"They shall know that I am Jehovah’

-Ezekiel 35:15.

CONTENTS

Fighter for the New World (Part 2) 323

Jephthah ...........................................

Reproach ...........................................

Theocratic Rule Ignored.................

Sole Way to Stop Aggressors .....

Quest for Theocratic Rule .............

Vow of Allegiance .........................

Earth’s Place in God’s Purpose . Has the Battle or Armageddon

Begun! .........................................

Letters from Britain ....................

Field Experiences.............................

“Victory Song” Testimony Period

“Watchtower” Studies “The New World” .......

“The New World” Question Booklet 335

WATCHTOWER,

Published Semimonthly By

WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY

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OFFICERS

N. H. Knorr, President__________W. E. Van Ambvrgh, Secretary

“And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” - Isaiah 54:13.

THE SCRIPTURES CLEARLY TEACH

THAT JEHOVAH is the only true God, Is from everlasting to everlasting, the Maker of heaven and earth and the Giver of life to his creatures; that the Logos was the beginning of his creation, and his active agent in the creation of all things; that the Logos is now the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, clothed with all power In heaven and earth, and the Chief Executive Officer of Jehovah.

THAT GOD created the earth for man, created perfect man for the earth and placed him upon It; that man willfully disobeyed God’s law and was sentenced to death; that by reason of Adam’s wrong act all men are born sinners and without the right to life.

THAT JESUS was made human, and the man Jesus suffered death in order to produce the ransom or redemp’.'ve price for obedient ones of mankind; that God raised up Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every creature and above every name and clothed him with all power and authority.

THAT JEHOVAH’S ORGANIZATION is a Theocracy called Zion, and that Christ Jesus is the Chief Officer thereof and is the rightful King of the world; that the anointed and faithful followers of Christ Jesus are children of Zion, members of Jehovah’s organization, and are his witnesses whose duty and privilege it is to testify to the supremacy of Jehovah, declare his purposes toward mankind as expressed In the Bible, and to bear the fruits of the kingdom before all who will hear.

THAT THE WORLD has ended, and the Lord Jesus Christ has been placed by Jehovah upon his throne of authority, has ousted Satan from heaven and is proceeding to the establishment of God's kingdom on earth.

THAT THE RELIEF and blessings of the peoples of earth can come only by and through Jehovah's kingdom under Christ, which has now begun; that the Lord’s next great act is the destruction of Satan’s organization and the establishment of righteousness in the earth, and that under the kingdom the people of good will that survive Armageddon shall carry out the divine mandate to “fill the earth” with a righteous race.

ITS MISSION

HIS Journal Is published for the purpose of enabling the people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed in the Bible. It publishes Bible Instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah’s witnesses and all people of good wlIL It arranges systematic Bible study for Its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid in such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public instruction in the Scriptures.

It adheres strictly to the Bible as authority for its utterances. It is entirely free and separate from all religion, parties, sects or other worldly organisations it Is wholly and without reservation for the kingdom of Jehovah God under Christ his beloved King. It is not dogmatic, but invites careful and critical examination of Its contents in the light of the Scriptures. It does not Indulge in controversy, and its columns are not open to personalities.

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“VICTORY SONG" TESTIMONY PERIOD

December is the month that brings to a close the calendar year of the old world. It is with joy that the servants of Jehovah sing the Victory Song after a long battle; but they look forward to further battles and victories. The faithful do say with gladness of heart that they have remained “blameless in the day of our Lord” and will continue to do so, by the Lord’s grace. During the “Victory Song” Testimony Period the song of the new world will be sung. To do this the publishers of The Theocracy will offer to the people the publication The New World and the booklet Peace—Can It Lastf on a contribution of 25c. If you wish to join in the “Victory Song” Testimony Period during the month of December, make arrangements now with your local company servant. If you are not associated with a company, write direct to the Society for further information.

WATCHTOWER EDITION OF THE BIBLE

For the first time in its sixty years of existence the Watch Tower Society has printed on its own presses an edition of the Bible. This was released by the president at the New World Theocratic Assembly, last September, to the great surprise and joy of the vast gathering, and the entire stock of 35,000 copies was at once taken up by the conventioners. This Bible edition is handsomely bound in maroon leatherette, and is 7| by 5 by 11 inches in size. The Bible text is that of the popular King James Version, unchanged,. and printed in minion type, with handy marginal references, and with maps. Among other features, it contains an extensive list of Bible names and expressions and their meanings; also a 59-page concordance of key Bible words and phrases, as well as a further section containing fully quoted texts grouped under various headings showing what God’s Word teaches on such subjects as ordination of Christians to preach, the Scriptural manner of preaching, what is hell, promises concerning the Kingdom, the standard of the Christian, and like important issues of the day. Such features make it excellent not only for private study, but also for Bible educational work in the field among seekers for truth. This Watch-toweb edition Bible is offered on a contribution of $1.00 a copy, and mailed to you postage prepaid. Remittance should accompany all orders, whether individually or from companies of Jehovah’s witnesses sending combined orders through their servants.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of December 6; “Fighter for the New World” (Part 2), fl 1-23 inclusive, The Watchtower November 1, 1942.

Week of December 13: “Fighter for the New World” (Part 2), fl 24-47 inclusive, The Watchtower November 1, 1942.

(Continued on page 335)

ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM

FIGHTER FOR THE NEW WORLD

PART 2

“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not o/ this world: if my kingdom were of this icorld, then would my servants fight."—John 18:36.

JEHOVAH opens the way into the new world, a world free of all demon rule and totalitarian aggression, enslavement and cruelty. By a fight, the greatest in universal history, Jehovah sets free those who now suffer for righteousness’ sake and who shall enjoy life abundantly and without end in the new world. That fight is near at hand. By his beloved Son, who judges the nations and makes war in righteousness, Jehovah of hosts will surprise all enemies by the suddenness of his attack. Then all the nations that scoff at the Bible record of past battle performances of Jehovah and that mock his witnesses shall see Jehovah in action for the avenging of his name, his cause and his people against all who despise his name and rule. Their destruction will leave the new world forever free of them.

² "Where religion will stand in that fight is made certain by her past and present position. Religion has always fought against Jehovah and his worship. Christ Jesus is the Chief Worshiper of Jehovah. For that reason religious priests, scribes, Pharisees and lawyers had him killed, while they chose as king the Roman Caesar who was a demon-worshiper, hence a devil-worshiper. At this day Rome is the first city of modern times to go over to totalitarian rule and is the seat of totalitarian Fascist rule. It is totalitarian Fascist Rome that was first to sign a concordat, in 1929, with the Vatican, setting free the chief religious head of “Christendom”. By its papal nuncio (who is now pope) and by its Catholic statesmen and commercial magnates the Vatican maneuvered the Nazi totalitarian dictator into power in Berlin and immediately signed a concordat with him guaranteeing that (to quote Fritz Thyssen) “the rights of the Catholic Church would not be infringed upon”. On June 9, 1941, a United Press dispatch from Rome announced that “an editorial in the Turin newspaper Stampa said today Germany and Italy are organizing a new European order in conformity

1. By whom and by what action will the wav into the new world, shortly, be opened, and of whom will that world be made free thereby? 2 What position has religion taken toward Jehovah and his worship in the past, and where will religion stand in the fight for the new world as shown by her course since the rise of Nazi and Fascist totalitarian rule? with the principles laid down in the Encyclical Rerum Novarum, to which Pope Pius called attention in his June 1 speech”. (New York Journal-American) Now religion uses the totalitarian monstrosity to fight against Jehovah in the endeavor to stamp out His worship and the proclamation of His new world from the earth.

³ It is a time of great crisis for all worshipers of Jehovah God in spirit and in truth. The question is before all “Christendom”, namely, Which is the true worship? Whom do you worship and serve? The vast majority are being scared off and driven away from any consideration and choice of the worship of Jehovah. They are being herded into religion’s pens by the aggressions and assaults of the totalitarian powers against the worship of Jehovah of hosts. None can stand up alone and survive against that religious-totalitarian “abomination of desolation”. Only Jehovah’s organization can and will fight that new-order “abomination” to a standstill and set the earth free of it. Jehovah’s organization is Theocratic and it will maintain the worship of Jehovah God under the most terrific pressure and all-out assault of demons and of rulers religious, judicial and political. Jehovah’s organization, his Theocracy, will preserve unbroken His worship into the new world. Only those who practice Jehovah’s worship in spirit and in truth shall survive the great Fight and live in that “world without end”. These true and dependable facts were marvelously portrayed in an actual-life drama of ancient days, the prophetic drama of the valiant fighter Jephthah. It is recorded in the eleventh chapter of the Bible book of Judges.

JEPHTHAH

‘ With particular reference to us today the inspired apostle wrote, saying: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of wit-

3 (a) What question concerning worship is before all "Christendom”, and where are the vast majority being driven on the question ’ (b) What organization alone can stand up against the new-order ‘‘abomination”, and whose worship will be preserved unbroken into the new world? 4 (a) What "cloud of witnesses” encompasses us about, and for whom were they witnesses*’ (b) What divine provision therefore awaits Jeph* that, and why Is this of special interest to those now alive on earth and witnessing tor Jehovah?

nesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” (Heb. 12:1, 2) What “cloud of witnesses” encompasses us about! and witnesses for whom! Those witnesses for Jehovah that the apostle mentions in the previous chapter, running all the way back to Abel the first martyr for Jehovah. Among those ancient Jehovah’s witnesses who overcame this world by their faith in Him the apostle names and lists Jephthah. (Heb. 11:32) Jehovah has reserved a princely place on earth for Jephthah in the new world. Shortly Jephthah will have part in the “better resurrection” from the dead and shall ‘rule in righteousness’ with his fellow princes, as visible human representatives of the heavenly Theocracy under Christ Jesus. (Heb. 11: 35, 39,40; Isa. 32:1; Ps. 45:16) The Scriptures give good grounds to believe that there shall shortly be a meeting on earth of those faithful witnesses of old when resurrected and those who are now like them in faithfully witnessing for Jehovah God in these days of the religious-totalitarian monstrosity. Will you see those resurrected witnesses who shall be made “princes in all the earth”? If such is your desire you will now read with interest the facts on the prophetic drama of Jephthah and its unmistakable fulfillment at this end of the world.

‘“Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he w*as the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.” (Judg. 11:1) In Scripture the names of God’s actors in his prophetic dramas are full of meaning and are keys to the understanding of the dramas. Jephthah’s name means “Opener”, or, “setting free.” The territory of Gilead was part of the Holy Land and lay east of the Jordan river, in what is now called “Trans-Jordan”. Jephthah’s father, Gilead, was a namesake of an earlier Gilead, a member of the tribe of Manasseh, and concerning him it is written: “Of the sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites: and Machir begat Gilead: of Gilead come the family of the Gileadites.”—Num. 26: 29.

• • Those ancestors of Jephthah had to fight against giants and demon-worshipers in order to occupy the land of Bashan and Gilead which the Lord God assigned to them by his prophet Moses. Concerning this Moses said: “For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits [thirteen and a half feet] was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man. . . . All Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I

• 5 . What does Jephthah’s name mean, and what was hit Immediate ancestry among the tribes?

• 6 . What record In the conquest of the land shows that Jephthah’s ancestors were fighters? unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants. . . . And I gave Gilead [the territory] unto Machir." (Deut. 3:11-15) “And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and dispossessed the Amorite which was in it. And Moses gave Gilead unto Machir the son of Manasseh; and he dwelt therein.”—Num. 32: 39,40.

^T It required fearless fighters to hold that border territory of Bashan and Gilead; and therefore concerning the allotment of the conquered territory among the twelve tribes of Israel it is written: “There was also a lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph; to wit, for Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead; because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan.” (Jo^h. 17:1) Would the Gileadites hold that Theocratic ground against the demonworshipers? We shall see.

‘Jephthah the Gileadite was descended from a fighter, namely, from Machir, a “man of war”. In view of the above history it is reasonable that the father would call his son “Jephthah”, meaning “He [that is, God] sets free”. This would call attention to how Jehovah had set Israel free from giant king Og and the other practicers of demonism that occupied the land allotted to the tribe of Manasseh. This Jehovah God did by helping Machir and his son Gilead in battle and giving them the victory over the giant monstrosity and other demonized Amorites that were holding down the land of Gilead without any authorization by Jehovah God.

’ Jephthah inherited some of his “valour” from his ancestor Machir. But Jephthah was a “mighty man of valour” mainly because of his faith in Jehovah, for whom Jephthah was a fighting witness. This is proved by the apostle’s record of ancient men of faith, at Hebrews 11:32, reading: “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets.” Jephthah was like an earlier fighter, Gedeon, who was also a “mighty man of valour” and to whom Jehovah’s angel said: “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.” (Judg. 6:12) An organization possessed of such faith and fighting qualities as Jephthah had is the need for this “time of war”, particularly from A. D. 1933 on, when the Catholic Nazi dictator became the “sword of his church” in Germany, which country was till then a Protestant stronghold. Whom, then, in this twentieth century does Jephthah picture?

• 7 . Why was the border territory of Bashan and Gilead assigned to part of the tribe of Manasseh?

• 8 In view of the meaning of the name, to wbat history of bls ancestors would the name “Jephthah” reasonably call attention?

• 9 . (a) Due to wbat do the Scriptures show Jepbtbah was a “mighty man of valour*', and in this wbat other earlier ngbter did be resemble? (b) Therefore for this time of war, of what kind of organization la there need ?

• ¹⁰ In the sacred prophecies and prophetic dramas no individuals or personalities -were ever foretold or typified, with the single exception of Christ Jesus. Jephthah’s house was in Mizpah, which name means ‘"Watchtower”. (Judg. 11:34) In the drama Jeph-thah of Mizpah acted the part picturing Jehovah’s organization which is Theocratic and which Jehovah uses as his servant. Of that organization Christ Jesus is the Head and Theocratic King, and there is a remnant thereof on earth today, who are Jehovah’s witnesses, spiritual Israelites. These constitute and act as “The Society”. The agent and servant of said Theocratic Society is by all established facts proved to be the Watch Tower Society. Christ Jesus the Head is a ‘mighty One of valor’. His remnant of footstep followers who line up with the Theocratic rule and organization become conformed to the image of that great Fighter for the new world.—Rom. 8:29.

REPROACH

• ¹¹ Was it to Jephthah’s discredit that he “was the son of an harlot”! This woman was a harlot before marrying Gilead and becoming mother to Jephthah. However, Rahab of Jericho was also a harlot. She was the only one, with her relationship, that was saved from that city’s destruction, and she was given an honorable marriage in Israel and thereby became an ancestress of Jesus Christ.—Matt. 1:5; Luke 3:32.

• ¹² Jephthah’s mother was apparently an Israelite woman, not a demon-worshiping heatheness. By marriage she came into an honorable estate, and Gilead had relations with her, not for passionate pleasure, but as a secondary wife. This is shown by the fact that Gilead took his child by her as his proper and legal son and named him Jephthah, and the boy was brought up in Gilead's house along with Gilead’s other sons, Jephthah’s half-brothers. Hence he was no bastard. Jehovah’s dealings with Jephthah prove that: ‘If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not! But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” (Heb. 12:7,8) God’s rule, further, was: “A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord: even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord. An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever.” (Deut. 23:2,3) Jephthah was not excluded as a bastard; neither was his daughter, his first and only generation, treated as the child of a bastard, else Jephthah could not later have sacrificed her acceptably to the Lord. All this proves that his mother was lifted up out of the class of harlot by marriage to Gilead.

• ¹⁸ The name Gilead means “heap of witness”. Hence Gilead, as father to Jephthah, pictures Jehovah as the Father whose purpose is to have a “people for his name”. Such people must pile up a great witness to Jehovah’s name and Righteous Government, The Theocracy, The Kingdom, which shall vindicate his name. Jehovah has a “woman”, to wit, his universal organization named “Zion”. To this organization which brings forth his servants, Jehovah says, at Isaiah 54: 4, 5: “Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth; and the reproach of thy widowhood shalt thou remember no more. For thy Maker is thy husband; Jehovah of hosts is his name.” (Am. Rev. Ver.) Jephthah’s mother, therefore, pictures Jehovah’s “woman” from the viewpoint that she brings forth his capital Theocratic organization and its members, who are a “people for his name”, hence His witnesses. These under Christ Jesus are organized according to Theocratic rule for giving testimony to Jehovah’s name as his witnesses, and they stand in line for a place in the heavenly Theocratic Government, God's kingdom by Christ Jesus.

• ¹⁴ Jehovah’s “woman” is no harlot, but the visible part of his organization is made up of those who were once unclean because of union with religion. (1 Cor. 6:9-11) Since Jephthah’s mother was a harlot till Gilead elevated her by lawful marriage, her former position and its reflection on her afterlife in the eyes of self-righteous ones picture how such ones view God’s organization. They look down particularly upon the Theocratic rule of that organization and despise the obligation such rule lays on one in God’s organization to serve as Jehovah’s witness that thereby such one may share in the vindication of God’s name. The self-righteous do not look upon the vindication of His name as being of allimportance and more vital than personal salvation. During all the centuries since “Christendom’s” establishment her conduct has shown that she looks upon such features in God’s “woman” or organization as being outside of common decency and respectability and as lacking in “character development” and sanctimoniousness, and hence as not being worthy for the religionists of “Christendom” to adopt and associate with at all.

• ¹⁵ As in the picture, those who stand for Theocratic rule and who bear witness to Jehovah and his vindication by his kingdom are treated by "Christendom” as on a level with harlots. Therefore to her the words of Jesus concerning John the Baptist well apply; “Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”—Matt. 21: 31, 32.

” Besides Jephthah’s mother, Gilead had another woman who rated as his legal wife. Her having the full standing of wife put the other woman, Jephthah’s mother, in the position of secondary woman to Gilead and hence not of equal right and authority with such "wife”. This recognized “wife” would be also of more dignity. She would command more respect and attention, and the association of those in good standing in the community. It is not strange, therefore, what followed: “And Gilead’s wife bare him sons: and his wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for thou art the son of a strange woman [(dm. Rev. Ver.) the son of another woman].”—Judg. 11:2.

THEOCRATIC RULE IGNORED

• ¹⁷ Whether the above action took place during the eighteen-year period of oppression by the nation of Ammon upon Israel is not stated. By the end of those eighteen years Jephthah had a daughter of marriageable age, about eighteen years or older. Whether any or all of those sons of Gilead’s “wife” were born during that same period is also not stated. But that they religiously felt superior to Jephthah is manifested by their conduct when their father Gilead was no longer alive to hold them in check. They were snobbish. They were affected by the religious influence which overwhelmed Israel when that people turned to the worship of the gods of the Ammonites and other neighbor nations. It is remembered that the patriarch Abraham had a son by a concubine, named Ishmael, and that thereafter a son by his regular wife was born, namely, Isaac; and when Isaac was weaned as heir of Abraham the older boy Ishmael mocked him. (Gen. 16:1,15,16; 21: 8-11) There is no record that Jephthah acted like Ishmael toward those other sons of Gilead, his halfbrethren. Plainly Jephthah profited because Gilead brought him up “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”. (Eph. 6:4) Jephthah’s later conduct of faith proved this.

• ¹⁸ During Israel’s indulgence in demon-worship and being oppressed eighteen years the sons of Gilead paid slavish submission to the political Ammonites as though these were the “higher powers” in the Holy Land. Such submission to powers of this world made Jehovah’s Theocratic rule in Israel of no effect. The same thing resulted to the Christians due to a large falling away to religion after the apostles of Jesus Christ died and down to the Lord's return and coming to the temple for judgment in 1918. (2 Thess. 2:3-12) In the forty years immediately preceding 1918 God’s truly consecrated people were growing up amid religious surroundings which confused them and spotted up their garments of identity as Christians. They tried to get clear of religion, but the time of full understanding was not due till the Lord’s coming to the temple, and hence those consecrated ones did not discern in the Scriptures the Theocratic rule and order. They kept looking up to public officials of this world as being the “higher powers” to whom Romans 13:1 commands Christians to be subject.

'* At the death of Gilead his sons thrust out Jephthah. While Gilead was among them he did not countenance or allow such an anti-theocratic deed. Likely Jephthah’s mother also had died. Then those sons acted selfishly against Jehovah’s servant and man of faith. This was to their own injury and continued oppression by the religious Philistines and political Ammonites. Likewise, during the larger period of religiousness and submission to worldly powers by unenlightened Christians such ones confused God’s manner of rule with the counterfeit theocracy of the religious hierarchy and priestcraft and hence rejected Theocratic rule. Thinking to safeguard their interests, they drove it out and demanded a democratic manner of operation of Christian assemblies. Concerning this the article "Organization”, in the June 1, 1938, issue of The Watchtower, states, on page 166, paragraphs 14,15:

“The faithful apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ could not have started an organization which for its method of operation is a government by democratic methods or [opposite thereto] a rule by ‘orders’ of priests or hierarchy. The rule of Jehovah God. both that with his typical people Israel and that of his people taken out for his name, is purely a theocratic rule. God’s kingdom or organization is a pure theocracy, not subject to the whims or rules of any creature. Smarting under the tyrannical rule by the clergy and Hierarchy, sincere men turned to the democratic government of religious organizations with a hope of a better condition, and that method has for years been followed in religious organizations. But is such in harmony with the Scriptures? The fact that such a method was adopted in the congregations of thos'e who claimed to serve the Lord is ho proof that it is right. During the Elijah period [1878-1918] of the church sincere followers of Christ Jesus left the Babylonish organization and they came out with spots on their garments, which they had received by reason of associating with that devilish organization. Within the period known as ‘the Elijah time of the church’ elders and deacons in the congregations were selected by a vote of the members expressed by the stretching forth of the hand. Whether this was proper or not, at least the Lord permitted it or did not interfere.” [This was pictured by Gilead’s not interfering, due to death, with Jephthah’s ejection.]

• ²⁰ No doubt Gilead’s sons felt justified in barring Jephthah as the “son of another woman” from inheriting in their father’s house and took as their guiding precedent a well-known ancient case. That was when Abraham’s true wife, Sarah, ordered him to drive out his Egyptian concubine Hagar and his son by her, Ishmael. Because of Ishmael’s mocking and persecution toward her son Isaac, Sarah said to Abraham: “Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.” So Abraham “rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away”. —Gen. 21:10-14.

• ²¹ Prior to A. D. 1918 God’s consecrated servants on earth, like Gilead’s sons, did not recognize the Theocratic rule of organization and obedience. They were too concerned about their personal salvation to heaven. They did not discern or acknowledge God’s decree that a world witness to his name must be given in vindication of his name and in behalf of persons of good-will on earth. (Ex. 9:16; Ezek. 9:4) In self-concern they specialized exclusively on what they called the “spiritual class” who were in line for the heavenly kingdom. They felt that any educational instruction on the Kingdom to earthly persons of good-will would be the appointed, obligatory service of a spiritual “great company” during the 1000-year reign of Christ. They inclined to think themselves of better stuff, of higher standing due to begettal by God’s spirit, and as meeting a higher requirement of faithfulness to the Lord than such “great company”. So in their exclusiveness they tried to “develop character”. But there were those who called attention to the world-wide witness work, in fulfillment of Matthew 24:14, which work must be done by personal house-to-house visitation of the people. They spoke in favor of a closer lining up with the organization, The Society, in behalf of extending the witness work, putting more full-time publishers into the field in door-to-door witnessing, and paying less attention to self-cultivation, dreams of heavenly glory, formalities and religious mannerisms. Such ones the self-seekers dismissed from their personal association or attention, and it was therefore hard going for such service advocates. They were considered as “the son of another woman”, of a flock different from themselves, and as having no share rightfully in the heavenly inheritance which the democratic “character developers” were expecting and trying to prepare for above. This continued for some time after the Lord came to the temple for judgment in 1918.

• ²² “Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.” (Judg. 11:3) This shows that the Israelites as a nation did not object to this treatment of Jephthah; which exposes the bad effect of religion upon a nation. (Prov. 14: 34; Ps. 33:12) The name of Jephthah’s land of exile, Tob, means “good”. It names a strip of country not far away, but outside of Gilead’s territory and beyond where the political Ammonites had carried their military aggressions. Maps picture Tob as north of Gilead and toward Syria or Aram. In the drama’s modern fulfillment, Tob pictures God’s arrangement for his organized people, and hence it was the only “good” arrangement and condition. To this arrangement all those fled whom the Lord began to enlighten as to his organization and his purpose to vindicate his name and to accomplish a mighty witness to his name before that vindication. These ones left behind the objectors and submitted to the ostracism and waited on and served Jehovah God through Christ Jesus, in “Tob”.

• ²³ The “vain men” who gathered to Jephthah in Tob were not roustabouts or roughnecks, but “unemployed men”, or, literally, “empty men.” (Rotherham’s translation) Likely they were men in debt or men who had lost everything because of Ammonite oppression and Israel’s backsliding to religion, and were without settled home, employment and means of livelihood, except in servitude to Ammon, against which they revolted. There came a similar situation later on when David was outlawed by King Saul: “David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him. And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.”—1 Sam. 22:1, 2.

” Although cast out, Jephthah could not keep out of the news, or unobserved. This was because he could not keep inactive. He must lead a fighting existence, against Jehovah’s foes, but not against Israel, even though they had mistakenly cast him out. His acts and deeds of faith in Jehovah became noised abroad, especially among his Israelite brethren who had misunderstood him and discriminated against him for selfish benefit. Hence they were compelled to observe and learn, as stated in verse one, that “now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour”. By his selfish, prejudiced halfbrothers Jephthah had been emptied of everything and thrown out of his father’s house. Therefore other “empty men” resorted to him, “unemployed men” like him. These saw his deeds of faith and saw he was right and they themselves wanted to do something for God’s glory and have a share in the fighting activities of Jephthah. They did not like the galling oppressions of the political Ammonite aggressors nor the religious practices of their fellow Israelites.

” A resemblance to this may be seen in our time, in that more and more spiritual Israelites began to come over to the side of an organized activity for giving a witness to Jehovah God and his kingdom and a warning of his vengeance against Satan’s organization. They rejected the religious view that the Ammonitish political rulers were the “higher powers” “ordained of God”. In 1929 they resorted to the side of The Watchtower in the Scriptural position that God and Christ are “The Higher Powers”, whom Christians must obey rather than men.—See the article “The Higher Powers”, in The Watchtower, June, 1929.

" Jephthah’s “empty men” chose to be such rather than be employed by and obey the political Ammonites as higher powers. Nor did they swing in the other direction to a democratic rule of individual independence and self-determination. They looked to God’s indications as to whom He picked for judge and deliverer. On such one’s side and under his headship they put themselves, in recognition of the Theocratic principle of organization. In their hideouts they did not lie idle, but sallied forth into the active field service against the foes of Jehovah’s covenant people.

" In harmony with that picture, the international convention of Jehovah’s witnesses at Toronto in 1927 was followed by an overhauling of the Society’s service organization to get more Kingdom publishers afield and get a greater and more effective work done. The Society pointed out that Sunday was the day set aside by “Christendom” for worship and therefore Sunday was an appropriate day for all of Jehovah’s people, and especially those who were employed at secular work during the week, to get out and fulfill their commission as ministers of the gospel by going from house to house witnessing to the Lord God and his Righteous Government. Also, in order to overcome the opposition of the old-time “elective elders” who acted as spiritual bosses of congregations, service committees were set up in all companies to push the witness work and to co-operate with the Society’s representatives. At self-sacrifice the Society’s Kingdom literature was provided at a lower cost and distributed on lower contributions and there was a call for more Kingdom publishers. The Lord, also, stirred up more of such to enlist and go into the field as a united company organized under the Society’s direction and guidance. Jehovah God by Christ Jesus showed his approval of this by adding his blessing.

SOLE WAY TO STOP AGGRESSORS

" “And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel.” (Judg. 11:4) This move, though they did not know it, meant the beginning of the end for the political Ammonites and their religious allies who had oppressed Jehovah’s covenant people for eighteen years. This forcing of war upon an already downtrodden people was the climax of the enemies’ action in opposition to Jehovah’s typical Theocracy. It foreshadowed that in the “time of the end” beginning A. D. 1914, and shortly before the final end of Satan’s entire organization at the battle of Armageddon, the foes of Jehovah’s Theocratic Government of righteousness will go the limit of their hatred, persecution and hostility to his witnesses. It agrees with the Scripture observation that “when the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed for ever: for, lo, thine enemies, 0 Lord, for lo, thine enemies shall perish: all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered”. (Ps. 92:7,9) At this point in the picture was when what is stated at Judges 10:17 took place: “Then the children of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead: and the children of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpeh ['Watchtower’].” The demons provoked the Ammonites to this war because the Israelites had now put aside religion and turned to worship Jehovah.

” Like things came to pass in process of modern time, 1929 being a marked date. That year the political powers of “Christendom” were deflated in the minds of the Christians witnessing for Jehovah, and Almighty God and Christ Jesus his ruling King were discerned and glorified as being “The Higher Powers”, to whom all souls that live must be subject. Also, the book Life was published in 1929, being the first book to point to the vindication of Jehovah’s name by his kingdom. A few months later that year the book Prophecy was published showing that the three worldly elements, religion, politics and commerce, constitute Satan’s visible organization, and that justly it is most important for God’s name to be vindicated against such. This was enough to rouse the modern-day Ammonites and their religious confederates to action as never before. It was even so.

¹⁰ The great Theocrat Jehovah was the One who had Jephthah in hand. By dealing with him Jehovah was grooming His Theocratic representative for the coming fight for deliverance. God’s responsibility in the matter is plainly stated in the w’ords of his prophet Samuel, at 1 Samuel 12:10,11: “And they cried unto Jehovah, . . . And Jehovah sent Jerub-baal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side; and ye dwelt in safety.” (Am. Rev. Ver.) On the other hand, -whom did the demons push forward as their appointed visible leader? The authoritarian king of the Ammonite aggressors was their man. He was a worshiper of the political-state god, Molech or Milcom, the name meaning “their king” and referring to Satan, “the prince of the demons.” Satan was the invisible king of that political state of Ammon.—Matt. 4:8,9.

⁵¹ The modern-day Ammonites, “king” worshipers, are the elements that aim at world domination under one political standard or other, and hence are not in favor of Jehovah’s Theocratic Government and Christ’s rulership thereby. As foretold at Daniel, chapter eleven, “the king of the north” and “the king of the south” are engaging on all continents and all seven seas in a war for world domination, in defiance of Jehovah’s rightful Theocratic domination. “Both these kings” must have their champion to rival Jehovah’s Greater Jephthah. Eventually, in the postwar “new order”, they will agree to have a common champion in what Daniel and Jesus called “the abomination of desolation”. (Dan. 11:31; 12:11; Matt. 24:15) Note the development of events and that their trend has been continuously against Theocracy.

*² Since 1922 Italy has had a Fascist totalitarian dictator, presumably as a protection against the aggression of the totalitarian dictators in Communist Russia. In 1929 the Fascist dictator and the totalitarian religious ruler at Vatican City entered into their deal or concordat. Thereby temporal power was restored to the papa and the papal state was re-established. Germany was then a republic and the work of Jehovah’s witnesses on the European Continent was being carried on, not in Fascist Italy or Communist Russia, but chiefly in Germany with its then Protestant majority. This German Republic granted democratic freedom of worship to Jehovah’s active witnesses. Here, therefore, was the sore spot for the Vatican, and therefore the strategic place for the religious-totalitarian combine to raise up their political monstrosity in another form and to wage war against Jehovah’s witnesses, earthly representatives of His Theocracy. This was done, in 1933, through Catholic Action and its chief German members, namely, the Catholic foreign minister and the leader of the Nazis. The history records that the Catholic chancellor of Germany had resigned in order that the Catholic foreign minister might become chancellor. This Nazi backer in his turn stepped aside, in fulfillment of a prior agreement with papal nuncio Pacelli, in order that the leader of the Nazis might be named chancellor of Germany and become its dictator. Once in power, the Nazi leader or fuehrer proceeded against Jehovah’s witnesses, namely, in April, the month when the pope declared the so-called “Holy Year” of 1933 for peace and prosperity for world Catholicism. July 20 that year the Nazi dictator entered his concordat with the Vatican, and to this day, despite the Nazi’s record, Pacelli as pope refuses all appeals by certain shocked Catholics of America that he cancel the concordat with Nazism. Why?

QUEST FOR THEOCRATIC RULE

*’ Glancing back at the drama: “And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob.” (Judg. 11: 5) They were not “elective elders”, by any means, but Israelites who had attained to eldership by reason of growth to maturity and by study and practice. They had repented from all religiousness and turned to Jehovah and his commandments. (Judg. 10:10-16) A like cleansing of Jehovah’s covenant people took place in 1932 by the discontinuing of the “elective elder” system among Jehovah’s witnesses. Thereafter the cleansed ones devoted themselves to His active witness work, every one on an equal level and all under the same obligation to take part in the house-to-house visitation as witnesses under the direct supervision of the Lord’s earthly instrument, the Watch Tower Society.

• ⁸¹ The sending to fetch Jephthah out of Tob followed the inquiry recorded at Judges 10:18: “The people and princes of Gilead said one to another, What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon? he shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” In the recent years 1932-1938 there was a continuous study of organization conditions, together with an examination of the Bible and of God’s dealings with his witnesses, to determine “what man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon?” Otherwise said, What is the form of organization for the Society as God's instrument under Christ, that we may Scripturally follow it in carrying on the fight against the aggressions of the religious-totalitarian monstrosity that has risen up to wage a war of extermination against us and the witness work?

• ⁸⁵ Jehovah did not fail his people in their honest search. In 1933 he pointed them to the modern Jephthah, namely, the Theocratic organization under Christ Jesus. Such Theocratic organization and rule had been rejected and driven out due to religious influence of reformers and due to the effort to avoid all bondage to the false and counterfeit theocratic system of priestcraft, the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. How was the God-picked “man” revealed or pointed out? The article “Organization” in the magazine The Watchtower, of June 1 and 15, 1938, is the answer. Instantly Jehovah’s witnesses who had come to maturity of understanding and practice and into unity with Christ hailed the Theocratic organization as Jehovah’s prescribed arrangement for them. They desired and prayed that Christ Jesus, Jehovah’s King of the Theocratic organization, put in effect the Theocratic rule over them in their fight against religion and to maintain holy ground against the aggressions of the totalitarian forces. On October 1, 1938, the Theocratic organization went into effect in the Society.

• ⁸⁸ “And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.” (Judg. 11:6) To gain final victory God’s covenant people must have centralized authority to do the deciding for them as to war strategy and plans of action against religion and totalitarian encroachments. Jehovah’s witnesses carefully examined the Bible record. They saw that when the typical Theocracy was in power over Israel and was submitted to by Israel, Jehovah raised up his faithful judge, fought their battles for them, and gave them victory over all enemies in vindication of His own name. From the days of Abraham onward, all Godgiven victories were victories of Theocracy over the organization of Satan’s world. Now, in 1938, yes. in 1942 and hereafter, under the same banner of “THEOCRACY” can victory be gained for God’s witnesses.

^8T “And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father’s house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?” (Judg. 11:7) This response was like Jehovah’s response to Israel, at Judges 10:13,14; and also similar to Isaac’s response, at Genesis 26:16,26-30. Jephthah was not taunting them in their distress. He wanted to make sure they realized their mistake and would not repeat their past course of action just as soon as he had served their present desires of victory over the Ammonites. Such course would be gross thanklessness to God, who provided the instrument for the fight to vindicate His name. Not merely amid distress is Jehovah to be sought, nor only during a fearful emergency is his Theocratic rule to be put into effect and complied with. It is the organization which, once set up and submitted to, is to be held fast and conformed to ever after, beyond Armageddon. It will succeed. Never need the democratic experiment be repeated by the driving out of Theocratic rule, and never will it be.

⁸⁸ “And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon.” (Judg. 11: 8) Contrast with this appeal to Theocratic order the pope’s appeal by concordat to the Nazi-Fascist totalitarians to set up the counterfeit theocracy by restoring the old “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation”; also the appeals of religionists in liberal, democratic lands to “the king of the south” for the preservation of religion in the “new order” of the United Nations. Jehovah’s witnesses, however, have appealed to the great Theocrat and his appointed Head of the Theocratic organization. The Gileadite elders of old in appealing to Jephthah said: ‘The reason is, because we recognize our mistake and now confess it, and because we recognize you are the one whom Jehovah has blessed to prove that he raised you up to be the judge, deliverer and visible representative in his Theocratic government over us. It is due to your faith, together with your works of valor, toward Jehovah our God and Ruler.’

’’From the summer of 1938 Jehovah’s witnesses wanted his Theocratic organization and its visible representative on earth, The Theocratic Society under Christ, “that thou mayest go with us.” This would make sure they were and are on the right side and are joined to the correct organization and are doing the work assigned to them by Jehovah through his chosen organization. It was as when Captain Barak requested Deborah, God’s prophetess, to go with him to the battle. (Judg. 4:8,9) Jehovah’s witnesses saw that if they had the Theocratic King to lead them in the fight, the Theocratic Society on earth being his visible representative, then the victory against demonism would be won for the vindication of God’s name and for their deliverance from the totalitarian “abomination of desolation”. Of themselves what could any small minority of people on earth today do against the demonized totalitarian monstrosity of the “new order” as pictured by the aggressive Ammonites of old seeking domination by violence!

• ⁴⁰ The request for Jephthah to be “our head” was fitting because the “inhabitants of Gilead” were Jepthah’s closest brethren, he being the descendant of Gilead and hence being a Gileadite like themselves. Correspondingly, in 1938 Jehovah’s witnesses did most unequivocally declare the Theocratic rule and organization to be the only true way, ordained and approved by God Almighty. They renounced all personal headship and all democratic personal rights within God’s organization as concerns the carrying on of his work of witness. They declared themselves for the Theocratic organization and its royal Head, Christ Jesus. Solely under the Theocratic arrangement do they wish to wage the war against the encroachments of political-religious forces who oppose The Theocracy and its gospel message.

VOW OF ALLEGIANCE

• ⁴¹ “And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight with the children of Ammon, and Jehovah deliver them before me, shall I be your head?” (Judg. 11:9, Am. Rev. Ver.) These words settle it that Jephthah was a witness of Jehovah and a man of faith in Jehovah, to whom Jephthah looked for the victory. His words showed he was familiar with the things “written aforetime” about Jehovah’s triumphs over the demonized forces of wickedness. Jephthah was determined to proceed against Ammon, and this he would do, not in the name of demon gods whose worship had brought eighteen years of oppression upon Israel, but in the name of Jehovah and according to his Theocratic way. Religion had to be put away if God Almighty could be counted on to deliver over their enemies to be wiped out.

• ⁴² Jephthah made his headship conditional upon Jehovah’s victory. This proved he was not arbitrarily deciding he should be the head or Jehovah’s visible Theocratic representative over the Gileadites. By giving him success Jehovah must give positive, visible proof that Jephthah was the choice of the great Theocrat. Jephthah’s determination was that God’s rule should not be forsaken after the crisis had passed. The divine rule and organization must be enforced and carried forward as long as he had anything to do with the affairs of Israel as its judge. He wanted no more of such lawlessly throwing him out on the flimsy excuse that he was the son of Gilead only by a woman who had once been a harlot.

• ⁴³ With God’s covenant people today it must be The Theocratic Government and its visible organization first, last, and all the time, both before Armageddon and forever after. As with Jephthah’s selection, so it has been with the Watch Tower Society. The Society did not select itself to be the visible part of Jehovah’s Theocratic organization on earth, but the Lord God, by Christ Jesus, did so. How?

• ⁴⁴ Since 1918 there has been a controversy in “Christendom” as to the genuineness of the Watch Tower Society, that is, as to its relationship to God and as to its being his servant and channel of communication. By facts, which speak louder than wordy claims, the Lord God has demonstrated the Society to be his servant and channel. By it he has sent the testimony concerning Jehovah, his name and his Theocracy under Christ Jesus. By the Society he has carried on the witness work concerning The Theocracy and the vindication of Jehovah’s name through that Government. Also by the Society he now conducts the organized fight against the aggressions of the religious-totalitarian monstrosity. Through the same Society also he has brought back and reinstated among men the Theocratic rule and organization over consecrated persons in a covenant with the Most High God. This is not boasting, but an honest, humble statement of indisputable and well-known facts, all proving that Jehovah has laid his hands upon the Society and made it his visible representative of The Theocracy. Such proof discounts any idea that this has come about merely by the expressed wish and request of creatures like the “elders of Gilead”. The wise will consider these facts and ponder well their meaning.

• ⁴⁵ “And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Jehovah shall be witness [{margin) be hearer] between us; surely according to thy word so will we do.” (Judg. 11:10, Am. Rev. Ver.) Young’s translation reads: “Jehovah is hearkening between us, if according to thy word we do not so.” It was a contract made before Jehovah and in his name, and as hearer he would watch as to its fulfillment. If the Gileadites sincerely meant their part of the covenant and showed faith by fighting courageously alongside Jephthah and under his command, then Jehovah would do his part and give victory over the aggressor Ammon. Also. now, by joining themselves to the Theocratic organization at God’s invitation and then by submitting themselves to it and offering expressions of loyalty and devotion to it, Jehovah’s witnesses are binding themselves. Like the elders of Gilead they know God is listening and attending to their expressions and promises and will hold them accountable if they rebel against and abandon or throw off the Theocratic rule and organization at any time henceforth.

• ⁴⁵ “Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh [“Watchtower’].” (Judg. 11:11) In modern fulfillment of this: After publication of the Watchtower article “Organization” in June, 1938, the Society sent out due “Organization Instructions” to all organized companies of Jehovah’s witnesses for their consideration and adoption. That same year, September 9-11, a world-wide convention was held with London, England, as key city, linked by land wires and radio beam with 46 simultaneous conventions in 46 other cities in Britain, America, Australia, Canada, and elsewhere, 117 stations also radiocasting the speeches. A total of 150,000 personally attended this unparalleled convention. There the Theocratic “Organization Instructions” were discussed-by special representatives of the Society. (See The Watchtower, issues of August 15 and September 1, 1938.) Thereafter the field was laid out for work world-wide. Everywhere the companies of Jehovah’s witnesses acknowledged the Theocratic organization with joy and thanksgiving. Eagerly and gladly they yielded themselves thereto and began working under it in obedience to organization instructions. No popular democratic election that, but the acceptance by God’s covenant people of the organization they knew He had chosen and set over them. At the New World Theocratic Assembly of September 18-20, 1942, including simultaneous conventions in more than 80 cities throughout the earth, further organization instructions were issued to meet the situation created by the spreading power of the Ammonitish totalitarian monstrosity.—See the report in The Watchtower October 15, 1942, pages 317-320, under “Key Theocratic Assembly at Cleveland”.

^4T Jephthah uttered all his words before Jehovah in Mizpah. Thereby he further showed he was Jehovah’s witness and had faith that Jehovah would regard his servant’s faithfulness and give the needed help, blessing and victory. Jephthah showed he recognized his obligation and responsibility as being to Jehovah and that he in his position over the Gileadites was merely God’s servant. Jephthah believed that “salvation belongeth unto Jehovah”. (Ps. 3:8, Am. Rev. Ver.) As the Gileadites brought Jephthah back from Tob to Mizpah (‘Watchtower’), his home, so in A. D. 1938 the Theocratic organization was brought back to where it belonged. The Watch Tower Society recognized its responsibility before Jehovah as his visible servant, and so confessed in the Watchtower’s columns. All faithful witnesses taking their stand for the Theocratic organization voiced themselves as to their faith, obligations and responsibilities, and did all things as unto Jehovah by Christ Jesus. Everything ready to go, now follows the challenge to the enemy!

(To be continued)

41. What waa shown by Jepbthah's uttering all his words '‘before Jehovah" tn Mizpah, after they brought him back from Tob, and how was there a like utterance before Jehovah from and after 1838’

O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up on a high mountain; Q thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift «t up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Sehold, your God! Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him: Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. They that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint. The word of our God shall stand forever.—Isaiah 40:9,10,31,8, A. R. V.

THE earth excites the wonder and admiration of man, even though man now is imperfect and his understanding greatly limited. Whether the earth is viewed with respect to the formation of its various layers or its vegetable and animal life; whether its endless varieties of things are seen by the use of the microscope; or whether by employing the telescope the relationship of the earth to the other planets and the stars is considered, the reverential man stands in awe and wonderment at the wisdom displayed in its creation. When man learns that the earth was created by the Most High God and was made to be the lasting habitation of man in perfection, his mind and his heart yearn to know more about it and more concerning its great Creator. The telescope was not discovered until early in the seventeenth century, and it is no matter for surprise that prior to that time worldly man thought that the earth was the center of all things.

The knowledge of the great Creator, as he reveals himself in his creation of man and his provision for man, was preserved by very few men. This knowledge was merely a tiny stream of truth which trickled down through the centuries, and few were they that drank thereat. Early in man’s history he put God out of his thoughts. Consequently the vision of man was limited to things he saw with his natural eye. When the sun, the moon and the stars came into view, some men gave consideration to the creation, but not to the Creator. Because it was apparent to them that all life enjoyed by earthly creatures proceeded from the sun, that body became the object of worship by men. Those who did retain a knowledge of the Creator and had faith in him knew God was beyond the starry heavens and they worshiped him as the Creator of both heaven and earth. Such men were so few, however, compared with the greater number, that they are hardly observable. —Rom. 1:19-25.

The development of the telescope, together with increased knowledge of things, brought men to see that the earth is not what man once thought it to be. He learned that instead of being fixed and the center of all things the earth is a sphere and one among other planets associated with the sun, and that the sun is the center of this planetary system known as the solar system. The ecclesiastical system of Rome, and particularly its leaders, for a thousand years and more thought that the earth is fixed and everything else revolves about it. They also claimed to be the sole interpreters of the Bible and they claimed the Bible as authority for this erroneous thought. This clergy teaching had probably more to do than anything else to fix the false thought in the minds of the people.

As knowledge increased men learned that the earth is a planet among the other planets which move about the sun. The facts learned by men disprove the theories held and taught by Rome’s clergy. This caused them to lose confidence in religious teachers. It also produced suspicion and doubt about the Bible as an authority of truth. The result was that many were led entirely away from the Bible. Had they understood the truth as taught in the Bible, and not been influenced by the misrepresentation of these religious teachers, they would not have turned away from the Bible and away from God.

It is claimed by scientists that the writers of the Hebrew the heart of the Creator. His own Word contradicts the in literal fire and says: "The earth abideth for ever.^-’ religious teachings concerning the destruction of the earth —Ecel. 1: 4.

HAS THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON BEGUN?

SCRIPTURALLY the answer is, No! According to the meaning of “Armageddon” the battle bearing that name has not begun. The part of the name mageddon (for Megiddo) means the place for the assembly of troops. The prefix Ar (Har in the Hebrew) means mountain or hill. The highest part of a mountain the Scriptures designate as a hill. A mountain symbolically represents Jehovah’s organization. Hence the word “Armageddon” means the high mountain or organization where the troops of Jehovah are assembled or gathered together. These troops assembled at Armageddon are Jehovah’s troops, including the remnant of faithful Christians on earth but who are not of this world. In Revelation 14:1 the Lord shows his troops to be made up of the 144,000 faithful Christians together with their Head and King Christ Jesus. They are assembled on Mount Zion, that is to say, they are gathered together in Jehovah’s capital organization.—See Psalms 2:6 and 132:13, 14.

The enemy of God and His government, Satan, knows that soon the final battle must be fought and the issue determined, and he proceeds to gather together his forces to bring them against Jehovah's organization Concerning the mustering together of Satan's forces it is written: “For they are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth unto the kings [rulers] of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty, And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon.”—Rev. 16:14,16, A. R. V.

A battle is often called by the name of the place where it is fought Hence the battle is said to be that of Armageddon. But it must be noted that Revelation 16:14 says, “the battle of that great day of God Almighty”; which clearly means that at that time is when Jehovah God. the Almighty, takes a hand in the great tribulation that comes upon the whole world, and that he does so in the execution of his judgment against Satan's old world.

Christ Jesus is the head and commander over Jehovah’s capital organization and leads the fight against the enemy. According to Ezekiel, chapters thirty-eight and thirty-nine, over against Christ Jesus is Gog, the chief field marshal of Satan the Devil, and which spirit prince leads the enemyforces at the great battle of Armageddon The vision given in Revelation 14:1-3 discloses Jehovah’s capital organization under the leadership of Christ the Lamb of God. All the members of that glorious organization are seen rejoicing They are singing together and now sing to the praise of Jehovah, because the time has come to settle the great issue of supremacy, and they know that it will be settled in favor of Jehovah and to the honor and complete vindication of his name. The remnant of Jehovah’s witnesses yet on earth are of that company assembled unto and rejoicing at Mount Zion, God’s organization.

Over against the army of the Lord are to be seen the wicked forces of Satan under the leadership of Gog. The wicked invisible demons and their visible dupes on earth join in a conspiracy to destroy Jehovah’s covenant people that they may not be part of God’s “holy nation” and serve to the praise of Jehovah’s name, (Ps. 83:2-5;

1 Pet, 2:9,10) Satan sends forth his forces, demon and religious-totalitarian, under Gog and against the assembled troops of Jehovah at “Armageddon”. Up to this point Jehovah God by his Field Marshal Christ Jesus has taken no militant hand in the tribulation on the earth. The great battle that is about to be fought is called ‘the battle of God Almighty¹, because then is when He will take a hand. In the nineteenth chapter of Revelation, verses 11-16, is given a vision of Christ Jesus ready for the battle of the great day of God Almighty and supported by his hosts of holy angels. He is symbolized as riding a white horse, thus saying that his cause is a righteous one and “in righteousness he doth judge and make war”. He is “The Faithful and True”, the Executive Officer of Jehovah, and “the King of kings, and Lord of lords”. Only the members of Jehovah’s organization will follow the great Leader in that war, and the part to be performed by the remnant and their companions on earth is to sing the praises of Jehovah and his kingdom. (Note 2 Chronicles 20-20-23.) The great battle of the day of God Almighty has not yet begun, but is near at hand, as all the evidence shows.

Satan’s organization has not only oppressed the poor people of earth, but made murderous assaults upon Jehovah’s witnesses in an attempt to destroy them. Every one of the anointed remnant and their faithful companions would have been destroyed ere now except for the protection furnished by Jehovah God through Christ Jesus The Scriptures show that Satan’s chief objective is to destroy the remnant of the Kingdom class because these maintain their integrity toward Jehovah and prove Satan to be a liar in claiming no one can remain a true Christian like Christ Jesus. In due time Jehovah God will fight for his name, his kingdom, and his own people, and that will be a righteous warfare As foretold, at Zechariah 14: 3: “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.”

To charge Jehovah God with the responsibility for the ills that now afflict the world is a gross defamation of his holy name by the religious clergymen Jehovah is right and righteous at all times, and all his works are done in righteousness. The great battle of the day of God Almighty, which will suddenly begin when the worldly rulers fix up conditions and cry “Peace and safety¹” will be the worst tribulation that will ever have afflicted the world, and it will be the result of the execution of God’s righteous judgment against the nations that have forgotten Jehovah God and afflicted his faithful witnesses. (See 1 Thessalonians 5:3 and Psalm 9:17.) The prophet’s description, at Jeremiah 25.33-36, shows not many persons will be left alive on the earth. Only Jehovah’s faithful sen-ants, as foreshadowed by Noah and his family in the ark, will survive Armageddon.

LETTERS FROM BRITAIN

DETERMINED TO SERVE JEHOVAH

Dear Brother Knorr:

Four hundred Jehovah’s witnesses and their companions assembled at Edinburgh on the occasion of Brother Schroeder’s visit decided unanimously to send you this token of our love.

We are determined to continue unitedly in our service to The Theocracy and in withstanding the attacks of the Assyrian. (Mic. 5:5) By the Lord’s grace, we will go forward under the great Shepherd, Chnst Jesus, until the land of the enemy be wasted and the Holy City gains the victory of world domination. We recognize that the time is here for everyone to “bear his own burden”, and therefore we are ready and willing to continue in the service of Jehovah no matter what the future may hold.

We are looking forward with great expectation to the coming conventions in September, and we pray that the Lord will richly bless you to the end that the dwellers and refugees in the Holy City may continue to receive the rich food of truth.

It is our hope that we may soon have the joy of a visit from you in this land. It will be a great joy to have you share with us here, and we trust that it may be the Lord's will to allow this.

We are rejoicing in the nch spiritual food of the Micah prophecy, and long for the day of final vindication, when totalitarianism will be for ever destroyed and the Holy City rule to the honor of Jehovah’s name.

With warm love to you and all our brethren at Bethel, Your fellow servants of the Great Theocrat, Jehovah’s witnesses and Companions, South East Scotland.

“RESOLVED TO DO OUR PART”

Dear Brethren :

It is with great joy of heart that we thank Jehovah for Children.

Sixteen years have passed away since the “time of blessedness” began with the book Deliverance. That was a delightful and refreshing draught from the “wells of salvation”, giving great power to young Benjamin, binding him in its sweet influence to the “Greater Joseph”.

Deliverance and Children have a strong affinity. The one is interwoven with the “Birth of the Man Child”, the great Deliverer, and the other with the “Children of the King” and the great Deliverance. What visions this marvelous book inspires! How sweet and lofty are the thoughts of “John” and “Eunice”! How choice their words! How sensible their speech! As they reason on the ripening purposes of Jehovah one is caught up with them into Paradise, to walk its highways in unspeakable joy.

What heart will not be delighted with the superb presentation of the Mandate! With smooth and flowing diction, in language of transcendant beauty, the pure and exquisite message unfolds to mark this book as the most sublime of Kingdom publications.

(Continued from page 322)

“THE NEW WORLD”

In these lurid days when the handwriting on the wall is seen dooming the wicked old world to early destruction in appalling violence, this book entitled “The New World” is published as a special provision of the great Creator of the new world for the comfort and hope of those who long for a righteous world and who are now obliged to suffer sorely for righteousness’ sake. The New World has a jacket of peach-colored cloth, with a planetary front-cover embossing matching the title. On opening the book the end-sheets will surprise you with their pictorial story, but your full measure of delight and thrills will come with readmg through the 384 pages of the story of worlds, the amazing fulfillment of the ancient drama of Job, the final end of wicked rule, and the triumph of righteousness at last in the new earth and heavens. Artistic pictures in color enliven the swiftly moving theme; and an index of subjects, and another of all Scripture texts cited, make it valuable for study and reference. The New World, the “Publishers’ Edition”, is put up in better binding,

It is just grand to follow the mind of John and Eunice as they live and move through the purposes of Jehovah to emerge triumphantly resolved to share in the bounties of His grace.

The book itself is a literary masterpiece, and the Kingdom illustrations “dear to the heart of every child”. One sees Jesus stripped of all religious “trappings”, calmly and resolutely at the temple, watching the aged beginning to take the count.

How awe-inspiring to stand with Barak and Deborah on that immovable rock, thrilled beyond words, to see “Kishon” in flood sweep the enemy away!

Our hearts praise Jehovah for the faithful labor of Brother Rutherford and for the integrity of the Watchtower in placing this book in our hands.

We are resolved to do our part in making Jehovah’s name a praise in the earth.

Your fellow servants of The Theocracy, The Brethren of the Dartford Company, England.

“THE COMPANIES WILL CARRY ON”

Dear Brother Knorr:

At an assembly of the local companies at Chelmsford, Essex, last Sunday, the 5th July, the brethren expressed the wish that a letter should be sent to you that we appreciate the stand by yourself and the brethren in America for the truth at this time.

We are grateful to Jehovah and rejoice in the continued gracious provision of the “meat in due season” that he is providing through The Watchtower for his people at this time We value the light being thrown upon the Holy City and all that it implies.

We are determmed that if the enemy treads in our palace, at 34 Craven Terrace, the companies will continue to carry on where they are to the glory of Jehovah’s name. We are determined to face the enemy with the Kingdom smile to the end.

We appreciate the stand made by our brethren in America against the persecution and will, by God’s grace, do the same in Britain.

We keenly look forward to the coming convention and pledge ourselves to help and do all we are asked to do to further the Lord’s work herein.

All the brethren who have been in prison send their love and wish you to know that they are standing unitedly shoulder to shoulder with you agamst the persecution.

Assuring you of our continued love and our determination to maintain our integrity to the end, and with love and good wishes to you and those associated with you, we remain

Your brethren and fellow servants of The Theocracy, Hoddesdon [England] Company of Jehovah’s witnesses.

it bemg of washable cloth, and which will wear better and last longer. Hence this edition is preferable for use of those attending study classes on the book It will be mailed postpaid to your address on order accompanied by your contribution of 50c a copy.

“THE NEW WORLD" QUESTION BOOKLET

This &4-page booklet is provided as a complement to the book The New World. It is bound in a substantial paper binding, with neat cover design, and contains simple but searchmg questions on all the paragraphs of the book. It is therefore a vital aid in the study and understanding of The New World. It contains instructions on the most progressive method of group study, and thus with this booklet of questions any sincere person can conduct large or small groups of persons in a most profitable study of the Bible with The New World as the textbook. It is 5c a copy, mailed postpaid. You will want this booklet not only for your personal use, but also extra copies for your companions in study Companies and study groups should combine orders and send such through their respective servants.

SHEEP HEARING SHEPHERD’S VOICE (BRITAIN)

“The sheep in B  and district are beginning to manifest themselves; also the goats. In the small village of 0---- there are now sixteen Watchtower subscribers,

and a district group study with the book Children has been arranged at the home of an Irish Protestant. The highest attendance at this study so far has been eighteen adults and children. On recommendation from a Watchtower subscriber a lady was found and she has just offered her home for a group study. This person is well known and has many friends in this district to invite along, and we look forward to good times at the coming studies, which commence next Friday evening. A brother who has been a publisher for only three months has opened his home for a group study with Children, and after only two studies his wife has commenced the house-to-house service. Two strangers appeared at the second study. This brother is a guard on the railway and always carries booklets on his travels, never missing the opportunity to give a witness. While pavement witnessing in B----, a Methodist minister

in passing was attracted by the publisher’s placard 'Escape from Death at Armageddon’. Said the minister: ‘That’s what I want—Armageddon.’ Publisher: ‘So do we!’ Minister: ‘I mean the booklet Armageddon.’ He also asked: ‘Why is it that Jehovah’s witnesses are so persecuted?’ Arrangements were made for a back-call on him, and also for the supplying of the booklet.”

AT a BUS STOP (STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.)

“I had just arrived at my post in the magazine work Saturday night and was fixing my literature and getting set for service. A man, in a great hurry to catch a bus, suddenly reeled and turned about-face when he heard a voice say, ‘Take the latest copy of The Watchtower with you, sir?’ ‘Did you say Watchtower’ he said, as he came towards me. Setting down his many packages he took the three Watchtower magazines I had in my hand, scanned through them and said, ‘So this is The Watchtower! I thought it would be a book, you know, one of those with a hard cover. I’ll take these anyway.’ Because his eyes were fixed on the bus which stands at this point a few minutes, I tried to hold him in conversation while I struggled a bit to get out of my magazine bag the book Children and the booklet Hope. Noticing an accent in his speech and making use of every precious moment, I asked what other language he spoke. ‘I am Swedish,’ he said, ‘and am on a boat most of the time.’ By this time I had the book out and said, ‘Perhaps this is what you really wanted.’ He looked through this too, in a hurry, while I tried to tell in a few words what it contained. ‘Oh I’ll take this book all right. It’s just what I wanted. Gosh, it’s gone, d----it [he meant the bus] !’ Apologizing,

he said, ‘I wanted to get that bus so badly. Oh well!’ While waiting for the next bus he turned to me and said, ‘Lady, I’m going to tell you something. One day, on the boat, me and a couple of men were discussing the Bible, when all of a sudden (and right in the middle of our conversation, mind you) we saw a small object floating near our boat. As it came nearer we could see that it was a book. One of the men scooped it out of the water and laid claim to it right away. We opened the book and saw that it came from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, and, I tell you, since then all our doubts and questions were answered from that book. That man read it from cover to cover and still has the book and is telling everybody what is in that book, and he says, “Now I am a Christian.” ’ By this time another bus had pulled up, and, gathering his packages together, he said he was so happy to take all this good reading back to the ship with him.”

PREACHING WHILE IN BONDS (CONNECTICUT)

Bridgeport: “One day last week a few of the friends went to the----jail to see----. He was in good spirits

in spite of being confined. We learned that he was active even behind prison bars, finding interest and spreading the message of God’s kingdom. He said that except for a few inconveniences he did not mind the prison routine, but he added, ‘Don’t forget to tell this to the friends at the service meeting; tell them to get out in the service as much as they can, because when you are behind these bars you regret every minute that was not spent in the Lord’s work while free to do so. I ought to know.’ We departed, happy to still be free in the open air, with an opportunity to serve God.”

D----: “The Children study is being held during the

hour of 5: 30 to 6: 30 on Wednesday; we opened the stud} tonight for the first time. There were four witnesses and two friends. The study is in the [Penitentiary] Educational Department. We have a room by ourselves; so you see the educational department- fits in nicely, because the greatest educational campaign on earth is being held by Jehovah’s witnesses, informing the people of the marvelous provisions that Jehovah has in store for His people. . . . There is a great interest shown here; by Jehovah’s grace, there will be a larger gathering the next time we congregate. It was a wonderful provision made by his grace for his witnesses to be able to have a meeting here. Praise ye Jehovah, for all his works are done according to his will. I received the seven books that you sent to me. Thank you very much. Will you please do me one more favor and send seven more Children books, if possible. I will see to it that you are well taken care of I will not slack the hand, but will drive the sword deeper into ‘Eglon’s belly’. . . . The Theocratic Assembly will be here shortly T hope that each one of you are able to attend. Personally I will not, because regulations will not permit me to.”

A DOUBLE CALL, WITH DIVIDED RESULTS (ARIZONA)

“I rang the doorbell, introduced myself to the lady, and proceeded to play the phonograph. ‘Is this that “Jehovah stuff”?’ she asked. ‘Start moving, and move fast, before I get my husband to— 1 ’ In the middle of this sentence a doorbell rang from the back of the house. I saw a man pass the lady (no doubt her husband), give me a look, and proceed to answer the back door. After the minute that I was still there trying to explain about the purpose of the work, the man passed back. In his hand was the book Children. My surprise could not even compare with the facial expression of the lady. She looked as if she had a bitter pill in her mouth and could not swallow it. When she did swallow, I saw it was time to leave. This was the last house to witness to in this block.”

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