’s help, ensured for their children “a long time on the earth”—yes, so long a time that it may well reach into the New Order beyond Armageddon.—Eph. 6:2, 3.

³² How satisfying to know that you have obeyed the divine injunction to “train up a boy according to the way for him,” the way that bypasses a corrupt and immoral system of things, and rejects its deceptive rewards and death-dealing goals! How rewarding to observe how Jehovah blesses your efforts as your child grows up and never turns aside from the way that leads to life and peace with his Creator! (Prov. 22:6) The acknowledging of God’s direction in your responsibility as a parent has secured a vital need of all children, their need for love, guidance and a sense of security. Truly “the judicial decisions of Jehovah are true; they have proved altogether righteous. . . . In the keeping of them there is a large reward.”—Ps. 19:9, 11.

Youth’s Moral Responsibility

“Listen, O sons, to the discipline of a father and pay attention, so as to know understanding.”—Prov. 4:1.

1. Examination of the growth of a young plant reveals what?

HEALTHY young plants that show growth, their roots digging deep into the moist earth and their leaves reaching ever higher, are a glory to God their Creator and things of beauty to observant humans. As long as the root system continues to collect and transmit the mineral-charged waters, and as long as the sun shines daily to provide warmth, the plant develops steadily to the stage of maturity, of fruitfulness. Its ability to cope with difficult weather changes improves.

2. How does the plant’s growth process parallel the experience of many youths of today?

² Youth of today, those between childhood and adulthood, can learn much by observation of a young plant. As soon as there is any stoppage in the supply of nutriments from the soil, the roots dry out or rot, the stem wilts and the plant is soon transformed into litter on the ground, fit only to be gathered up and burned. Many modern youths are just that way. They do not acknowledge any dependence upon God for the kind of sustenance it takes to make them spiritually strong. They lack moral fiber. They neither glorify God by their lives nor bring pleasure to godly men and women.

3. What facts point to the sterility and futurelessness of most young people of our time?

³ Look around the earth and take note of the facts that support that melancholy conclusion. In the United States, for example, statistics of the Federal Bureau of Investigation indicate that, among persons under nineteen years of age, “arrests for serious crimes increased 47 percent in 1965 over 1960.” In Communist Hungary teen-agers have broken almost every law in the book—rape, smuggling, drug pushing, currency violations, race hatred. In Russia one government official asks: “What is the matter? Why is it that in our wonderful time, when the material well-being and culture of the people is rising steadily this evil is so tenacious? Why is it that the hooligan continues to commit outrages . . . ?”

4. What is blamed for this worsening condition by observant citizens and officials?

⁴ In cities around the world there is consternation because of the perils besetting citizens. Rapes, assaults and sadistic outbursts of violence are on the rise, and more frequently teen-agers appear as the culprits. Police officials and sociologists, seeking to assess the causes for this worsening crime situation, speak of “a spirit of lawlessness,” “a breakdown in family life,” “a deterioration in moral values” as factors that contribute heavily. A New York City police inspector declares: “There’s a chain reaction. Disrespect for parents results in disrespect for policemen and the law generally. That disrespect often turns into actual enmity.” And a Detroit law-enforcement official concludes: “This seems to be the mood of the times—the rebellion of youth, both white and Negro.”

5. How do you see the developments foretold by the apostle Paul in today’s situation world wide?

⁵ As any reasonable person must know, the trend of all this contempt for authority must lead toward complete anarchy, a state in which not one single person can feel assured of his property or his life. In fact, today’s situation around the earth fits the conditions foretold to mark the “last days” of this system of things, for the Christian apostle Paul said that they would be identified by “critical times hard to deal with,” when men would be “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection.” (2 Tim. 3:1-3) Do you see this condition in evidence all over the earth? Then it is time for you, as a teen-ager, to determine where you stand, what your responsibilities are in these closing days of a doomed system of things.

ACCEPT MORAL INSTRUCTION

6. Why does youth have the moral responsibility to listen now to his God and Creator?

⁶ By now you should have outgrown the stage when you ‘spoke as a babe, thought as a babe, reasoned as a babe.’ (1 Cor. 13:11) Instead of being guided entirely by immediate desires of the flesh, like an infant, your reasoning powers should be developing. You have, therefore, the responsibility to listen to what God, your heavenly Father, has to say about your life and then be guided in your course by his counsel. “Listen, O sons, to the discipline of a father and pay attention, so as to know understanding.” (Prov. 4:1) Understanding is what will assuredly result to you by your accepting moral instruction from Jehovah God.

7. What warm encouragement does Jehovah give to young people?

⁷ It is comforting to know that Jehovah cares for you, and stands ready to offer his help in the form of excellent moral counsel. To the extent that you seek and depend upon that counsel, to that extent you can count on gaining confidence about your future and strength to meet the tests of these critical times. Notice how your Creator urges you to act wisely for your own safety: “My son, keep my sayings, and may you treasure up my own commandments with you. Keep my commandments and continue living, and my law like the pupil of your eyes.”—Prov. 7:1, 2.

8. (a) What will attention to God’s instruction do for you? (b) Who is the “woman stranger” you must be guarded against?

⁸ How will the cherishing of God’s laws and the keeping of his statutes add days to your life? The inspired words of Solomon go on to say that this wise course will “guard you against the woman stranger, against the foreigner who has made her own sayings smooth.” (Prov. 7:5) And who do you suppose that “woman stranger” is? Surely she must be representative of the temptations to filthy, immoral behavior that is and should be so completely foreign to all who bear the name “Christian” and profess to worship the true God! Inducements to immorality are especially perilous to young men and young women in the bloom of youth, when the innate force of sex attraction implanted by the Creator begins to assert itself powerfully.

9. (a) Describe the graphic word picture presented in the seventh chapter of Proverbs. (b) What effect should such a warning have on you?

⁹ In the following verses of chapter seven of Proverbs there is presented a graphic word picture of how young, inexperienced people, lacking in the right sense of moral values, fall prey to temptations and embark on a life of fornication and adultery. In the illustration, the young man “in want of heart,” lacking in good motive for the direction of his life, was actually looking for trouble. He headed in the direction of the temptress’ house in the hours of darkness. On the other hand, God’s urgent counsel to you and to all young people is: “Flee from the desires incidental to youth.” “Flee from fornication.” (2 Tim. 2:22; 1 Cor. 6:18) Accepting that counsel, you will not try to see how near you can get to fornication without actually being guilty of it. You will not date some teen-ager of the opposite sex and then indulge in practices that can only inflame your sexual passions. No, rather, you will flee at the first hint of danger, as did Joseph when the wife of Potiphar sought to seduce him.—Gen. 39:7-9, 12.

10. Discuss the wisdom of God’s requirements as to the use of sex, in contrast with the careless promiscuity practiced by worldlings.

¹⁰ God’s moral standard provides for sexual intercourse only within the limits of marriage, and for each man and each woman to have only one marriage mate. If you will reflect for a moment on this requirement you will appreciate how its wisdom contrasts with the wide latitude, the careless promiscuity in sex matters that is practiced by worldly people of all nations today. Compliance with God’s arrangement promotes trust among people, combats covetousness, which produces so much lying, stealing, cheating and fighting. (Jas. 4:1-4) It makes for proper control of the sex passions. In an orderly manner it extends to righteously disposed persons the privilege of sharing in reproducing their own kind in harmony with God’s original mandate to the first humans.—Gen. 1:28.

11. What are some of the damaging effects from ignoring God’s moral standard?

¹¹ Promiscuous indulgence in sex relations, on the other hand, produces disorders, fights and a terrible crop of social diseases that spread like wildfire. In the United States, according to a report by the American Medical Association dated September 1, 1965, venereal disease has become the nation’s “most urgent” communicable-disease problem. Syphilis cases have almost tripled during the past five years among youths under twenty. Americans are being infected at the rate of almost two per minute. In Sweden and other countries the increasing incidence of syphilis is causing alarm.

12. Why is it foolish to reason that social diseases are no longer the scourge they once were?

¹² It is most unwise to persuade yourself that these social diseases are no longer the scourge they once were, now that medical know-how has made such great strides. What has to be kept in mind is that syphilis and gonorrhea have the potential to render a girl barren for the rest of her life. They can deprive a boy of the ability to father children, and they can have the effect of producing stillborn, blind and idiot children. According to medical research on the subject, the liver is the prime target for these disease organisms, and from that organ the damage is spread throughout the body of the stricken one.

13. What is it that reveals the mind of the Creator in the expressions of Proverbs 7:23, and what should this knowledge make you resolve to do?

¹³ Can you see why the all-wise God had the Bible writer in this instance set down such expressions as “an arrow cleaves open his liver” and “he has not known that [his foolish course] involves his very soul”? (Prov. 7:23) The way of safety for you, the way to ensure that you continue living, is to accept the foregoing and other moral instruction set forth in God’s written Word for your protection.

RECOGNIZE MORAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE HOME

14. What are God’s requirements as to the orderly operation of the Christian home, and what moral responsibility does that bring upon you?

¹⁴ Another loving provision God has made for your moral guidance until you reach the age of responsible adulthood is the aid by loving parents. Your father and mother should properly be viewed as part of your contact with Jehovah God, for he entrusted them with the job of training you for future life as an adult. He directed them to “go on bringing [their children] up in the discipline and authoritative advice of Jehovah.” And to you he issued the instruction: “Be obedient to your parents in everything, for this is well-pleasing in the Lord.” (Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:20) So, another of your moral responsibilities is to subject yourself to your parents and comply with the requirements they see fit to lay upon you, as long as those requirements are in harmony with the divine will.

15, 16. How does Jesus’ example show a proper attitude toward God’s arrangement, and how does this apply in your home?

¹⁵ As an example in this regard, you have the fine record of Jesus’ youth to note and follow. When he became separated from his parents for three days on one occasion in his early youth, it was not that he had run off seeking thrills with a gang of teen-agers, away from the supervision of his parents. They eventually found him in earnest discussion with older men in the temple. His mother understandably inquired: “Why did you treat us this way? Here your father and I in mental distress have been looking for you.” Did Jesus tell them that he was no youngster anymore and was well able to look after himself? There is no evidence of such an attitude on his part. The record says that “he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he continued subject to them.”—Luke 2:48, 51.

¹⁶ Jesus recognized that under the terms of God’s law his parents had a perfect right to know where he was, whom he was with and what he was doing, if they were to discharge faithfully the commission God had given them. Likewise your parents also have that right, and it is your moral responsibility to cooperate with them so that they can guide and protect you, and so that they may not experience the heartache of failure in their responsibility.

17. How does God view your compliance or noncompliance with the wishes of your parents?

¹⁷ If your parents require you to be home at a certain time, if they insist upon your being chaperoned when going out with someone of the opposite sex, if they advise you against the use of cigarettes, drugs, alcohol and improper intimacies with some other person, then God expects you to follow out their wishes as though they were his own. Your failure to render obedience to direction by your parents will be construed by your Creator as disobedience to him. He will never extend his blessing to those who ignore his arrangements.

RESPONSIBILITY TOWARD WELFARE OF HOME

18. In what respect do many young people fail to measure up to a moral responsibility relating to the atmosphere of the home? What questions might you ask yourself?

¹⁸ Often young men and women are heard to offer as excuse for their roaming around with others of their own age-group the claim that home is a boring, unhappy, disorganized place. That points up another moral responsibility that devolves upon the teen-ager. You have an obligation to share with your parents and other members of your family in making the home a real citadel of peace and good order amid a chaotic world. If your home is not the kind of place to which it is always a pleasure to return, then you must bear some of the responsibility. It is so easy to criticize the atmosphere and conditions around your home. Would it not be much more constructive and Christian to do something about improving the situation instead of merely bemoaning it? Have you volunteered to assist your parents and take a real interest in your home? Only the ultra-selfish will view home as a place to hang their clothes and an eating place when it is not convenient to get a meal elsewhere.

19. What preparatory steps can you be taking toward the time when you will want to be a capable mate for someone?

¹⁹ If, like most normal, healthy teenagers, you look forward to being married and becoming a successful householder one day in the future, what are you doing to prepare yourself for that role? Is it wise to let slip through your fingers the many marvelous opportunities you have to learn from your parents the practical aspects of maintaining a home? If you are a girl, you can make yourself available so that mother or one of your older sisters can teach you the intricacies of housekeeping. If you are a boy, then your father will doubtless be happy to teach you all about home maintenance, if you will undertake to aid him with the many chores that have to be done in any home. Does it not make good sense to prepare yourself to be a capable mate for someone?

20. To what extent should you be assisting financially with the burden of maintaining the home and dependent persons?

²⁰ Another responsibility often overlooked by young people of today is that of offering financial assistance to their aging parents. As the apostle Paul reminds you: “Certainly if anyone does not provide for those who are his own, and especially for those who are members of his own household, he has disowned the faith and is worse than a person without faith.” (1 Tim. 5:8) Depending upon the circumstances, you may have an obligation in this regard. Rather than spending all you earn on your own personal wants, you should generously offer some concrete evidence of your appreciation of the comforts of home.

21. What is your moral responsibility in the matter of the arrangements your parents make for Bible study, within or outside of the home?

²¹ If your parents are God-fearing Christians they will doubtless arrange for a family Bible study in the home. It is your responsibility to cooperate with them fully in such a matter. On that night and on other occasions when they arrange for you to accompany them to congregational meetings, it is your obligation to make yourself available. No other activity, no other association you could possibly have, may be considered as important enough to justify your failure to take hold of such opportunities for building up family unity and your own faith. The Bible itself reminds you that “without faith it is impossible to please [God] well.”—Heb. 11:6.

MORAL RESPONSIBILITY OUTSIDE THE HOME

22. When away from supervision of your parents or employer, to whose scrutiny are you constantly subject, and what is expected of you?

²² Even when you are away from home and the immediate supervision of your parents, at school or engaged at a secular job, you have always to bear in mind that you are always under scrutiny by your heavenly Father. (Prov. 15:3) Your course of action in every field of activity will either bring honor to God and your parents or bring reproach upon them. Your Creator-Father puts you under responsibility to “do all things for God’s glory.” (1 Cor. 10:31) You do well to examine yourself on this score from time to time, so as to make sure you are not following a course that brings vexation and bitterness of spirit to your parents.—Prov. 17:25.

23. How do you want people around you to think of you, relative to your moral responsibility as a worshiper of Jehovah?

²³ At school or on the block where you live, for instance, are you known as the wildest kid, the one who looks and acts like some famous movie star, the one that wears tight and risqué styles in clothing? Or, are you known for your genuine warm interest in other people, for your absolute honesty, for your firmness in standing for what is right and true, and as one who is just plain good company? If one or more of your companions at school or on the job engage in theft, use filthy language and talk about obscene topics, do you go along with them tolerantly, or do you separate yourself from them and refuse to be their regular associates?

24. What ar some of the questions that you, as a youth, would do well to ponder?

²⁴ Can you conscientiously go along with hypocritical youths who act like anarchists just as soon as the back of the teacher or employer is turned? What do you think of the young vandals who regularly wreck thousands of dollars’ worth of public property, property that has to be replaced through higher taxes levied upon your own and other hardworking parents? What about the speed laws and the law-enforcement officers? Do you respect them at least for the sake of their beneficial purpose, or do you childishly feud with the officers and flout the laws? You have a responsibility before God to measure up to his will for you in all such matters.

25. What is God’s counsel to you in the matter of falling in line with the ideas and schemes of godless persons?

²⁵ Often, too, it happens that when a group of teen-agers run around together, someone suggests a dare or the joining in some exciting but illegal action. If caught in such a predicament, what will you do? Will you demonstrate that you are actuated by higher principle, or will you be stampeded with the crowd into sharing in an escapade for which you will long be sorry? God’s counsel in such a situation is explicit: “My son, do not go in the way with them. Hold back your foot from their roadway. For their feet are those that run to sheer badness.” (Prov. 1:15, 16) Wherever you are, in whatever circumstance, Jehovah has wise counsel for your well-being. Avail yourself of it and so be enabled to discharge your moral responsibilities.

FULFILL YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO JEHOVAH

26. What is the divine counsel as to your search for happiness, and why is it far more valuable than the counsel of others?

²⁶ Since Jehovah created humans to begin with, he best knows what to prescribe for their greatest happiness and usefulness. He does not recommend your entertaining the ambitions of worldly people to excel in material wealth and make ostentatious display of their success. Rather, to the contrary he recommends: “Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world.” (1 John 2:15, 16) So you do have the moral responsibility to make the right choice—God’s favor, not the plaudits of the world.

27. How is Jesus’ perfect example begun in youth and maintained until death dramatically emphasized in Luke’s account?

²⁷ As the perfect example to follow, you have Christ Jesus. He showed proper filial respect for his parents and interest in his home. His youthful vigor did not prompt him to pride himself on his ability to look after himself. He looked to God for guidance and protection. He offered himself in dedication to his Father. When, during the last trialsome hours of his life, the perspiration fell from him as great drops of blood, he prayed: “Let not my will, but yours take place.” (Luke 22:42, 44) Truly, Jesus spent his life in the faithful discharge of his moral responsibilities toward God. If you follow in his steps closely, you will enjoy a corresponding success. You, too, will be highly favored by Jehovah.

28. What are some of the fine points about this consideration of your moral responsibilities that should be deeply impressed on your mind?

²⁸ May you always respect and obey the righteous standard for human conduct decreed by the changeless God. May it always be your aim to follow the example of true Christian morality, as observed in the sayings and doings of God’s own beloved Son. May you never forget that your parents are themselves under responsibility to God to bring you up in harmony with his discipline and his authoritative advice. Your obedience to the divine command to “honor your father and your mother” will earn for you “a long time on the earth,” soon to be completely emancipated from the blighting influence of Satan, the god of all delinquents.—Eph. 6:2, 3.

29. Why, especially today, does the illustration of the plant bring sober reminder to you of your moral responsibilities?

²⁹ You need Jehovah’s sustaining power and his smile of favor in these critical times, just as much as the tender plant needs the nutriment from the well-watered soil and the warmth of the sun. All humans are endangered today, not only by the perils of these times in which we live, but by the mighty storm of Jehovah’s anger that will bring this selfish system of things to its end. You can prove to be a vigorous plant, a glory to your heavenly Father and a thing of beauty to godly fellow creatures, by resolutely and faithfully discharging your moral responsibilities, always leaning upon Jehovah for his help.—Prov. 3:5, 6.

The Cross Is of Pagan Origin

THE cross you see on the steeple of a neighborhood church, on its altar and as pendants around the necks of many of your neighbors is actually a pagan religious symbol. It was revered throughout the pagan world long before the advent of Christianity. This is admitted by many religious and historical authorities, as we shall see.

In its edition of 1908, The Catholic Encyclopedia states in volume 4, page 517: “The sign of the cross, represented in its simplest form by a crossing of two lines at right angles, greatly antedates, in both the East and the West, the introduction of Christianity. It goes back to a very remote period of human civilization.” The book The Ancient Church by clergyman W. D. Killen concurs by saying, on page 316: “From the most remote antiquity the cross was venerated in Egypt and Syria; it was held in equal honour by the Buddhists of the East; and, what is still more extraordinary, when the Spaniards first visited America, the well-known sign was found among the objects of worship in the idol temples of Anahuac. It is also remarkable that, about the commencement of our era, the pagans were wont to make the sign of a cross upon the forehead in the celebration of some of their sacred mysteries.”

If you belong to one of Christendom’s churches, did the church ever tell you that the cross is a pagan symbol? If it did not, it withheld the truth from you. It has encouraged you to hold in reverence an admittedly pagan symbol. “But,” you may say, “did not the early Christians regard the cross as a symbol of Christianity?” No, they did not. It was not until about the middle of the third century of our Common Era that professed Christians began to use it as such. An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words by W. E. Vine states on page 256 of volume one: “By the middle of the 3rd century A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ.”

At the beginning of the third century Minucius Felix wrote to the pagans in Octavius and revealed the attitude that early Christians had toward the cross up to that time. He said: “Crosses, moreover, we neither worship nor wish for. You, indeed, who consecrate gods of wood, adore wooden crosses perhaps as parts of your gods. . . . Your victorious trophies not only imitate the appearance of a simple cross, but also that of a man affixed to it.” (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4, p. 191) True Christians never revered the cross or regarded it as a symbol of true Christianity.

Many persons contend that the cross is used by the churches because Christ died on one. That is what the churches say, but it is not the truth. Admitting uncertainty as to whether Christ died on a cross, the church paper of the Evangelical-Lutheran State Church of Schleswig-Holstein, Die kirche der Heimat (The Church of the Homeland), remarked in its issue of August 2, 1951: “Whether the cross on Golgotha had a crossbar or not or whether it was just a plain stake, whether it had the T-form or whether it had a crossbar placed across the upright stake is hardly possible to determine now.”

That the word “cross” appears in many English translations of the Bible does not prove that Christ’s death instrument was in the shape that the churches claim. The word “cross” stands for a number of shapes. There is the simple upright stake, called in Latin crux simplex; the crux commissa, which was shaped like the letter “T”; the crux decussata, which was shaped like the letter “X,” and the crux immissa, which was like the letter “T” but with the crossbar lowered. So when the English word “cross” is used in Bible translations made by the churches, how are you to know which of these forms is meant?

The Greek word from which the English word “cross” is translated by the churches is staurosʹ, but to the Bible writers it did not stand for the cross that churches display as the symbol of Christianity. It meant a plain upright stake. On this the book An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words by W. E. Vine states on page 256 of volume one: “Stauros denotes, primarily, an upright pale or stake. On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroō, to fasten to a stake or pale, are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed cross. The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz.”

Note also what is stated in The Companion Bible, published by the Oxford University Press. On page 186 in the “Appendixes” it says: “Homer uses the word stauros of an ordinary pole or stake, or a single piece of timber. And this is the meaning and usage of the word throughout the Greek classics. It never means two pieces of timber placed across one another at any angle, but always of one piece alone. Hence the use of the word xulon [which means a timber] in connection with the manner of our Lord’s death, and rendered tree in Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:24. . . . There is nothing in the Greek N.T. even to imply two pieces of timber. . . . The evidence is thus complete, that the Lord was put to death upon an upright stake, and not on two pieces of timber placed at any angle.”

The cross used by the churches of Christendom has not the remotest connection with Christianity. It is instead a sacred symbol belonging to ancient pagan religions, religions that the God of truth abhorred and against which he warned the nation of Israel. (Deut. 7:16, 25, 26) It was a recognized symbol in the religion of ancient Egypt.

The Egyptian cross, known as the crux ansata, was surmounted by a circle. This combination represented the male and female procreative organs. Referring to the female symbol on this cross—the circle—by the Hindu term yoni, the book Sex and Sex Worship by O. A. Wall states on page 359: “The crux ansata (cross with a handle) was used all over the world from India, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, to Sweden and Denmark (old Runic) and in the Western Continent. . . . It is the ankh of the Egyptians, the symbol of life, because it represents the feminine yoni in union with the masculine tau cross.”

In view of these facts, if your church has a cross on it and uses it in religious services, that labels the worship there as pagan. How can paganized worship win the approval of the true God? You need to separate from all such Babylonish forms of worship and associate with those who worship the Creator in truth.—Rev. 18:4.

Content to Be God’s Servants Full Time

WHILE on a long bus trip a Christian minister engaged a fellow passenger in conversation. From world conditions the conversation led to the hope of God’s kingdom and the wonderful blessings it will bring. The fellow passenger, a lady who had with her a small boy, became so interested that the minister showed her a copy of the Bible-study aid Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God. With this the lady’s face fell and she asked, “Are you one of Jehovah’s witnesses?” and then told how she had vowed never to speak to one of Jehovah’s witnesses again, and here she had been engaging in a long conversation with one!

It appeared that she and her husband had been having marital problems, and he wanted to study with one of Jehovah’s witnesses because of the fine change the religion of the Witnesses made in the marriage of his sister. But this issue only caused more arguments, with the result that she packed up and with her boy was now on the way back to her mother. The discussion continued, the Witness showing her the chapters in this Bible-study aid on marriage and man’s and woman’s places in God’s arrangement. By the time the lady had reached her destination she was convinced, not only that she should return to her husband, but that together they should study the Bible with the aid of Jehovah’s witnesses.

Why had this witness of Jehovah engaged her traveling companion in conversation and steered it to the good news of God’s kingdom? Because she was content to be God’s servant full time. Yes, she appreciated that as a truly dedicated Christian she was under obligation to be alert at all times to opportunities for witnessing to God’s name and Kingdom.—Matt. 6:33.

Doing such witnessing at every opportunity is truly one way in which Jehovah’s witnesses show that they are full-time ministers of Jehovah God, even though able to devote comparatively few hours to the house-to-house preaching ministry. Another way in which they show it is by heeding the words of the apostle Paul found at 1 Timothy 6:8: “Having sustenance and covering, we shall be content with these things.”a With the mature Christian attitude they can say with Paul: “I have learned, in whatever circumstances I am, to be self-sufficient.”—Phil. 4:11.

Yes, while all truly dedicated Christians are content with the necessary material things, they keep conscious of their spiritual need. (Matt 5:3; Phil. 4:12) They know the importance of being alert to their spiritual condition, always seeking to improve it by taking in more knowledge, by serving Jehovah God and their neighbors more effectively and more freely, buying out the opportune time for themselves. (Eph. 5:15, 16) Many of them arrange their affairs so that they can serve as full-time preachers, as missionaries or pioneers, or as full-time workers at one of the Watch Tower Society’s institutions. And they encourage others, especially the younger ones, to branch out into such increased privileges of service if at all able to do so.

So, be content to be God’s servants full time as you “let your manner of life be free of the love of money, while you are content with the present things. For [Jehovah] has said: ‘I will by no means leave you nor by any means forsake you.’”—Ps. 34:8; Heb. 13:5.

[Footnotes]

Questions From Readers

● When did Saul of Tarsus receive the name Paul, and why?—D. B., U.S.A.

We cannot be dogmatic about the matter, but it seems logical that both names, Saul and Paul, were given in childhood to the person who later became the apostle Paul.

Saul was born of the Jewish tribe of Benjamin; as he put it, “a Hebrew born from Hebrews.” (Phil. 3:5) A number of possibilities have been offered as to why his parents gave him the name Saul. It could have been because that was his father’s name. (Luke 1:59) Then again, Saul was a traditional name of importance among Benjamites because the first king over all Israel, a Benjamite, was named Saul. Some have even suggested that his parents gave him the name because of its meaning, “asked for” or “desired.” Whatever the reason why this Jewish name was chosen, when among fellow Jews, and especially when studying to be a Pharisee and living as one, he would have used his Hebrew name Saul.—Acts 22:3.

Since his Jewish parents lived in the Roman free city of Tarsus, it is understandable that they also may have given their son a Roman name, Paulus or Paul, meaning “little.” Some of Paul’s relatives likewise had Roman and Greek names. (Rom. 16:7, 21) Additionally, it was not unusual for Jews of that time, particularly among those living outside of Israel, to have two names. We read in the Bible of the disciple Symeon, who was also called Niger, and of John, who was surnamed Mark. (Acts 13:1; 12:12) In Saul’s case a Roman name would have been especially fitting since he was born a Roman citizen.—Acts 22:28.

At Acts 13:9, in the account about the initial leg of the apostle’s first missionary trip, Saul is for the first time in the Biblical record called Paul. We read: “Saul, who is also Paul, . . . ” Some have suggested that he first took this name then in honor of proconsul Sergius Paulus to whom he had just preached, but this does not appear to be the most reasonable explanation. (Acts 13:7) Rather, if he had a Roman or Gentile name, now that he would be traveling among Gentiles, the apostle reasonably would use it. Recognizing that he had been entrusted with the good news for the Gentiles or people of the nations, Paul never used his Jewish name in any of his letters. (Gal. 2:7; 1:1) Accordingly, even Peter referred to his beloved fellow apostle as Paul.—2 Pet. 3:15.

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

Many persons today express a desire to have contentment, but very few really have it. Why? Because real contentment comes from knowing and serving the true God, Jehovah. Jehovah’s witnesses enjoy this contentment and are happy to aid others to possess it. During February, as they share in their Christian ministry, they will offer to all persons the outstanding aid to godly contentment, The Watchtower, with three booklets, on a $1 contribution.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU?

What does the preaching of the “good news of the kingdom” mean to you? Its extent and its effectiveness are of vital importance to you, because when it is finished this system’s end will come. Read Mark 13:4, 10. Viewed in this light, a report of the work throughout the world takes on new meaning. It is just another reason why you will want the 1968 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The response in the remote corners of the earth will inspire hope in you as the good news spreads out farther and farther. Send for your copy of this 416-page report. Only 50c. Send also for the beautifully illustrated 1968 calendar on this inspiring theme. Only 25c.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

March 3: Parents’ Moral Responsibility. Page 80. Songs to Be Used: 8, 24.

March 10: Youth’s Moral Responsibility. Page 86. Songs to Be Used: 71, 73.