The Watchtower — April 15, 1975

“Who Is Jehovah,” So That All Should Worship Him?

1. What question about worship is a live and relevant one today, and why so?

FROM ancient time and until this twentieth century, heads of political states have been worshiped as gods. Persons familiar with human history know that. The royal Pharaohs of ancient Egypt were viewed as gods, each ruling Pharaoh being considered as the son of the Sun-god. Caesar Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire, was deified after death; so were successors of his. Even during life, the emperors were addressed as “Your Divinity.” Almost two thousand years later, after the close of World War II in 1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan publicly disclaimed being a god, the son of the sun-goddess Amaterasu. But some few diehards still hold onto emperor worship in that Land of the Rising Sun. In the face of all the gods and goddesses of nations ancient and modern, the question is a live and relevant one for even today, Who is the god worthy of being worshiped?

2. Since the beginning of the man-made political state, of what kind of worship have most people been guilty?

² As time has gone on, one national god after another has been debunked. Not beyond our recollection is the recent case where Nikita Khrushchev of the Communist Party debunked the defunct dictator Joseph Stalin as the god of Soviet Russia. The debunking process becomes almost comic. But the worship of heads of political states has had serious consequences for the world of mankind. Untold numbers of people may think that they are now too intelligent, too modernized, to worship political gods. And yet, what about worship of the political State itself? Or of the worldwide political system of rulership? Since the beginning of man-made political states thousands of years ago, the vast majority of mankind has been guilty of such State worship. It is not stretching matters to say this.

3, 4. (a) How did the political State get started on earth, and why is there little left to argue against that fact? (b) How does John, in Revelation 13:1-8, picture the start of such state?

³ Nineteen centuries ago, a man who has gone down on the pages of history and whose writings have been read by hundreds of millions till now, used vivid symbols to show how worldwide worship of the human political system got started. It got started by someone whom this man, John the son of Zebedee, likened to a dragon, fiery red in color. John does not give to this dragon the meaning that the nation of China gives to its popular one-headed dragon. John uses the dragon as a symbol befitting a superhuman person, whom John identifies by the expression “the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan.” (Rev. 20:2; 12:3, 9) Is it sheer imagination, is it naïve to believe that the human system of politics originated with this one? When we consider how man-made political systems from times of old have governed and acted, there is little left to argue against the fact that the political system started with the dragonlike Satan the Devil. Let us note now how John pictures this:

⁴ Likening disturbed, discontented, self-seeking mankind in general to the restless sea, John proceeds to say: “And it [that is to say, the fiery-colored dragon] stood still upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a wild beast ascending out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, and upon its horns ten diadems, but upon its heads blasphemous names. Now the wild beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were as those of a bear, and its mouth was as a lion’s mouth. And the dragon gave to the beast its power and its throne and great authority. And I saw one of its heads as though slaughtered to death, but its death-stroke got healed, and all the earth followed the wild beast with admiration. And they worshiped the dragon because it gave the authority to the wild beast, and they worshiped the wild beast with the words: ‘Who is like the wild beast, and who can do battle with it?’ . . . and authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all those who dwell on the earth will worship it.”​—Rev. 13:1-8.

5, 6. What does that oddly formed wild beast picture, in the light of Daniel’s dream of the wild beasts out of the sea?

⁵ People asked: “Who is like the wild beast?” So we ask: What does it picture? From John’s description of this symbolic wild beast and what happens to it, there can be no question about what it pictures.

⁶ The role that the wild beast plays in the book of Revelation shows what it pictures, the worldwide system of political rule over all mankind. The fact that the wild beast looked like a leopard but had bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth harmonizes well with the fact that the world system of politics has expressed itself through various forms of government at different times and places. Most likely John was led to think of what the ancient prophet Daniel saw in a prophetic dream: that first a lionlike beast came up out of the disturbed sea, and then a beast like a bear, and after it a beast like a leopard. Moreover, Daniel was plainly told that those beasts pictured political rulerships that would arise and control the earth like superpowers. (Dan. 7:1-18) So the oddly formed wild beast that John saw symbolized the worldwide political system that has expressed itself through a number of governmental kinds.

WORSHIP OF THE STATE AS A GOD

7, 8. (a) The worship of the symbolic wild beast was at the same time the worship of whom? (b) Why is worship of the State something for those people to think about who deny worshiping anything?

⁷ It is not necessary here to discuss all the details of what John saw in his inspired vision. The big thing upon which we here desire to focus our attention is that this “wild beast” out of the sea was worshiped by the whole world of people; it was treated as an unconquerable god. The worship of the political State as a god, which was thus pictured in John’s vision, was at the same time the worship of someone higher than the political State. Who was that? That one was the dragonlike Satan the Devil, for he is pictured as giving the authority, the power, the throne or seat of government to the political State.

⁸ It is no wonder, therefore, that the Master of whom John was a disciple spoke of Satan the Devil as “the ruler of this world.” (John 14:30; 16:11) And Paul, a fellow disciple of John, called Satan the Devil “the god of this system of things.” (2 Cor. 4:4) This is something for those many people to think about today who boast that they do not worship anything at all. Do they, like the atheistic Communists, worship the political State? They may deny doing so, but when a serious national issue arises, when international war breaks out or national sovereignty is threatened, what do they do then? Yes, what is it that they then worship as a god? Their course of action then discloses the truth and speaks so loud as to drown out what they say with their mouths.

9. What question on worship does each of us need to ask himself, and, at the time of decision, what defiant question might politicians ask?

⁹ Today nationalism is running rife throughout the earth. Regardless of whether a person professes to be religious or not, nobody can sidestep the personal question, Whom or what do I worship? The invisible power behind the worldwide political system of things, namely, the dragonlike Satan the Devil, wants, sneakily, to force every inhabitant of the earth to worship him through his protégé, the political State. However, it is not worth while worshiping him, for, some fine day soon, he himself will be debunked as a god. But it will be impossible to debunk the true God of the universe. Are we sincerely wanting to worship that One? The time for our decision on this cannot be delayed much longer. Especially the political elements of this world will have to make a final decision as to what they really want to do in this regard. It will be too bad for them if at that time, in a defiant manner, they raise the question, ‘Who is that One (the One mentioned to us by name), so that all, including us politicians, should worship Him?’

10, 11. When was a similar question raised by an ancient Pharaoh of Egypt, and why?

¹⁰ We have history to help us to make a right decision. The political rulers and their patriotic backers do well now to consider the historical case of the head of an ancient political state who raised just such a question. That individual was the royal Pharaoh of late in the sixteenth century before our Common Era. The occasion was when he was being confronted by two brothers, Moses and Aaron, and other elders of the enslaved people of Israel. The question of who the true God is was then being put to the test. Using Aaron as his spokesman, Moses said to Pharaoh: “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, ‘Send my people away that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.’” If the Pharaoh here addressed considered himself like other Pharaohs, a god, he was not disposed to renounce his own godship in obedience to the God of those people whom Pharaoh was then unjustly exploiting as slaves of Egypt. So, back came Pharaoh’s challenging question and his own answer thereto:

¹¹ “Who is Jehovah, so that I should obey his voice to send Israel away? I do not know Jehovah at all and, what is more, I am not going to send Israel away.”​—Ex. 5:1, 2; 3:18, 19.

12, 13. (a) Here there was a confrontation between whom, and who turned out to be the winner? (b) What command concerning worship did the Deliverer of Israel have the right to give at the beginning of the Ten Commandments?

¹² If anything, that situation meant a confrontation between the God of the enslaved people of Israel and the Egyptian Pharaoh, whose statue as of a god may have been placed among the statues of all the other many gods of Egypt, then the superpower of the inhabited earth. Who the winner was in this dramatic confrontation, reliable history shows. All the gods of ancient Egypt were debunked, and the victorious God of the Israelites led them out of Egypt’s house of slavery, across the Red Sea and to Mount Sinai in Arabia, where he gave them the Ten Commandments and hundreds of other laws for the government of them as a nation. At the beginning of those Ten Commandments the divine Deliverer of the Israelites had the full right to command his liberated people, saying:

¹³ “I am Jehovah your God, who have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. You must not have any other gods against my face. You must not make for yourself a carved image or a form like anything that is in the heavens above or that is on the earth underneath or that is in the waters under the earth. You must not bow down to them nor be induced to serve them, because I Jehovah your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion, bringing punishment for the error of fathers upon sons, upon the third generation and upon the fourth generation, in the case of those who hate me; but exercising loving-kindness toward the thousandth generation in the case of those who love me and keep my commandments.”​—Ex. 20:1-6.

14. How does Jehovah God differ from the “god of this system of things” as to images, and why so?

¹⁴ Those first two of the Ten Commandments identify by name a God who is without equal, a God whose record is not matched by that of any so-called “god,” not even Satan the Devil, himself, “the god of this system of things.” Satan the Devil allows for idolatrous images to be made even of himself and of “gods” associated with him. But the God whose name is Jehovah strictly forbids the making of any image to represent him and forbids any other idolatrous image to be associated with the worship of Him. He cannot be compared to any created thing, to any man-made image. By another prophet who came after Moses, he said: “I am Jehovah. That is my name; and to no one else shall I give my own glory, neither my praise to graven images.”​—Isa. 42:8.

15. Why may Jehovah be said to be “a Jealous God,” and so what question might holders of political power ask as to this?

¹⁵ This divine declaration calls for exclusive devotion toward Jehovah as God and bars the use of all man-made images to which a relative worship is given. Because of his invisibility men may think that He needs images to be made to help worshipers in directing their attention toward Him. But such images would only be a lie, unable to picture Him as he really is. They would be really distracting the worshiper and cheapening God in the estimation of the worshiper. The one living and true God can never be represented by a lifeless created image. He does not associate himself with any self-made gods and his true worshipers must have ‘no other gods against his face,’ as sharers with him in real godship. He demands the exclusive devotion of his worshipers, and because of this he may be said to be “a jealous God.” Like it or not, all his intelligent creatures will be required to render exclusive devotion to him if they want to live happily forever. For this reason, the holders of political power today may borrow from Pharaoh’s language and ask, “‘Who is Jehovah,’ so that all should worship him?”

MATERIALISM GIVEN WORSHIP AS A GOD

16, 17. (a) Besides the State, what other things are people worshiping today? (b) How do many make materialism a god to themselves?

¹⁶ Unaware of what it is really doing, the vast majority of mankind is worshiping the symbolic “wild beast,” the political State that, in one form or another, governs “every tribe and people and tongue and nation.” (Rev. 13:7) But there are other things that selfish, imperfect humans can elevate to the position of gods in their lives. Modern-day physical science has been made a “sacred cow” for worship in the lives of many who think that human scientists can do anything, solve all problems. Also, in this day of entertainment and amusements of so many kinds, there is an idolizing of theatrical “stars,” movie celebrities, radio and television acclaim-winning performers. Sexual immorality is constantly gaining more and more worshipers as earlier standards of morality and decency break down.

¹⁷ Also, in this time when the world of mankind was never so rich in the so-called “comforts of life,” laborsaving devices, means for rapid travel to distant places, and a wider variety of things to eat, a person might be lured to seek an abundance of these things. Or, the world’s inflation and its increasing economic problems may pressure a person into concerning himself most with gaining material things. In either case, he may become materialistic, to the extent of having no time or interest for spiritual things. Although he may not like to think so, materialism has become a god to him.

18. Is worship of Materialism wise, and why did Agur the son of Jakeh not want to become satisfied with material riches?

¹⁸ The worship of Materialism is not wise. It is bound to hurt one’s spirituality. Agur the son of Jakeh, a man of ancient times who wanted to avoid the disastrous worship of false gods, recognized the dangers of materialism. Addressing himself to the Creator of the earth, the wind and the rain, Agur said: “Two things I have asked of you. Do not withhold them from me before I die. Untruth and the lying word put far away from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Let me devour the food prescribed for me, that I may not become satisfied and I actually deny you and say: ‘Who is Jehovah?’ and that I may not come to poverty and I actually steal and assail the name of my God.”​—Prov. 30:1, 7-9.

19. What attitude toward God does materialism produce in a greedy person, like that of the politicians, and why will the materialist not gain life from God?

¹⁹ In a world where both extreme wealth and dire poverty exist side by side, we are obliged to be like Agur the son of Jakeh and follow the safe course. We have to avoid the two opposites that can turn us against worshiping the true God. Material abundance for the satisfaction of greed can put us in the same position as the rulers of state who are greedy for political power, so that they take up the defiant words of ancient Pharaoh and say: “Who is Jehovah?” If that is the attitude that not only political power but also greed for material riches produces, then what is the seeker for overmuch earthly treasures doing but making Materialism, not Jehovah, his God? Since Jehovah is a jealous God, that is, a God who requires exclusive devotion of his worshipers, a person cannot serve both at the same time and win the prize of eternal life in happiness at the hands of the true God.

20. What did one wiser than Agur say about trying to slave for God and for Riches at the same time?

²⁰ A man far wiser than Agur the son of Jakeh said: “No one can slave for two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stick to the one and despise the other. You cannot slave for God and for Riches [Mammon].”​—Matt. 6:24, NW; King James Authorized Version.

21. Of what kind of worship are those who claim to believe in no personal god nevertheless guilty?

²¹ Today mankind in general is caught between the forces of nationalism and materialism. Many are falling to the worship of both nationalism and materialism. The others, although having no special personal interest in national politics, are yielding to the worship of materialism. What individual on earth today can say that he worships nothing? He may think that, because he boasts of believing in no intelligent personal God, he is not worshiping a god or gods. But if he honestly examines himself, he will find that he is making nationalism, materialism, sports, sex, his own belly, and other selfish things, his gods and is slaving for them. Furthermore, in worshiping these selfish things of the world, he is unwittingly worshiping the personification of selfishness, Satan the Devil, “the god of this system of things.” There is no sense in a person’s fooling himself. Let us all be honest with ourselves and admit the facts.

22. In view of what the worship of such gods has brought upon the people, how ought people to be reasoning regarding worship?

²² The worship of all these false gods has brought the world of mankind to the distressing state in which it finds itself today. The worship of all such gods has not worked for the peace, happiness and general well-being of the human race. Any reasoning person would think that it was about time for the people in their distress to question the advisability of further serving the gods that have brought upon them such perplexity and difficulties. They ought to reason out that there must be a true God, a God of real, lasting benefit to his worshipers. Who could that be?

23, 24. Who is the god that is opposed to all such false gods, and how is He the God of the Bible?

²³ There is only one God that stands opposed to all those false and harmful gods. He is not unknown by name. His name has been proclaimed throughout the length and breadth of the land particularly since the end of World War I in the year 1918. His name is the most prominent name in the book that has had the greatest circulation among mankind of any book ever published, and in that book his name occurs around seven thousand times. That book is the one book inspired by the Bearer of that oft-mentioned name. For that reason the book is the most attacked book in all the world, with the result that it is the most disbelieved book of all. That book is called The Holy Bible, The Sacred Scriptures. The name of the One that the Bible sets forth from start to finish as God is Jehovah. So He is the God of the Bible. There is no use in disputing this fact, for in Psalm 83:18 the Bible says:

²⁴ “That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.”​—King James Authorized Version.

25. Who are the ones that have particularly been confronted with the challenging question about worshiping Jehovah, and with what questions about Him do we now go to the Bible?

²⁵ Particularly since the year 1919 C.E., his worshipers, known world wide as Jehovah’s Christian witnesses, have been the ones that have publicized and exalted his name throughout the earth in at least 207 lands and island groups down till this date. Quite logically, they are the particular ones that have been confronted with the challenging question, “‘Who is Jehovah,’ so that all should worship him?” That is a valid question. It deserves an answer that is authoritative. The authoritative answer that can carry the proper weight of conviction is drawn only from the Bible, Jehovah’s Book. In it, what does he have to say for himself? In it, what has he caused to be put on record about his works and his dealings with mankind? How is He better than all the other gods that men have worshiped throughout the ages? What will he do about the world’s present state of affairs? How will he prove that he alone deserves our worship of him as God? So, then, to the Holy Bible for the answers!

[Picture on page 228]

A powerful head of state once said in challenge: “Who is Jehovah, so that I should obey his voice?”

[Picture on page 229]

. . . He found out​—too late—​when his defiance of the true God led to calamity for himself and those who followed him

The Reason for Choosing to Worship Jehovah

1, 2. (a) How do people apply “Seeing is believing” respecting God? (b) Of what Russian Communist astronaut do such people remind one?

“SEEING is believing!” That expresses the attitude that materialistic people today take toward God. Because they cannot see him with the naked human eye or with the aid of the most powerful telescope in use today, they do not believe that he exists; they cannot persuade themselves to believe that he is.

² Such persons remind us of the second astronaut that the Russian Communists sent aloft in a rocket spaceship to orbit our earth. According to an Associated Press dispatch of May 6, 1962, this Russian major “proclaimed his disbelief in God today. He said he saw ‘no God or angels’ during his seventeen orbits of the earth. . . . ‘The rocket was made by our people. I do not believe in God. I believe in man, his strength, his possibilities and his reason.’”​—New York Times of May 7, 1962.

3, 4. (a) How was Moses different from that Russian astronaut? (b) What did Moses want to see about God, and what was he told?

³ Not all people are like that. Take, for instance, a man who is more famous than those Communist astronauts and who did more good for mankind. That man was Moses the son of Amram the Hebrew. It is testified of this Moses that “he continued steadfast as seeing the One who is invisible.” (Heb. 11:27) He was not disappointed in this invisible God of his. He did not become ashamed of his belief in this God. After Moses led his people out of slavery in Egypt and miraculously through the Red Sea and to Mount Sinai in Arabia, and after he received the two tablets of the Ten Commandments amid an awe-inspiring spectacle at that mountain, Moses had no reason to disbelieve the existence of this invisible all-powerful God. What he wanted was to get better acquainted with him, to see the glory of this invisible God.

⁴ “Cause me to see, please, your glory,” was the request that Moses made through the angel of God. To this the divine reply was: “I myself shall cause all my goodness to pass before your face, and I will declare the name of Jehovah before you.” But why only this manifestation? Jehovah God explained to Moses: “You are not able to see my face, because no man may see me and yet live.”​—Ex. 33:18-20.

5. What did God say about himself when declaring his name before Moses?

⁵ It matters not what man may say about this God of Moses; the thing that should matter with us is what kind of God he declared himself to be. What God said about himself we read in Moses’ account of the occasion, in these words: “And Jehovah proceeded to come down in the cloud and station himself with him there and declare the name of Jehovah. And Jehovah went passing by before his face and declaring: ‘Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness and truth, preserving loving-kindness for thousands, pardoning error and transgression and sin. but by no means will he give exemption from punishment, bringing punishment for the error of fathers upon sons and upon grandsons, upon the third generation and upon the fourth generation.’”​—Ex. 34:4-7.

6, 7. (a) Which of those divine qualities mentioned do we need to have exercised toward us in our condition? (b) What does His not granting exemption from punishment for wrongdoing assure us with respect to the reign of wickedness?

⁶ Is that not the kind of God we would want, the kind of God that we would choose to worship? He is a God “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness and truth.” Certainly we in our broken-down human condition today need such divine qualities to be exercised toward us. However, he does not let his human creatures get away with everything for all time without deserved punishment. He is a God “pardoning error and transgression and sin,” but he is not in sympathy with such wrong things and he does not fail to bring punishment upon those who willfully practice such things and delight in such things.

⁷ For that reason we can be sure of this one thing: Although he has been “slow to anger” and has permitted wickedness and wrongdoing to prevail among mankind for these past six thousand years, he will not let the reign of wickedness go on forever in the earth. He will not ‘grant exemption from punishment’ for all time to this wicked system of things of which the author of wickedness, Satan the Devil, is the god. Happily for us today, his long permission of wickedness is at its end!

8. God’s ability to bring a worldwide system of things to an end need not be doubted in the light of what event in Noah’s day?

⁸ His perfect ability to bring this entire worldwide system of things to an end in our own generation does not need to be doubted for a moment. More than eight centuries before he declared his name to the prophet Moses, he gave us a historical example of his full power to destroy a whole world of people. This was in the days of Moses’ forefather Noah. The year of that world destruction can be calculated as 2370 before our Common Era. The world of mankind today is not too big and not too widespread for him to include in his foretold destruction of this globe-encircling system of things. In the days of Noah the waters of the deluge swept the whole globe.

9. So, as away back there, what similar thing can God do today?

⁹ The entire earthly globe was then just as it was at the beginning of the first creative “day” when the Creator said: “Let light come to be.” The surface of all the earth was covered with water. (Gen. 1:1-3) Only, while the waters of the deluge prevailed over all the earth, there was the huge ark built by Noah and his family riding safely on the bosom of those waters. With the exception of Noah’s family in the ark all human life on the earth died. They were submerged, just as Pharaoh and his chariots and horsemen in pursuit of the departing Hebrews under Moses were submerged in the Red Sea. What the Almighty God Jehovah did at the time of the Deluge, he can do today: destroy a worldwide system of things that is “filled with violence.”​—Gen. 6:11 through 7:23.

THE GOD OF THE NEW SYSTEM OF THINGS

10. Why will destruction of the present system of things not leave a vacancy on earth, and why, therefore, should we worship Jehovah?

¹⁰ The end of God’s permission of wickedness and his destroying this old system of things in an unparalleled world trouble will not leave a vacancy on our earth. He has something ideal with which to replace the former things. It is a new system of things, in which wickedness will not be permitted. The Creator of this righteous new system will also be the God of it. That is a sound reason why we should choose to worship Jehovah the Creator as God.

11. Why will Satan not be a god in that new system of things, and what will happen to his worshipers?

¹¹ The god of the present wicked system of things, Satan the Devil, will then be gone, and all the other false gods that materialistic, faithless men have been worshiping till now. That “dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan,” will prove no match for God the Almighty. He will be stripped of his power as a god and hurled into an abyss together with all his demon angels. (Rev. 20:1-3) Those who choose to worship him as their god will perish with this Devil-controlled system of things in the greatest of all troubles that now overhangs the world.

12. In contrast with what Satan gave mankind, what kind of global government will Jehovah give mankind, in the hands of whom?

¹² Satan the Devil, the “god of this system of things,” gave the people a worldwide political government that was symbolized in the last book of the Bible as a seven-headed, ten-horned “wild beast.” Under Satanic influence it arose out of the “sea” of mankind estranged from God. (Rev. 13:1-8) In contrast with that, Jehovah as the God of the righteous new system of things will give mankind a global government superior to that of oppressive, self-seeking, imperfect men and women. It will be a heavenly government, in the hands of the Master who taught his disciples to pray: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matt. 6:9, 10; Luke 11:2) The Teacher of that prayer was Jesus Christ. He was the Son of God whom Jehovah sent into the earth nineteen hundred years ago to become a fleshly descendant of King David and thus become the permanent heir to the everlasting kingdom that was to remain in the royal line of David. In this way he became the promised Messiah.​—John 1:40-49.

13. With what temptation was the anointed Jesus approached with an enticement into wrong worship and into the politics of this world?

¹³ As the anointed Heir to this Messianic kingdom, why should Jesus Christ entangle himself in the dirty politics of this world? He was not looking to the “god of this system of things” for a kingdom or a world empire. After he had been anointed with God’s spirit to be the King Designate of the Messianic government, he was approached by the “god of this system of things” to entice him into false worship and into the politics of this doomed world. Brazenly bringing up the issue of worship, the Tempter showed to Jesus “all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth in an instant of time” and said: “I will give you all this authority and the glory of them, because it has been delivered to me, and to whomever I wish I give it. You, therefore, if you do an act of worship before me, it will all be yours.” Whom, now, would Jesus choose to worship?

14, 15. To what government had Jesus been anointed as King Designate, and why would he not worship Satan for all the kingdoms of the world?

¹⁴ Jesus did not do like the seven-headed, ten-horned “wild beast” that arose out of the sea, namely, accept political power and a material throne and great authority from the fiery-colored dragon, Satan the Devil. (Rev. 13:1, 2) He had already been anointed to rulership of the Messianic kingdom because he worshiped Jehovah as God. As it was prophetically said to Jesus Christ: “You loved righteousness, and you hated lawlessness. That is why God, your God, anointed you with the oil of exultation more than your partners.” (Heb. 1:9; Ps. 45:7) Never would Jesus bow in worship to the “god of this system of things,” even for “all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth.” Being born as a man under the Law covenant that had been mediated by Moses at Mount Sinai, Jesus immediately quoted from the words of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy and said to Satan the Devil:

¹⁵ “It is written, ‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’”​—Luke 4:5-8; Deut. 6:13; 10:20.

16. Instead of campaigning for a political government on earth, what message did Jesus take up, and why?

¹⁶ Jesus Christ remained unwaveringly in favor of the God of the righteous new system of things. That meant for Jesus to stick faithfully to the Messianic kingdom that came from the hand of this God, the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. He did not, therefore, go campaigning for any political kingdom of the inhabited earth, but took up the message that his forerunner, John the Baptist, had proclaimed to all Israel: “Repent, you people, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” (Matt. 4:17) In order to become the heavenly Messiah, Jesus had to lay down his life in full devotion to that kingdom of the heavens, the kingdom of God.

17. How did Jesus witness to Pontius Pilate for God’s kingdom?

¹⁷ When asked by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of the Province of Judea, as to whether he was a king who posed a threat to the empire of the Caesars, Jesus replied: “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) So Jesus witnessed to Pilate for God’s kingdom.

IT IS HIGH TIME TO CHOOSE!

18. What role did Jesus play in human history, and how did he prove that he believed in God and worshiped him?

¹⁸ This Jesus Christ is a man of history. He cannot be brushed aside by unbelieving Jews and Gentiles as a mere legendary figure or myth. There is more evidence of his having existed here on earth nineteen centuries ago than there is of any other men mentioned on the pages of history. His coming marked the turning point in human history, not merely in the matter of religion but in the matter of world government for mankind, God’s kingdom. He came on the earthly scene at God’s marked time, the time indicated beforehand in the Holy Bible. For Jesus Christ there was no question as to whether God existed. He came from God. He had seen him, talked with him, worked with him. He was no liar when he called attention to these facts of his prehuman life in heaven. Although on earth as a man with only human vision he could not see Jehovah God, yet he continued to believe him and worship him. Jesus’ works on earth, attested to by many honest witnesses, proved that he believed in God and that God was with him.​—Acts 10:38.

19. With regard to believing that there is a God, what question arises as to whose example we shall follow?

¹⁹ Jesus knew Jehovah God his Father better than the invisible spirit demons did. And yet the demons believe there is a God. Unbelieving men may smile sophisticatedly at this, but the earthly half brother of Jesus Christ named James said to those who professed to be Christ’s disciples: “You believe there is one God, do you? You are doing quite well. And yet the demons believe and shudder.” (Jas. 2:19) According to that, the superhuman demons are doing better than the vast majority of men and women who do not at all believe in Jehovah God. In this respect, whose example shall we be safe in following? That of unbelieving men and women? Or that of demons who do believe and yet do nothing more about it than shudder? Or that of Jesus Christ whose personal life on earth is testified to by the twenty-seven books of the inspired Christian Greek Scriptures?

20. Who fared best​—those lacking faith in God and suitable works, or Jesus for believing and proving his belief? How?

²⁰ Jesus Christ believed; but, more than that, he did things in proof of his belief. Did he fare worse than unbelieving men and women or than the demons? Whose life of belief and works has resulted in more good for mankind, even thus far only, in human history, not to speak of the future? The true-to-fact answer to those questions will have to name Jesus Christ as the one who fared best and did the most good. He is where he is today because of a life of faith and works on earth down to a martyr’s death for loyally upholding God’s kingdom. He today occupies the topmost position in all heaven and earth with the one exception of his heavenly Father, Jehovah God himself. (Phil. 2:5-11; 1 Pet. 3:21, 22) And he would not be in that highly exalted position today if there were no God and if Jehovah were not that God, the God able to resurrect the dead to heavenly life.​—Eph. 1:19-22.

21. Whose, then, is the example to follow on the part of those longing for everlasting life?

²¹ Without room for successful contradiction, the life of faith and works resulted best for him, to the point of surpassing anything that any and all other creatures in the universe may hope to enjoy. His is the example for all sensible persons who long for everlasting life, in the fullness of happiness, to follow. Following his example is practical, not something merely idealistic. He made Jehovah his God and worshiped him, even in the face of temptation from Satan the ruler of the demons.

22. Who, then, is Jehovah, and what two highly important reasons are there for us to worship him?

²² In answer to the question, “‘Who is Jehovah,’ so that all should worship him?” we can factually reply: Jehovah is the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that fact in itself is a highly important reason why all should worship Jehovah as God. All those who desire eternal life in God’s righteous new system of things will have to follow the example of Jesus Christ, the Chief One in all of God’s creation. Also, the very fact that Jehovah has put the Messianic kingdom in the hands of Jesus Christ makes it urgent that all should worship Jehovah God.

23. Why can those who deny God’s existence not escape from responsibility to him, and how do these unbelievers act?

²³ Men and women today think that they can escape responsibility to Jehovah by disbelieving and denying that he exists and is God. But their escaping responsibility to One whom they cannot see is sheer imagination on their part. King David, a forefather of Jesus Christ, said, in Psalm fourteen, verses one and two: “The senseless one has said in his heart: ‘There is no Jehovah.’ They have acted ruinously, they have acted detestably in their dealing. There is no one doing good. As for Jehovah, he has looked down from heaven itself upon the sons of men, to see whether there exists anyone having insight, anyone seeking Jehovah.” Even in his day, King David observed that those denying Jehovah’s existence acted ruinously. Jehovah God in heaven is observing them. He laughs at them, he well knowing that they are held captive within the realm of his laws and cannot escape from the outworking of those laws. Their ignoring and denying such laws will bring them only hurt.

24. Why is the paramount question today not about religion alone, and how does Pharaoh’s dealing with Moses reflect that of the politicians today?

²⁴ The paramount question before all the universe today is not just religion. It is also government. We do well to remember that it was the leading politician of the day that hurled into the face of the prophet Moses: “Who is Jehovah, so that I should obey his voice?” (Ex. 5:2) In asking such a question the Pharaoh of Egypt was defying not only the God of pure religion, but also a Governor, the Sovereign Ruler of the universe. Also, Jehovah was then about to set up his kingship over the nation of Israel. Likewise with the politicians of today and their patriotic supporters. They are not dealing merely with the religious field in questioning the existence of Jehovah and his ability as God. They are also dealing with government. Today they are dealing with God’s sovereignty as represented by his Messianic government, the kingdom of God. It is a real government and is both higher and mightier than their own.

25. (a) By whom and since when has that Messianic government been preached to the nations? (b) Following such notification to the nations, what will that government be ordered to do, with what effect upon the politicians?

²⁵ Particularly since the end of World War I in the year 1918, Jehovah’s Christian witnesses have been proclaiming that government, that heavenly kingdom of God in the hands of his Christ. So for these past fifty-six years that Messianic kingdom has, for the most part, only been preached. (Matt. 24:14; Mark 13:10) Soon, though, it will cease to be preached to all the political nations for a witness to them. But, following upon such advance notification to those nations, Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom will be ordered to take action. That action will prove that Jehovah is the God of true prophecy, the Inspirer of the Bible prophecies that are true and infallible. The Messianic kingdom will furnish that proof by fulfilling those prophecies. Then those defiant politicians will learn to know who Jehovah is and what happens to those who disdain worshiping Him. The Kingdom action will not convert them to the worship of Jehovah but will destroy them.​—Dan. 2:44.

26. (a) Besides destroying the visible operators of this system of things, the Kingdom will do what about the system’s god? (b) The present-day earthly subjects of the Kingdom will be ushered into what, and how?

²⁶ That Messianic kingdom will do more than destroy the visible operators of this wicked system of things. It will abyss the invisible, yet real, power behind this present system of things, namely, “the god of this system of things,” Satan the Devil, along with his demons. (Rev. 20:1-3) The Messianic kingdom will safely preserve through the unprecedented “great tribulation” that lies just ahead of mankind the last remaining members of the 144,000 joint heirs of Christ and also the “great crowd” of present-day earthly subjects of that heavenly kingdom. (2 Pet. 3:11-15; Rev. 7:9-17) These survivors on earth of that “great tribulation” the Kingdom will usher into the promised new system of things in which Jehovah will be God and the Universal Sovereign.

27. According to Revelation 21:3-5, what difference will that new system with its God make for earth’s inhabitants?

²⁷ Will this make a difference for all the earthly inhabitants of a system with Jehovah as God? No better answer to this question could be given than that written down under inspiration in Revelation 21:3-5: “With that I [John the apostle] heard a loud voice from the throne say: ‘Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.’ And the One seated on the throne said: ‘Look! I am making all things new.’ Also, he says: ‘Write, because these words are faithful and true.’”

28. In answer to the question, “‘Who is Jehovah,’ so that all should worship him?” what shall we say?

²⁸ So then, “‘Who is Jehovah,’ so that all should worship him?” Listen, you Pharaoh of ancient Egypt! Listen, you materialistic-minded person of today! Jehovah is the God who is “from time indefinite to time indefinite” and worthy of all adoration. (Ps. 90:2) He is the Sovereign Ruler of all the universe. He is our Maker, and the Source of the Messianic kingdom through which all the families of the earth, the living and the dead, will be blessed.​—Gen. 12:3; 22:18.

29. If we really believe that, to what exhortation of the psalmist will we respond?

²⁹ Do we believe that? Will we who answer Yes show our faith by suitable works? If so, then we will warmly respond to the exhortation of the inspired psalmist: “O come in, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before Jehovah our Maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasturage and the sheep of his hand.”​—Ps. 95:6, 7.

[Blurb on page 234]

“‘Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness and truth . . .’ Is that not the kind of God we would want?”

[Blurb on page 238]

“Jehovah is the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that fact in itself is a highly important reason why all should worship Jehovah as God.”

[Blurb on page 239]

‘In questioning the existence of Jehovah, the politicians of today and their supporters are dealing with the kingdom of God. It is a real government and is both higher and mightier than their own.’

[Picture on page 236, 237]

Jesus Christ refused to be a puppet of Satan the Devil by becoming a part of the world’s political system

[Picture on page 240]

Jehovah’s new system will make possible vibrant health and everlasting life for all the obedient inhabitants of the paradise earth

Does Human Leadership Deserve Your Confidence?

DURING the past calendar year dramatic governmental changes took place in a number of lands throughout the earth. News commentator Howard K. Smith, of the American Broadcasting Company, remarked that a “unique feature” of 1974 “was the epidemic . . . of fallen leaders.”

Among countries affected were Argentina, Ethiopia, France, Great Britain, Israel, Italy, Japan, Portugal, West Germany and the United States of America. A well-known newsmagazine observed: “At least some of the changes in national leadership reflected a restive search for figures capable of guiding the world into a future that looked like a darker, more dangerous business than it had in some years.”​—Time, January 6, 1975.

In times past, it has not been uncommon for leaders to remain in power for years. Yet, in one year​—1974—​many leaders toppled from their positions of power. So, one might well ask, Does human leadership deserve my confidence?

WHAT OF HUMAN MOTIVATION?

Doubtless many men entering political life have had noble intentions. Often, however, human leaders have had ulterior motives. For instance, Adolf Hitler swindled German workers out of huge sums of money, according to William L. Shirer, who wrote in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich:

“Every German, or at least every German workman, he said, should own an automobile, just as in the United States. . . . Hitler decreed that a car should be built for him to sell for only 990 marks​—$396 at the official rate of exchange. . . .

“Since private industry could not turn out an automobile for $396, Hitler ordered the State to build it and placed the Labor Front in charge of the project. . . . The Labor Front advanced fifty million marks in capital. But that was not the main financing. Dr. [Robert] Ley’s ingenious plan was that the workers themselves should furnish the capital by means of what became known as a ‘pay-before-you-get-it’ installment plan​—five marks a week, or if a worker thought he could afford it, ten or fifteen marks a week. When 750 marks had been paid in, the buyer received an order number entitling him to a car as soon as it could be turned out. Alas for the worker, not a single car was ever turned out for any customer during the Third Reich. Tens of millions of marks were paid in by the German wage earners, not a pfennig of which was ever to be refunded.” When World War II began, this newly constructed automobile plant “turned to the manufacture of goods more useful to the Army.”

A human leader may also turn against political associates and he may cause the people in general to suffer greatly. For instance, consider Joseph Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953. Says The World Book Encyclopedia: “Stalin ruled by terror during most of his years as dictator. He allowed no one to oppose his decisions. Stalin executed or jailed most of those who had helped him rise to power because he feared they might threaten his rule. He also was responsible for the deaths of millions of Soviet peasants who opposed his program of collective agriculture (government control of farms).” When Stalin transferred control of farms, agricultural equipment and livestock to the State, farmers tried to resist by destroying about half of the country’s livestock and a great deal of produce. “As punishment,” says this reference work, “Stalin sent about a million families into exile. The destruction of livestock and grain caused widespread starvation. The economy moved forward, but at the cost of millions of lives.”

Very truthfully, the Holy Scriptures state: “When the righteous are in power the people rejoice, but they groan when the wicked hold office.” (Prov. 29:2, The New English Bible) Indeed, a leader’s actions eventually may prove that he did not deserve the confidence of the people.

AN EVENTUALITY THAT FURTHER UNDERMINES CONFIDENCE

Some human leaders apparently have felt invincible. To illustrate: King Esarhaddon of ancient Assyria declared in an inscription: “I am powerful, I am all powerful. I am a hero, I am gigantic, I am colossal.” Nevertheless, that monarch was unable to escape one thing, death. “There is an eventuality as respects the sons of mankind and an eventuality as respects the beast, and they have the same eventuality,” say the Scriptures. “As the one dies, so the other dies . . . They have all come to be from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust.”​—Eccl. 3:19, 20.

Unquestionably, all human leaders are dying creatures. None are able to save themselves, or anyone else, from the eventuality of death. Accordingly, the Bible soundly advises: “Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs. His spirit [life-force] goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.” (Ps. 146:3, 4) No human leader is immortal. His dead body ultimately disintegrates and returns to the ground, from which man originally was taken. (Gen. 2:7; 3:19) The eventuality of death undermines confidence in human leadership, if nothing else does.

WHY HUMAN LEADERSHIP MUST FAIL

There are basic reasons why human leadership must fail. For one thing, mankind’s Creator says: “It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.” (Jer. 10:23) But human leaders have been trying to direct their steps while ignoring God and his Word, the Bible. World conditions, however, testify to the truthfulness of what the Creator said. Only the man whose “delight is in the law of Jehovah” has the Scriptural assurance that “everything he does will succeed.”​—Ps. 1:1-3.

Jehovah God, who can see what is happening, not only on earth but also in the invisible realm, tells us why human rulers cannot succeed. His Word, the Bible, associates wicked spirit forces with world powers. For example, it says that “the prince of the royal realm of Persia” once stood in opposition to a righteous angel for twenty-one days. (Dan. 10:12-14, 20, 21) Not a puny human leader, but only a wicked spirit “prince,” a demon, could do such a thing. Under whose authority? That of Satan the Devil, “the ruler of the demons” and “the god of this system of things.”​—Matt. 9:34; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 6:11, 12.

Interestingly, the Bible book of Revelation mentions a symbolic “wild beast” and says that the “dragon,” who is Satan the Devil, “gave to the beast its power and its throne and great authority.” (Rev. 12:7-9; 13:1, 2) In Daniel’s prophecy, various animals, including very ferocious beasts, are used to signify political entities. (Dan. 7:1-28; 8:3-8, 20-22) Therefore, the symbolic “wild beast” to which the Dragon gave power, throne and authority is the Devil’s visible earthly political organization. No wonder that people find human governments unsatisfying.

WHERE TO PLACE YOUR CONFIDENCE

Does this leave us without hope? No, for the Holy Bible, which says, “Do not put your trust in nobles,” shows where to place our confidence. It declares: “Happy is the one who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Jehovah his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, of the sea, and of all that is in them.” (Ps. 146:3-6) Yes, Jehovah is the One in whom to put confidence.

Millions have suffered because of the shortcomings of human leadership. Many have been victims of deceit, injustice, fraud. Orphans, widows, the hungry, and many others, need true hope. Well, Jehovah is “the God who gives hope.” The Bible identifies him as “the One keeping trueness to time indefinite, the One executing judgment for the defrauded ones, the One giving bread to the hungry ones. Jehovah is releasing those who are bound. Jehovah is opening the eyes of the blind ones; Jehovah is raising up the ones bowed down; Jehovah is loving the righteous ones. Jehovah is guarding the alien residents; the fatherless boy and the widow he relieves, but the way of the wicked ones he makes crooked. Jehovah will be king to time indefinite.”​—Ps. 146:6-10; Rom. 15:13.

Can there be any doubt that Jehovah God is capable of accomplishing such good things? Consider: Whereas human leaders die, Jehovah is eternal. The Hebrew prophet Habakkuk stated: “O my God, my Holy One, you do not die.” (Hab. 1:12) Has God the power to do good? Well, who is responsible for the force of terrestrial gravitation? Who controls the sea, as demonstrated by the way the coastlines keep it within set limits? (Job 38:8-11; Jer. 5:22) Who created the sun, a gigantic furnace with an internal temperature of about 35,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit? Who concentrated tremendous energy in minute atoms? Surely no human leader. The incomparable Source of such dynamic power is Jehovah God. Moreover, as the Bible shows, he is “the One speaking in righteousness, the One abounding in power to save.”​—Isa. 63:1.

You can expect only failure from human leaders. But Jehovah God’s power is irresistible and his works are righteous. His purposes do not fail, and they are for the good of humanity. Already Jehovah has taken decisive action for man’s benefit by establishing in heaven the kingdom of his immortal, glorified Son, Jesus Christ. Soon that kingdom will replace human leaders and governments. (Dan. 2:44; 1 Cor. 2:6; Rev. 11:15-18) Then mankind will know true freedom and happiness.

Confidence in divine rulership is not misplaced. Abundant blessings soon will flow from heaven to those who live under the beneficent rule of the King Jesus Christ. Act now as an advocate of divine rulership and you may be numbered among the happy subjects of this one whom Jehovah God has provided “as a leader and commander to the national groups.”​—Isa. 55:1-4.

Acknowledging God’s Sovereignty Brings Benefits

TODAY millions of persons in 207 lands and islands of the sea are learning about the true God, Jehovah, and are remolding their lives in acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty, conforming to His standard as to what is right and what is wrong. These include persons rich and poor, law-abiding citizens and former criminals, the very religious as well as those who had become disillusioned with religion. Truly, “all sorts of men.”​—1 Tim. 2:4.

How does acknowledging God’s sovereignty affect people? Does it bring benefits? We would expect so, for the Scriptures speak of “the distinction between a righteous one and a wicked one, between one serving God and one who has not served him.” (Mal. 3:18) Can we see that distinction today?

In many cases the adjustments that people must make to submit their lives to God’s sovereignty may not seem to be extraordinary. At times, though, remarkable changes occur. Let us consider some recent experiences.

OVERCOMING SEVERE DEPRESSION

Serious sickness can make life miserable for people. What effect can knowledge of God have in such a situation? Note the experience of a woman from El Salvador, who suffered severely from schizophrenia:

“I used to search out lonely places like mountains and often would spend all day in my bedroom so as not to see other people. When alone I would throw myself down and roll on the ground in desperation. My family took me to clinics, hospitals and specialists, but to no avail. I felt that a dog had a better life than I did.

“Then one morning Jehovah’s witnesses called at my home and asked to speak to me. I agreed, but felt so ill at ease that I kept my face hidden.”

Soon this woman consented to a regular study of the Bible. “But each time the Witnesses arrived to conduct the study,” she notes, “my heart palpitated rapidly for fear of facing them. I even thought of discontinuing the study.” But she did not do that. Why not?

“When I realized that I was learning the truth, I determined to seek God’s help in prayer and to do my best at overcoming my tendency to isolate myself from other people. I began attending meetings at the Kingdom Hall, but this was very difficult at first. Sometimes I would get to the front door and turn around and go home. When I did go in, at first I would not lift my head to look at those who greeted me. But with prayer and loving help from fellow Christians, I progressed little by little.

“Now I am able to get up in front of a whole congregation to give brief Bible talks as a student in our Ministry School. I have dedicated my life to Jehovah and now enjoy calling from house to house to share with others the Bible truths that have so blessed my life.

“When my family noticed the powerful effect that God’s Word had on me, they, too, asked for someone to study the Scriptures with them. How happy I am that someone had sufficient love to call at my home to discuss Bible truth. I no longer cower away from people, but am happy and active in helping others. All thanks for this go to Jehovah God.”

Many persons today lack direction in their lives, and this often leads to depressing family problems. Can reliance on God, conforming to the requirements of his Word, help here, too? A woman from the United States relates:

“My situation in life had become very critical. I was confused and mentally depressed because of marital problems. My husband and I were in the process of getting a divorce.

“Previous to this I had sought counsel from the Catholic priest. But he said that he could not help me. I was so depressed that upon leaving him I wanted to run the car into a tree, but hesitated because of my baby lying next to me in the seat.”

Then something happened to change the depressed state of this woman. She continues: “My brother called me long-distance from California. He told me that he had been studying the Bible and that it foretold a new system of things soon to come in which people will gain eternal life on earth restored to paradise. But I didn’t pay attention at that time.”

Later, though, she got to see her brother in connection with his wedding at a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s witnesses. She was truly amazed at the peace and contentment that he, a former drug user, had achieved and at the friendliness and sincerity of others present. But she still had doubts about her brother’s newfound religion.

“What truly convinced me,” she adds, “was the wedding talk. I noticed that the minister read right from the Bible. The discourse mentioned the principle that wives must ‘be in subjection to their husbands.’ (Eph. 5:22) I wondered why I had not been told that at my own wedding.

“Upon returning home, I began to study the Bible and to apply to myself what I was learning. As a result my husband commented: ‘I am happy to see you settle down to be my wife and a mother to the children. Whatever they are doing to you at the Kingdom Hall, just keep right on going.’ All thanks for this go to Jehovah God.”

A TRULY “NEW PERSONALITY”

The Scriptures command all Christians: “Put away the old personality which conforms to your former course of conduct . . . [but] be made new in the force actuating your mind, and . . . put on the new personality which was created according to God’s will in true righteousness and loyalty.” (Eph. 4:22-24) The experience of Anthony, from the island of Cyprus, illustrates the power of God’s Word to effect such a change:

“I was born in a village in the district of Famagusta. Although raised by religious parents, at about the age of seventeen I started carrying a gun. One day three persons approached me in a field and sought to do me harm. I shot one of them in the leg and the others ran away. This led to the first of many periods in prison for me.

“I was not reformed, though, for when I got out I started trafficking in narcotics. Money was no worry for me then, for I had a plentiful source of income from two girl friends who worked for me in the old city as prostitutes. I put them at opposite ends of the area for fear that one would see me frequenting the other’s house. Besides that, I belonged to a gang that ran a protection racket for other prostitutes, and we used to attack and rob unsuspecting visitors to the city. I was always looking for a fight. One day two friends and I beat up a police sergeant so badly that he had to spend several days in the hospital.”

But in 1958 things began to change for this man. How so? He explains: “In that year a missionary came to my cycle shop and started talking to me about the Bible and the hope of a new system of things in which all mankind will be strong and healthy and live together as brothers. My, how that appealed to me! I wanted to live in that new system. So I began studying the Bible and soon dedicated my life to the wonderful God who will bring to pass these heart-cheering things. That was in 1960.” How did acknowledging God’s sovereignty, by applying the Bible in his life, affect this man? Fourteen years later one of his associates in the Christian congregation writes:

“Personally, I would never have believed that Anthony, so zealous for God’s principles, such a meek and humble brother, could have had such a past life. I could not but admire the tremendous power that the Word of God has.”

FREEDOM FROM DEPENDENCE ON A TRANQUILIZER

Addiction to narcotics plagues mankind today. This happens not only to hippies and rebellious youths, but often to persons taking medication prescribed by a doctor. Can the desire to please God help one to get free of such enslavement?

A woman from the United States relates: “My health had never been good, even when I was really young. I had serious nerve problems and so, under a doctor’s care, began taking a certain tranquilizer.” She took that drug for a full eight years. But then this woman read some Bible-based information that set her to thinking. It included the Scriptural teaching that true Christians must be willing to ‘pick up their torture stake’ and follow Christ Jesus, even to the point of death, if necessary. (Luke 9:23, 24; John 12:25) Could this woman really say that she would do that if unwilling to endure the discomfort of ‘withdrawal’ from use of a tranquilizer? She continues: “I determined to stop using it.” What happened then?

“As expected, I experienced severe withdrawal symptoms. I spent sleepless nights. I couldn’t sit, lie down or read. I would cry hysterically and my body jerked uncontrollably. But with the help of a doctor, a loving husband and, above all, Jehovah God, I broke free from this enslavement to narcotics.

“Of course, I still have occasional feelings of depression. But others have commented on how much better I look and act. When a stressful situation arises now, I face it, rather than reaching for a pill. The main source of strength for me has been a strong relationship with Jehovah God in prayer.

“I realize that there are people with serious illnesses who must take those types of medication. But I wrote this because I believe that there are many just like me who want to stop and don’t know how. The only real solution is prayer to God and strong willpower based on the motivating force of Bible principles.”

“LOVE TO ONE ANOTHER AND TO ALL MEN”

Acknowledging God’s sovereignty involves heeding the Scriptural counsel: “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all men.” (1 Thess. 3:12, Common Bible) An important way for Christians to show love to “one another” is mentioned at Hebrews 10:24, 25: “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together.”​—Common Bible.

There are many who expend considerable effort to obey this Scriptural command. The Cheballiers of Argentina, for example, regularly travel thirty miles and spend 25 percent of the family’s income each month to attend weekly meetings for Bible study with fellow Christians. When asked about this expense, Señor Cheballier replied:

“Though this has meant depriving myself of some things, I consider that it is the best investment that I can make at this time. Jehovah deserves this, and much more. And the meetings are of vital importance to my children.”

What about showing love “to all men,’ including persons outside of the Christian congregation? Jesus did this by publicly preaching “the good news of the kingdom” of God, and he instructed his disciples to do likewise. (Matt. 4:23; 10:5-7; 24:14) That work has reached worldwide proportions today. Consider, for example, the report of a traveling minister of Jehovah’s witnesses from the mountainous region of Durango, northern Mexico:

“The service of the brothers in this part of the country requires love of Jehovah and love of neighbor, because they must traverse high and low mountains to get to where the people are. Sometimes it is necessary to walk for as much as four hours over uneven, rocky terrain to reach an area where there are only eight to ten families.

“In spite of this, regular efforts are made to reach these isolated people. Sometimes the brothers spend a week or two in mountainous areas, taking just a blanket and their food. Even these remote people are hearing and responding to the ‘good news.’”

A ‘LIVING’ WORD OF “THE LIVING GOD”

Repeatedly the Scriptures refer to the Creator as “the living God.” (Jer. 10:10; 23:36) Correspondingly we read of God’s Word: “The word of God is alive and exerts power.” (Heb. 4:12) But why does the Bible, more than any other collection of writings, motivate people to transform their lives for the better?

Being “inspired of God,” the Bible’s lofty principles for living strike a responsive chord in the hearts of persons who desire to do what is right. (2 Tim. 3:16) Sometimes just a brief exposure to Bible truth can start someone on a whole new course of life.

This is what happened with Dora, a young Argentinian woman, who was once a fervent Catholic. Though she enjoyed a comfortable, reasonably happy married life, Dora’s spiritual needs went unsatisfied. In search of peace and justice she spent four years with the Communist Youth Movement and the World Pro-Peace Commission. Then one day Dora began reading a copy of the Christian Greek Scriptures (“New Testament”). Deeply impressed with the wisdom of Jesus’ words, she turned to Jehovah God in prayer and sought the help of Jehovah’s witnesses to study the Bible. “Today,” says a report from Argentina, “she thanks Jehovah for leading her to true peace and joy!”

Another reason why the Bible motivates to fine conduct is that it helps people to know of God’s dealings with mankind and his purpose for them. Thus Bible study aids truth-hungry persons to know the purpose of life, the reasons why human history has been so turbulent and to have a solid hope for the future. Showing how quickly the Bible’s hope-inspiring message can aid someone is the case of a woman from Turkey who had lost both her husband and daughter in untimely death:

“Being without hope, this woman became ill and grew steadily weaker, until she could not even walk upright.

“Then one day in a grocery shop she overheard one of Jehovah’s witnesses talking about God and the comfort and hope that the Bible holds out [including the hope of a resurrection for the dead (Acts 24:15)]. She immediately gave her address to the Witness and began studying the Bible.

“As this woman progressed in knowledge of the truth and gained spiritual strength, her physical condition markedly improved. Now she once again walks upright and her radiant facial expression reflects the hope she has gained from study of the Word of God.”

Acknowledging God’s sovereignty has brought happiness, contentment and hope to millions of persons throughout the world in recent years. Would you like to see firsthand how this is possible? Jehovah’s witnesses will be happy to conduct a free Bible study with you in your home or at another convenient place.

Insight on the News

The Wailing Wall

● The Western Wall of the temple area in Jerusalem known as the Wailing Wall, is today the most sacred spot for practicers of Judaism. (Up above, on top of the temple platform area, are two Moslem Mosques, and that area is under Moslem religious control.) Now a great debate is on in Israel about the Wailing Wall. The issue? Whether to weed or not to weed the grass growing in the crevices between the wall’s massive stones.

Religious leaders favoring the weeding say that the grass endangers the wall, since the roots could seriously damage the stones. Opposing religious leaders say that the ‘grass represents the destruction of the Temple and the longing of Israel for redemption’ and so argue that the grass should be allowed to remain. Of the two most prominent contenders in the ‘battle of the weeds,’ the Chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazic (European) community and the Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic (North African) community, a New York “Times” dispatch says: “The two men are jealously competitive and rarely agree on anything.”

In the first century, Jesus of Nazareth said that religious leaders of that time were guilty of ‘straining out the gnat but gulping down the camel.’ (Matt. 23:24) Those leaders rejected him as the Messiah and he foretold God’s condemnation and judgment due to come as a result. Today, religious leaders argue over weeds on a wall and fail to see the divine message involved in the destruction of the temple and the fact that it has never been restored.

Of Birds and Babies

● Apostate people of ancient Israel said, “The way of Jehovah is not adjusted right.” To which God replied, “Are not the ways of you people not adjusted right?” (Ezek. 18:25) In our day, also, people have strange ways of looking at matters and strange standards for judging.

As an example, a leading New York newspaper recently published an editorial protesting the planned killing of millions of blackbirds. The birds have been roosting in a certain region in two southern states, and officials claimed that they were forming a serious health hazard to humans and domestic animals. The editorial said that the “poignant spectacle of millions of dead and dying birds ought to make Army and municipal officials reconsider this hideous project.”

Without attempting to assess their view on this, it is nevertheless curious to see on the same page, directly above that editorial, another one about the recent manslaughter conviction of a Massachusetts doctor accused of killing a live human fetus during an abortion. The editorial termed the conviction “misguided” and “almost unbelievable.” It questioned the competence of the jurors to decide when human life begins because they were said to have been influenced in their decision by the fact that a picture of the fetus “looked like a baby.”

Apparently the “poignant spectacle” of hundreds of thousands of unborn babies robbed of the opportunity to live does not affect the editorialists as much as that of dead birds.​—Compare Luke 12:6, 7.

Roots of Hunger​—Where?

● There is much talk about global scarcity of food. Evidence piles up, however, to show that the ‘scarcity’ is substantially due to the world system of food distribution and use​—not to any inability of the earth to feed the present population or even a considerably expanded population. Thus, an article in “Harper’s” magazine (February 1975) says that the “roots of hunger” are not captured by photographs of parched lands or starving people. Why not? Because those roots lie in a greedy commercial system that “appears so normal . . . while in fact it is condemning most of humanity to continual hunger.” Rejecting the view that the situation for mankind is nearly hopeless, the article says: “The suffering may be brought before our eyes [by pictures], but the evil lies elsewhere​—in . . . an economic machine that can’t be seen but generates untenable inequities and unending misery.”

Jesus Christ​—A Historical Personage

MANY are the books written questioning the authenticity and genuineness of the things recorded in the Bible. A special target of doubting critics is the Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus. What are we to believe? Did Jesus actually live? Is the picture of him as presented in the Gospels authentic?

Many critics are of much the same opinion as that expressed by the late Albert Schweitzer. According to him, the kind of Jesus presented in the Gospels, one who claimed to be the Messiah, preached the kingdom of God and died to give his work its final consecration, is “a literary fiction of the earliest Evangelists.” Schweitzer would have us believe that Jesus was a religious fanatic preaching the imminent destruction of the universe and that there is no knowing him as a “concrete historical personality.” Reaching such a conclusion, Schweitzer quit his career as clergyman and professor of theology, went back to school, studied medicine and became a physician.

The skepticism of some critics includes denying that such a person as Jesus ever existed. So what evidence is there that Jesus did actually live?

JEWISH TESTIMONY

To begin with, there is the testimony of the early Talmudical writings. The noted Jewish scholar Joseph Klausner, after thoroughly investigating their testimony, reports that the “early Talmudical accounts” of Jesus confirm ‘both the existence and the general character of Jesus.’​—Jesus of Nazareth, p. 20.

There are also two references to Jesus in the works of Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian. One of these is often questioned because it makes Josephus sound like a Christian. (Antiquities of the Jews, Book XVIII, Chap. III, par. 3) But, as Klausner and other scholars point out, it is unreasonable to conclude that Josephus would have made no reference to Jesus’ ministry when he dealt at length with that of John the Baptist. Besides, in a later reference, Josephus tells that “the sanhedri[n] of judges [had] brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James.” (Antiquities of the Jews, Book XX, Chap. IX, par. 1) Rightly, these scholars hold that this quotation intimates that something had been previously said about Jesus, otherwise why identify an unknown James as being his brother? They therefore hold that Josephus did tell about Jesus’ ministry but that some other, later hand embellished the account.

TESTIMONY OF ROMAN HISTORIANS

It is not to be expected that Roman historians would have much to say about an apparently small religious movement in faraway Palestine. At best we would expect to find scanty references, and such is the case. Thus, that foremost Roman historian, Tacitus, tells of Nero fastening the blame for the burning of Rome upon those “called Christians by the populace. Cristus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus.”​—The Complete Works of Tacitus, translated by A. Church and W. Brodribb, p. 380.

A number of other Roman Writers, including Pliny the Younger, Seneca and Juvenal also make references to Christ’s followers.

Rightly, then, The Encyclopædia Britannica states regarding the testimony of early Jewish and pagan writers: “These independent accounts prove that in ancient times even the opponents of Christianity never doubted the historicity of Jesus, which was disputed for the first time and on inadequate grounds by several authors at the end of the 18th, during the 19th, and at the beginning of the 20th centuries.”​—1974 Edition, Vol. 10, p. 145.

AN UNFORGETTABLE RECORD

Not only is the historicity of Jesus established by such “independent” accounts, but the Gospel records by their very contents do the same. How so? John Stuart Mill, noted nineteenth-century English economist and philosopher, observed: “Who among His followers, or among their proselytes, was capable of inventing the sayings ascribed to Jesus, or of imagining the life and character revealed in the Gospels? Certainly not the fishermen of Galilee.” Making the same point is the American Theodore Parker: “Shall we be told such a man never lived, the whole story is a lie? Suppose that Plato and Newton never lived. But who did their works, and thought their thoughts? It takes a Newton to forge a Newton. What man could have fabricated a Jesus? None but a Jesus.”

And English philosopher David Hartley makes a related and telling point: “If we compare the transcendent greatness of this character [Jesus] with the indirect manner in which it was delivered, . . . it will appear impossible that they should have forged it,​—that they should not have had a real original before them . . . How could mean and illiterate persons excel the greatest geniuses, ancient and modern, in drawing a character? How came they to draw it in an indirect manner? This is, indeed a strong evidence of genuineness and truth.”

HIS UNIQUE PERSONALITY

Even stronger evidence as to the historicity of Jesus Christ is the fact that his influence does not depend upon his physical presence on earth. While the influence of such mighty rulers as Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar is no more, the impact that Jesus Christ made on history remains. Millions today still follow his teachings.

Though a powerful man in his day, Napoleon was forced to recognize the uniqueness of Jesus’ influence as a person. He noted: “An extraordinary power of influencing and commanding men has been given to Alexander, Charlemagne and myself. But with us the presence has been necessary. . . . Whereas Jesus Christ has influenced and commanded His subjects without His visible bodily presence for eighteen hundred years.” And again: “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires, but upon what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his kingdom upon love.”

The noted eighteenth-century French philosopher Rousseau wrote the following about Jesus: “What sublimity in his maxims. What profound wisdom in his discourses! What presence of mind, what subtlety, what fitness, in his replies! How great the command over his passions! Where is the man, where the philosopher, who could so live and so die, without weakness, and without ostentation?”

Coming to modern times, Mahatma Gandhi, the Hindu ‘father’ of the nation of India, once stated to Lord Irwin, former viceroy of India: “When your country and mine shall get together on the teachings laid down by Christ in this Sermon on the Mount, we shall have solved the problems, not only of our countries but those of the whole world.” Bearing similar testimony to Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, the veteran American psychiatrist J. T. Fisher wrote, toward the end of his very successful career, that the Sermon on the Mount far excelled the best that all the world’s philosophers, psychologists and poets had to offer.

WHAT ABOUT JESUS’ MIRACLES?

Perhaps more than any other one aspect of the Gospels that has proved a stumbling stone to many is their record of miracles. If the miracles were presented as ordinary happenings, there might be a basis for people to object. But this is not the case. The Gospels present the miracles as extraordinary occurrences confirming that Jesus was indeed the Son of God. We read: “Jesus performed many other signs also before the disciples, which are not written down in this scroll. But these have been written down that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God.” (John 20:30, 31) Surely it would not have been enough for Jesus simply to claim that he was the Son of God. He had to be able to prove that this was so. And what better way was there to do this than by performing miracles?

But what about the argument that miracles are contrary to the laws of nature? On this point, Victor Hess, discoverer of cosmic rays, once stated: “It is sometimes said that the ‘necessity’ of the ‘laws’ of nature is incompatible with . . . miracles. This is not so. . . . Many of our physical laws are, in fact, merely statistical statements. They hold for the average of a great number of cases. They have no meaning for an individual case. . . . Must a scientist doubt the reality of miracles? As a scientist I answer emphatically: No. I can see no reason at all why Almighty God, Who created us and all things around us, should not suspend or change​—if He finds it wise to do so—​the natural, average course of events.”​—Faith of Great Scientists, edited by W. Howey, p. 10.

Also supporting the genuineness of Jesus’ miracles is the effect they had on those that witnessed them. As Dr. W. Paley shows, they “passed their lives in labours, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief of those accounts; and . . . they also submitted, from the same motives, to new rules of conduct.”​—The Works of William Paley, p. 300.

We cannot escape it. The foregoing evidence allows us as objective, reasoning persons to come to but one conclusion. And that is, not only that Jesus of Nazareth actually lived, but that the record of his life as portrayed in the Scriptures does present us with the historical Jesus.

Rebellion Against God Comes to Light

WE COULD expect that, if God has an adversary, this one would try to overthrow any arrangement that God would make for his people. And the most effective way would be to institute a rebellion within God’s congregation itself, and to bring from it a counterfeit “congregation of God.” This very thing God’s adversary Satan the Devil has done. That effort began in the first century, during the very lifetime of the apostles. When was full light shed on this rebellion, unveiling it?

The revealing of this rebellion in full flower began shortly after the death of the apostles. At that time those who were true Christians could see it for what it really was, though selfish professed Christians were attracted to it and actually blinded as to its real nature and its foretold end.

THE ‘MYSTERY OF LAWLESSNESS’

The apostle Paul called the movement in his day ‘the mystery of lawlessness.’ This was because, though such lawlessness against God was working among some in the congregations, the rebellion could not get organized and assert itself then. Why not?

Answering this question, the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in the city of Thessalonica: “And so now you know the thing that acts as a restraint, with a view to his being revealed in his own due time. True, the mystery of this lawlessness is already at work; but only till he who is right now acting as a restraint gets to be out of the way. Then, indeed, the lawless one will be revealed.”​—2 Thess. 2:6-8.

THE FIRST-CENTURY RESTRAINT

The early Christians knew that “he who is right now acting as a restraint” was not one man, but the body of the genuine apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, including Paul. Similarly, the “lawless one,” the “man of lawlessness,” was not to be one man, but a composite rebellious body of men. (2 Thess. 2:3) The apostle’s statement at 2 Thessalonians 2:8 shows that this “man” would be living down to the time of Christ’s presence. Only a class or body of men, the personnel of which changed from generation to generation, could do this, for, of course, one man could not live that long.

There is ample proof that the “mystery of this lawlessness” was indeed at work in the first-century Christian congregation and that it was suppressed or restrained by the strong spiritual guidance and alert action of the apostles. One example is found in what the apostle John wrote:

“I wrote something to the congregation but Diotrephes, who likes to have the first place among them, does not receive anything from us with respect. That is why, if I come, I will call to remembrance his works which he goes on doing, chattering about us with wicked words. Also, not being content with these things, neither does he himself receive the brothers with respect, and those who are wanting to receive them he tries to hinder and to throw out of the congregation.”​—3 John 9, 10.

Also, the ‘mysterious’ deceptiveness of this rebellious operation, and that it would involve religious leaders, is shown in Paul’s letter to the congregation at Corinth, in which he said of boastful men who sought prominence and power:

“Such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light. It is therefore nothing great if his ministers also keep transforming themselves into ministers of righteousness. But their end shall be according to their works.”​—2 Cor. 11:12-15.

Paul had trouble with some men who promoted apostate ideas, but these he exposed, causing some of them to be expelled from the congregation. Two men, named Hymenaeus and Alexander, had thrust aside a good conscience and had “experienced shipwreck concerning their faith.” Paul “handed them over to Satan that they may be taught by discipline not to blaspheme.” (1 Tim. 1:19, 20) Later Paul wrote to Timothy: “Hymenaeus and Philetus . . . have deviated from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already occurred; and they are subverting the faith of some.”​—2 Tim. 2:17, 18.

The rebellious religious operation persisted right to the close of the first century. As late as 96 C.E. the glorified Jesus Christ said, through the apostle John, to the body of elders of the congregation in Ephesus: “I know your deeds, and your labor and endurance, and that you cannot bear bad men, and that you put those to the test who say they are apostles, but they are not, and you found them liars.”​—Rev. 2:1, 2.

Again, John wrote giving definite evidence of the operation of the “mystery of this lawlessness” and the nearness of its being revealed:

“Young children, it is the last hour, and, just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now there have come to be many antichrists; from which fact we gain the knowledge that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of our sort; for if they had been of our sort, they would have remained with us. But they went out that it might be shown up that not all are of our sort.”​—1 John 2:18, 19.

From these apostolic writings, exposing bad conditions that were coming to the surface here and there in the congregation, we can see that the apostles, during the “last hour” of apostolic care on earth, stood in the way, preventing the organizing of the “mystery of this lawlessness” into a corporate body, the “man of lawlessness.”

THE REBELLION COMES TO FULL BLOOM

Discussing the revealing of this rebellious composite “man of lawlessness,” Paul said: “But the lawless one’s presence is according to the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and portents and with every unrighteous deception for those who are perishing.”​—2 Thess. 2:9, 10.

The “man of lawlessness” came to be fully unveiled after the death of the apostles. Some leaders in the congregations began to lord it over their brothers and to cater to worldly politicians. The rebellion manifested itself in an especially brazen way in the days of Emperor Constantine, who made Christianity the State religion. Concerning this, M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia relates:

“The simplicity of the Gospel was corrupted; pompous rites and ceremonies were introduced; worldly honors and emoluments were conferred on the teachers of Christianity, and the kingdom of Christ in a great measure converted into a kingdom of this world.”​—Vol. 2, p. 488.

For centuries the apostate church had great power with the governments, and brought about the “Dark Ages” and much religious persecution. Later, the Reformation came, but it was not a restoration of true worship. It was merely a break from the authority of the Catholic Church and its popes. The chief false doctrines were carried over into the Protestant churches, and the clergy of those churches even today manifest the same attitude as did those who began the apostasy, holding themselves forth as ones exclusively set apart and appointed to the ministry of God’s Word, with special powers, privileges, rights, immunities, rank and titles not shared by the inferior “laity.”

According to the apostle, “the lawless one’s presence is according to the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and portents and with every unrighteous deception.” We see this among Christendom’s clergy today. (2 Thess. 2:9, 10) They demand high esteem and reverence. Often they wear grand, eye-dazzling regalia, are called by high-sounding titles, exult in magnificent church buildings and cathedrals and carry on impressive church rituals, such as their claimed transubstantiation of bread and wine in the “Mass.” They pride themselves in superior education, their standing and influence with the political State and the military.

As to their performing of ‘powerful works,’ they have “converted” whole populations by force. They have built hospitals and church schools, and have sent medical missionaries to “pagan” lands. Yes, they have ‘transformed themselves into ministers of righteousness.” (2 Cor. 11:15) At the same time they permit their “converts” to continue to carry on many of their pagan practices, combining these with their so-called “Christianity.” Actually, the Church has aided Christendom’s governments to exercise domination over such lands, a domination made more binding because of the power that the religious leaders have wielded over the people. On this point consider the statement by Methodist minister Gabriel Setiloane at the All-Africa Church Conference held in Uganda in 1963:

“The advance of the Church in Africa has gone hand in hand with the Adventurer, the Explorer, the Colonizer and even the Imperialist. The hand that planted the Cross . . . on this continent was not that of the priest or apostle. It was the bloodstained hand of the soldier. . . . Even up to this century the Church in this continent, in spite of remonstrations to the contrary, has not been able to tear itself loose from the cords of Caesar’s robes.”

To what extent has the clerical “man of lawlessness” class grown? In the year 1971 C.E. the published figures for the Roman Catholic Church alone showed 419,611 clergymen for 566,771,600 Catholic church members world wide. With all this, is the world better, morally or spiritually? Is there more love, peace, unity and happiness in the world today, and, for that matter, in Christendom itself?

Those who sincerely look into the Bible can readily see that the “man of lawlessness” class has indeed developed according to the apostle Paul’s prophetic words. This composite “man” is clearly identifiable as the clergy of Christendom. Those finding themselves associated with that class, either as laymen or perhaps as honest-hearted members of the clergy, are warned by the Bible to separate from this deceptive effort of the Devil to overthrow God’s true Christian congregation and to obscure the truth. (2 Tim. 3:1-5; Rev. 18:4) Satan’s scheme will not succeed, as the words of the apostle show at 2 Thessalonians 2:8, which words will be considered in the next issue of The Watchtower.

Questions From Readers

● Do Jehovah’s witnesses feel that it is proper to consult a psychiatrist?

Whether a Christian will consult a psychiatrist, or any other doctor, is a matter for personal decision. However, true Christians have deep faith in the Bible’s power to give helpful guidance. They realize that the Creator knows more about man​—including the human mind—​than any human does. Thus, Jehovah’s witnesses view any method of treatment in the light of the “wisdom from above.”​—Jas. 3:17.

While psychiatrists specialize in the treatment of mental and emotional disorders, it is good to appreciate that the methods used by individual psychiatrists often differ drastically. For example, one handbook is entitled Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy: 36 Systems. Why so many different views? Because, despite much research, comparatively little is known of the workings of the human mind. The book The Mind states: “The causes of [various mental illnesses] constitute the most important unsettled question of modern psychiatry. Answers have been given, but none of them are conclusive.”

Some psychiatrists use “talk treatment,” often delving into the patient’s childhood relationship with his parents​—assuming that such methods will “release” certain fears or hostilities. Others concentrate on getting the patient to learn new habits (sometimes using hypnosis for this) in the hope that a new “behavior pattern” is the answer. Still others take the view that most mental illnesses are physical (such as chemical imbalance of the body or malfunction of the nervous system) and so treat with drugs or perhaps diet and vitamins. Highly controversial, brain surgery for mental illness is seldom recommended.

Since true Christians are striving to have “the same mental attitude that Christ Jesus had,” they are rightly concerned with the beliefs of anyone who would influence their thinking or behavior. (Rom. 15:5) While not all psychiatrists and analysts are atheists or agnostics, many are. One study revealed that over half of the analysts interviewed agreed with Sigmund Freud’s view that belief in God was “infantile” and out of harmony “with reality.” Many believe that man is driven by “animal instincts inherited by man in his evolution from the lower forms of life.” Further, as reported in the book The Psychiatrists: “Most psychiatrists and analysts believe that the laws regulating sexual behavior are far too strict.” (Page 167) Would you want to mold your life according to the thinking of men who view matters in this manner?

Today there is widespread treatment with drugs, and here, too, it is wise to consider carefully the result. Although the use of drugs as medicine is not forbidden to Christians, and in some cases certain drugs may bring a measure of relief, a servant of God should be very cautious with anything that might enslave him, making him an addict. (Rom. 6:17; 12:1) Some persons, choosing treatment that does not involve drugs, point to good results with therapy that employs large amounts of vitamins, which is a form of treatment receiving increasing attention today.

In regard to seeking medical treatment, it is of interest to note the Bible principle found at 1 Corinthians 12:26. Here the Scriptures teach that when one part of our body suffers, other parts are affected. In harmony with this principle, those with mental or nervous problems may find it advisable to have a thorough physical examination, as frequently there is a health problem of which they are not aware. Even some who thought they were going insane, or suffering from demonic harassment, have found that they had “low blood sugar” or another ailment.

Of course, there are many diseases and infirmities that have no known “cure.” Again, Jehovah provides assistance. His Word can help us to build up our endurance. (1 Tim. 6:11, 12) Too, in this way we are aided to withstand distressing bodily adjustments, as those that sometimes accompany the menopause or aging.

But what if the problem is not physical? What if it is a matter of feelings of hostility or despondency​—problems in getting along with others? James 5:13-16 speaks of one who has problems of a spiritual or emotional nature calling the older men of the Christian congregation, the purpose being that they may ‘grease him with oil,’ that is, impart comforting Bible counsel, and also “pray over him.” The result of all this? The text continues: “The prayer of faith will make the indisposed one well, and Jehovah will raise him up [out of his despondency].” Of course, to benefit, the spiritually sick one must be honest and open. He must seek and follow the Bible counsel; he must work in harmony with the prayers offered in his behalf.​—Jas. 1:25.

This places much responsibility on Christian elders. They must offer earnest prayer, looking for Jehovah’s direction. By exercising patience, love and concern, they can often get at the root of the difficulties. The elders should help the troubled one to see how our God invites us to throw our burdens on Him. (Ps. 55:22; 1 Pet. 5:7) Sometimes it is necessary to help one to see how to ‘put away wrath’ or to concentrate on what is chaste. (Col. 3:5-14; Phil. 4:6-8) And frequently, one truly repentant may feel “guilty” or “beyond forgiveness.” Feeling crushed, he thus needs assurance such as that at 1 John 1:9.

So, while Jehovah’s witnesses do not categorically rule out the possibility of treatment by doctors specializing in emotional or mental problems, if a Witness does consult such he should carefully scrutinize any treatment recommended. He should never forget that keeping Jehovah’s laws works toward his mental health today and everlasting life in the future. If he is uncertain as to the wisdom of a certain therapy, then he may wish to discuss it with elders in the Christian congregation​—although the final decision is his own (or of a parent or the joint decision of husband and wife). And foremost, as with all other areas of life, true Christians will want to take full advantage of the strength that Jehovah provides, appreciating that they have powerful assets in God’s Word and spirit. “For the word of God is alive and exerts power . . . and is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart.”​—Heb. 4:12.

What You Should Know About Drugs

How do drugs affect the life of the user? What does the Bible say about the use of drugs?

The 192-page book True Peace and Security​—From What Source? discusses these questions in the chapter “Respect for the Gift of Life.” Only 25c, postpaid.

Also, if you desire, a qualified person will call at your home and, free of charge, discuss such Biblical matters with you and your family.

Check either or both:

□ Please send the hardbound book True Peace and Security​—From What Source? I enclose 25c.

□ Have one of Jehovah’s witnesses call to discuss the Bible free of charge.