THE WATCHTOWER.

Published Semimonthly By

WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY 117 Adams Street -   - Brooklyn 1, N.Y., U.S.A.

Officers

N. H. Knorr, President W. E. Van Amburgh, Secretary “And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” - lictah 54:13.

THE SCRIPTURES CLEARLY TEACH

THAT JEHOVAH is the only true God and 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 other things, and is now the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, clothed with all power in heaven and earth, as 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 THE LOGOS was made human as the man Jesus and suffered death in order to produce the ransom or redemptive price for obedient ones of mankind; that God raised up Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every other creature and above every creature’s name and clothed him with all power and authority;

THAT GOD’S CAPITAL 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 OLD WORLD ended in A. D. 1914, 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 the “new earth” of the New World;

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 complete 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-will.

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 organizations. 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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“JEHOVAH REIGNS” TESTIMONY PERIOD

If you will read, on their appearance, the main articles in our issues of October 1 and 15, you will appreciate how appropriately the Testimony Period during October is designated “Jehovah Reigns”. Those who value properly the unique privilege of now making announcement of Jehovah’s reign will gladly serve as His subjects in the publicity work during the equable month of October. A larger offer of literature will mark this period of world-wide testimony, namely, two bound books and two booklets, the latest in every possible case, on a contribution of 50c. Instead of decreasing placements, we believe, your report at the month’s close will show an even larger disposal of literature and a more widespread witness accomplished. Of course, many of our readers, wanting to take a hand in this October Testimony Period, will appreciate instructions and companionship. All such should feel free to write us for information and for references to the most convenient group of field publishers.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of October 7: “Vindication of Jehovah’s Servant,” fl 1-20 inclusive, The Watchtower September 1, 1945.

Week of October 14: “Vindication of Jehovah’s Servant,” fl 21-40 inclusive, The Watchtower September 1, 1945.

NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING

The annual business meeting of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society will be held Monday, October 1,1945, at 10: 00 a.m., in the registered office of the Society located in the Wabash Building, 410 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh 10, Pennsylvania.

New members have been selected to take the place of the thousands of shareholder-voters, pursuant to the resolutions adopted by the shareholder-voters of the Society on October 2, 1944, and in harmony with the order of the court approving the articles of amendment. Notices and proxy forms will be mailed to the new members. Any member who for any reason cannot attend in person should mail his proxy to the office of the secretary and treasurer of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 124 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn 2, New York, on or before September 20,1945.

Because of travel restrictions, there will be no service convention or assembly in connection with the business meeting as in 1944. Only regular business of the Society, election of officers, and the report of the president will be considered at the meeting.

ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH'S KINGDOM

Vol. LXVI                             September 1, 1945                                 No. 17

VINDICATION OF JEHOVAH’S SERVANT

"Near is my Vindicator; who will take issue with me? Let us stand up together! Who will challenge my rights? Let him draw near to me!"—Isa. 50:8, The American Translation.

T EHOVAH has stood for a lot of abuse, for about I six thousand years. But he will not forever take J it! The long-predicted day for vindicating himself and for vindicating his abused servant has broken over the world. The time for which there was good reason to permit such abuse as a great test upon worshipers of God has reached its limit. Now men who challenge his universal sovereignty and who defame his name must be silenced and brought down to nothing. His power and right to rule over all creatures that live in all the universe must no longer be left in dispute. His name and all the glory that it stands for must be cleared of every false charge and reproach that wagging tongues have plastered upon it. That means, too, that soon his servants on earth will no longer appear to this world to be foolishly and fanatically serving a deity who cannot help, protect and deliver them. For their unbroken integrity toward Jehovah under abuse he will exhibit them as the chosen ministers of the only true and living God. Shame shall then cover all those who follow false gods and bright-shining religious leaders.

¹ From appearances, the odds seem to be all against such an outcome. Why? Because, opposed to the relatively few servants of the Most High God on earth, there stands an imposing religious organization. It boasts of a membership of hundreds of millions, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish. It woos the favor of this world, and the world holds it in high esteem and looks upon it as an integral part of itself and as a trusted guardian of “moral law”.

• The world depends upon the religious organization to keep it in the good graces of God Almighty. The world hires it to pray for its worldly programs and activities, and to win God’s blessings upon such. But as for those witnesses of Jehovah, who refuse to mix in with the schemes and arrangements of this world and who hold themselves aloof as dedicated entirely to the kingdom of God, well, the world finds

• 1. What does the da> of vindication mean both for Jehovah and for his servants?                                                  _a .

• 2. Why do the odds appear to be against such an outcome for Jehovah a servants?                                                         , _t

• 3. What is the world’s attitude toward the religious organisation and Jehovah's witnesses, respectively, and why? no pleasure in them. It merely tolerates them and wonders why it has never been able to rid itself of their obnoxious presence. Do not be surprised at this. The Leader of these witnesses of Jehovah God once said to them: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me [namely, Jehovah].”—John 15:18-21.

• ⁴ The self-righteous religious organization keeps itself high in the respect of the world, because it piously goes through impressive religious ceremonies and it claims to have connections with God. It claims to be wedded to God, and therefore its likeness to a woman married to a husband is plain. Under the same figure of speech the Roman Catholic religious sect calls itself “the mother church”. Moreover, the so-called “National Conference of Christians and Jews”, whose lecture representatives tour the United States putting Catholic, Protestant and Jewish clergymen on the platform together, tries to create the idea that Jehovah God recognizes and has connections with the Christless Jews as well as with the Catholic and Protestant systems. Many Jews simple-mindedly claim that the pope of Vatican City, who professes to be God on earth, is their greatest friend. However, the real state of matters is disclosed when we consider that, throughout all lands, the Catholic religionists speak of the Jews as Christ-killers and carry on a subtle campaign of antiSemitism. Now that the Roman Catholic dictators of central Europe are out of the way, such Catholic religionists are again becoming active to stir up a

• 4. How is the appearance put on that the religious organisations have connections with God, but how is the Roman Catholic religionists’ real attitude toward the Jews disclosed?

world-sweeping wave of anti-Semitism, because now it could not be accused of having any connection with the dethroned political heads of Nazism and Fascism. Destroying such political heads does not destroy the spirit of Fascism. As long as Vatican City and its Hierarchy exist, the spirit of Fascism will continue to be a living danger to liberal democracy.

• ⁵ The actual religious condition of “Christendom” denies that she has relationship with God and possesses the spirit of his Son Jesus Christ. Her being internally divided up into hundreds of sects and cults, embroiled in all manner of political controversies and commercial rivalries, could not be the condition of an organization that God would own as his “woman”. Showing that such is a carnal, worldly condition, one of God’s inspired writers says: “You are still worldly. For when there are still jealousy and quarrels among you, are you not worldly and living on a merely human level! For when one man says, T am a follower of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am a follower of Apollos,’ are you not simply human? . . . I could not treat you as spiritual persons; I had to treat you just as creatures of flesh and blood.” (1 Cor. 3: 2-4, 1, Goodspeed) Divided “Christendom” has never responded to the prayer of the One she claims to follow as His “bride”, namely: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given [my disciples]; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me.”—John 17:21-23.

' Instead of being one in Christ, and also instead of being one with God through his Christ, “Christendom” is in the same position toward Jehovah God as are the Jews, whom she has persecuted for more than a thousand years. She is in a worse position, because she professes to follow Christ and to be called by his name. She is rejected of Jehovah God, as much so as the Jewish religious organization. With good reason, therefore, Jehovah’s witnesses decline to have any connections with “Christendom” or to be party to her controversies, her political and religious crimes, and her confusing jangle of religions. Taking their stand with Jehovah’s greatest witness, Christ Jesus, and with all other faithful witnesses of Jehovah of olden time, they courageously declare His Word against “Christendom”. They warn the people that she is cast off from God. The message of these witnesses, and the stand they take as regards “Christendom”, are strikingly mirrored in

• 5. How does “Christendom's” condition as to unity deny she has any relationship with God and has the spirit of Christ?

• 6. What. then. Is “Christendom’s” actual position with God? and what stand, therefore, do Jehovah's witnesses take?

Isaiah’s prophecy, chapter fifty, which we now consider together for our mutual profit.

WHO DIVORCED HERT

' “Thus saith Jehovah, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, wherewith I have put her away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were ye sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away.” (Isa. 50:1, Am.Stan. Ver.) By his witness, Isaiah, Jehovah God here addresses firstly the Jews. He asks why their religious organization has no union and relationship with God. He likens their organization to a woman divorced; and the Jews, as members of the organization, are spoken of as her children. In such ominous words of Jehovah we hear a prophecy of the time when the Jewish national organization, as a system, would be entirely disowned and rejected of Him, although individual Jews, by disengaging themselves from the organization, might come into harmony with Jehovah God and escape the fate of the organization.

‘That the Jewish national organization would be cast off from God was foreshadowed by the very action of Abraham, their forefather. Abraham had received God’s promise that he would have a seed or offspring in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed. (Gen. 12:1-7; 13:14-16; 15:4-6) Abraham’s 75-year-old wife Sarah was thought to be too old to become the mother of this promised Seed. So Sarah’s maidservant, an Egyptian maid named Hagar, was suggested to take Sarah’s place in presenting Abraham with a child. Hagar tried to serve as wife to Abraham; but the son Ishmael which she brought forth was not the one meant by Jehovah God to be the seed through whom blessings would flow to all nations. Fourteen years later a miracle of God caused the 90-year-old Sarah to bring forth a son, Isaac, the child of God’s acceptance.

’Would Hagar and her boy Ishmael recognize God’s appointment of Sarah’s son Isaac! and would they serve him and look to him as God’s channel of blessings? Their decision was brought out into the open when Isaac was weaned, at four or five years of age. Ishmael, then near twenty years of age, persecuted the young Isaac and became a threat to his existence. Sarah, seeing the danger to Isaac, asked Abraham for the dismissal of the slave-girl Hagar and her slave-child Ishmael. At Jehovah’s instructions Abraham complied with Sarah’s request and sent Hagar and Ishmael away, releasing them from his service. Henceforth they could live inde-

• 7. With what questions does Jehovah first address the Jewish religious organisation? and what do his words foretell?

• 8, 9, What action of Abraham foreshadowed that God would cast off the Jewish national organization? pendently from him and serve whomsoever they chose.—Genesis, chapters 16 and 21.

• ¹⁰ Jehovah God inspired his servant, the apostle Paul, to put the meaning upon such facts and to show that they were a living prophecy. Queer though it seem to some, the Bible speaks of God as having a “woman”. At Galatians, chapter four, the apostle explains that Jehovah’s “woman” is a holy organization wedded to Him, as Sarah was to Abraham. Jehovah’s “woman” is his universal organization made up of his devoted creatures in the heavens above. This “woman”, this organization above, was the woman whom Jehovah meant in the garden of Eden, when he told that old serpent the Devil that the Serpent would bruise the heel of her Seed, but that in the end the woman's Seed w’ould bruise the Serpent’s head. (Gen. 3:15) God’s “woman” or organization was not pictured by religious Jerusalem on earth in Palestine. Hence the apostle speaks of God’s “woman” as the “Jerusalem which is above”. She was pictured by Abraham's wife Sarah. Hence the seed of God’s “woman” is the antitypical Isaac, that is to say, Christ Jesus: “which [seed] is Christ.” (Gal. 3: 16) Jehovah God adopts certain others to become part of the seed of his “woman”. They are those who deny themselves to follow Christ Jesus as their Head and become the members of the “body of Christ”. Therefore the apostle says to such ones: “Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.”—Gal. 4: 26.

• ¹¹ But as for Jerusalem which was down below on earth, she was destroyed by the Roman armies A.D. 70 and saw her adherents or children either killed by Roman swords, or taken captive for slavery, or scattered among all the Gentile nations of the earth. This earthly religious Jerusalem must necessarily picture the “woman” whom God rejected. She is the one that was foreshadowed by the slave-maid Hagar; and the children of the Jewish national organization are the ones that were pictured by the slave-son Ishmael. The Jewish national organization took the attitude of Hagar. It thought that it was producing the promised seed of Abraham in whom all families and nations should be blessed. But as Ishmael persecuted Isaac, so that Jewish organization through its official religious representatives persecuted Jesus and his followers, even to killing them, and refused to be made free from its religious bondage. Then God showed it was not the true, original organization for producing the promised Seed. He cast it and its Jewish adherents off and thenceforth dealt solely with his “Jerusalem which is above” and with her “seed”, Christ Jesus the Head and the church his “body”.—Gal. 4: 22-31.

• 10. Whom does the apostle Paul Identify Sarah and her son as foreshadowing?

• 11. What, then, did Abraham s casting out Hagar and her son foreshadow’

” Whose fault, then, was it that the Jewish organization and her children were divorced from God and his service! Was it merely a whimsical, arbitrary action on God’s part without justified grounds! Was He in debt to the Gentile nations so that he had to sell the Jews to all the heathen nations to become their despised underlings and slaves! Did Jehovah God do the Jews an injustice by permitting them to be slaughtered unjustly by the millions in Europe by the Roman Catholic Nazi fuehrer and his political gangsters of like religious stripe! Not this magazine, but Jehovah God through his servant Isaiah answers: “Behold, for your iniquities were ye sold, and for your transgressions was your mother sent away.” (Isa. 50:1, Leeser’s translation) Therefore, let individual Jews who seek God’s favor turn from that rejected national organization and turn to God’s true “woman” and to her Seed, Christ Jesus the Messiah!—Isa. 51:1-3.

• ¹³ By such an exhortation The Watchtower does not mean that such life-seeking Jews should turn to the religious organizations of “Christendom”. “Christendom” has taken the same course as her Jewish prototype; and there is no more salvation and deliverance to be found in her than in the rejected Hagar organization. Therefore only with bitter disillusionment in store for them do the Jews of today look to the pope and the Roman Catholic Hierarchy as a shield against anti-Semitism. “Christendom” insists that she is in covenant relationship with the Lord God, as Israel of old was in covenant relationship with Him by the law of Moses. Taken at her own claims, then “Christendom” is found to be a covenant-breaker; and God’s Word says covenantbreakers are worthy of death. (Rom. 1:31, 32) She is guilty of committing spiritual fornication with this world and its politicians and merchandisers, the same as the Hagar organization whose religious leaders finally cried out as they rejected the Messiah, Abraham’s Seed: “We have no king but Ctesar.” “Christendom” was founded by men who fell away from the Theocratic organization of God’s people and who compromised with the religions of this world. She was never God’s organization nor a part of it; and none of her children were begotten of Him.

• ¹⁴ In ancient times in Israel parents sold their children to the ones to whom they were in debt; or their creditors laid claim upon the children for their service as payment of the parents’ debt. (Lev. 25:39-42; 2 Ki. 4:1-7; Neh. 5: 4, 5,8; Jer. 34:10,11; Matt 18: 24, 25) How true that is of “Christendom”! She is in bondage to this world and yields her chil-

• 12. What justification was there for the divorcing of the Jewish organization and its children? and what should individual Jews now do to seek Jehovah’s favor?

• 13. Why does this not mean that life-seeking Jews should join “Christendom's" religious organizations for relationship with God’

• 14 How and why is “Christendom" like Israelites of old who were in debt and sold their children to their creditors? dren to the service of its crooked politics and its commercial exploitation and its bloody militarism. Why? Is it because she ever belonged to Jehovah God and he came into debt to this world and was obliged to sell her and her children to pay worldly creditors! Has Jehovah for no moral reasons at all disowned her and put her away from his spiritual favor and protection and surrendered her up to total wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilences, interreligious disunity and persecution, and international distress and perplexity! To “Christendom’s” Catholic and Protestant children or adherents Jehovah’s answer comes ringing through his prophet Isaiah: “Behold, you are sold for your iniquities, and for your wicked deeds have I put your mother away [even as Hagar and Ishmael were put away].”—Isa. 50:1, Catholic Douay Version.

DELIVERER’S HAND NOT SHORTENED TODAY

• ¹⁵ Jews are still clinging clannishly to the Hagar organization. Likewise, the religious peoples of “Christendom” are still cleaving superstitiously to the clergy and their systems for salvation. But what attention do they give to Jehovah God! None; and hence the next words of Jehovah God fit them all: “Why, then, was there no man, when I came, to greet me, none, when I called, to answer! Is my hand too short to redeem, or have I no strength to save! Lo! by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert; their fish are in distress for want of water, and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens in mourning, and sackcloth I make their covering.”—Isa. 50: 2, 3, Amer. Trans.

” When Jehovah God said he “came”, it means no coming personally, visibly, but a coming by His accredited servants and witnesses. In 1914 (A.D.) his Son Christ Jesus came into the Kingdom, with authority to rule in the midst of his enemies and to dash the nations to pieces like a potter’s vessel. In 1918 Jehovah God sent this reigning King to the temple to judge the “house of God” and to bring all the nations of earth into judgment before him to seal their fate at the battle of Armageddon. Since 1918 in particular Jehovah has sent forth with the Kingdom message the remnant of the seed of his woman, “Jerusalem which is above.” In such manner, by His approved servants, Jehovah has come to “Christendom” and Jewry. (Rev. 12:1-13, 17) But not a man of their official element, political, commercial, or religious, has come forward to greet His representatives, thus to receive Jehovah as God. As Christ said to his disciples: “He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him [Jehovah] that sent me.”—Matt. 10:40.

• 10, 16. How baa Jehovah ‘come’ and there has been no man to greet him?

^1T Similarly, Jehovah called to “Christendom” by His witnesses, who bid the people to accept Jehovah’s Theocratic Government and to flee from the day of his vengeance at the battle of Armageddon. Again the official element of “Christendom” turns down Jehovah and does not answer to his call to come over onto the side of his anointed King. In place of heeding the gracious message, “Christendom” and Jewry shut their ears and turn away and look to the negotiations of the San Francisco Security Conference of the United Nations and to its proposed international organization and to the pope and his hierarchy. Why should such a thing occur on the part of world leaders and religionists when they profess to believe in Almighty God and his Word! Is it because he comes short as a Deliverer! Has his hand of power become smaller through the centuries! Has it grown weak and incapable, so that it cannot deliver peoples and lift them or pull them out of the political, commercial and religious bog into which they are steadily sinking down to destruction! No; it is not that. It is because “Christendom” and her nations have sold themselves to do wickedness and have no love of God or faith in Him.

• ^1S By the message which He sends through his witnesses Jehovah reminds the peoples of “Christendom” that he has demonstrated his power to clear away the difficulties and to bring those who trust him through to safety. Take the case when the Egyptian chariots and horsemen were rapidly bearing down upon the fleeing Israelites and the fugitives seemed to be trapped on the shores of the Red sea. There God, whose name is Jehovah, rebuked the sea. He parted its waters to let his redeemed people cross over to safety under Moses’ leadership. The charioteers and horses of Egypt he overwhelmed in the depths of the sea. Take another case forty years later. This time the torrential flood of the Jordan river blocked the passage of his chosen people into the Promised Land. There this same ever-living Jehovah God cut off the swift-descending waters from above. This made the riverbed like a desert before them, till the six hundred thousand Israelite footmen and their women and children, besides a great mixed multitude of strangers, passed over to the shores of Canaanland. (Ex. 12:37, 38) The fish that were left stranded on the riverbottom during the passage died of thirst and stank.

” Those cases go to show that not only can no forces on earth resist the power Jehovah exercises for the salvation of his chosen people, but he has control over powers and forces that are higher than

• 17. How has Jehovah called, and no one answered? and is It because bls hand is shortened that it cannot save?

• 18. To wbat case* does Jehovah point demonstrating his power to bring through difficulties to safety?

• 19, What two cases have we of where Jehovah clothed the heavens with mourning and made sackcloth tbeir covering? man and this earth. He has control over the heavens, that is to say, over the superhuman demons under Satan. These have hung over all humankind as a wicked heavenly power to influence earth’s inhabitants into wickedness and to bring woe and tribulations upon them in order to accuse God for it and to drive men away from Jehovah God in bitterness and over to religious superstition. (Job 1 and 2; Rev. 12:12) There is one prominent case on record of where Jehovah made the devilish heavens to mourn, as with sackcloth. That was when, by the flood of Noah’s day, Jehovah utterly destroyed the world that then was and put an end to its demon-inspired violence on earth. Today there is great violence on earth, and distress of nations with perplexity and with heart-failure of men for fear. Christ Jesus testified that such is due to the fact that the powers of heaven have been shaken. (Luke 21:25, 26) The Scriptures reveal to us that at the birth of God’s kingdom, A.D. 1914, a “war in heaven” began and Satan the Devil and his demon angels were brought to grief. They were cast down out of the heights to the vicinity of our earth.

” At the battle of Armageddon Jehovah will further vindicate his almighty power by draping those demonic heavens with the mourning and sackcloth of death and destruction. Those wicked heavens will first mourn to see the earthly organization which they built up and controlled for thousands of years consumed completely by God’s ire. Then their mourning for their own impending destruction will end in their own blacking out in annihilation. (2 Pet. 3:7-12; Rev. 20:11; 21:1) In the face of these facts is there not every reason for men to turn away from this world’s institutions and leaders of the postwar era and to appeal to the all-powerful hand of Jehovah God for redemption and deliverance? Though the Devil’s world may seem to have built up in power, there has been no diminution of Jehovah’s supreme power. Only men without faith in Jehovah God will yet stand in fear of the religious organization rejected by God and wall depend upon the world of which it is a part. The honest-hearted persons who really hunger and thirst after righteousness will turn from "Christendom” and will welcome Jehovah, who comes by his kingdom under Christ Jesus. They will rejoice at the call which he sends in the Kingdom message proclaimed by his witnesses to all nations of the earth. They will answer Jehovah’s call, by devoting themselves to the service of his Kingdom by Christ Jesus. All such will experience the saving power of Jehovah’s hand at Armageddon.

• 20 How will Jehovah finally drape the heavens with mourning and sackcloth? and what, therefore, will those seeking righteousness now do?

THE TONGUE OF THE SERVANT

ⁿ Jehovah having spoken, at Isaiah 50:1-3, in condemnation of the worldly religious organization and having testified of his own power to redeem and deliver, then his servant speaks next in the Bible record. This spokesman for Jehovah stands in clearcut contrast with “Christendom”, who refuses to greet Jehovah’s kingdom and hear his call. This servant is not an individual, although he is primarily Jehovah’s Chief Servant, Christ Jesus, whom Jehovah has elected and in whom his soul delights. Christ Jesus is the Head of a servant body, a group which finally in its completeness numbers 144,000. (Isa. 42:1; Rev. 7: 4-8; 14:1, 3) All this body of servants serves the same God, Jehovah, as does the Head of the “body”. At this end of Satan’s world Jehovah's Elect Servant, Christ Jesus, comes to the temple for the judgment of such servants of God. The faithful remnant that he finds on the earth Christ Jesus appoints as the "faithful and wise servant” class under himself their Head. (Matt. 24:45-47) He entrusts to their care all his “goods”, or Kingdom interests on earth. Hence he commands the “faithful and wise servant” class, saying: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.” (Matt. 24:14, 45-47) They are therefore Jehovah’s witnesses, because they bear witness to the Kingdom for which his Son taught them to pray to God, saying: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” —Matt. 6: 9, 10.

” The religious leaders of “Christendom” and of Jewry have lashed out with their tongues at the preaching of these witnesses “publicly and from house to house” and have denied that such ones are Jehovah's witnesses. They ask sarcastically, ‘‘Where did these self-styled “Jehovah’s witnesses” get the tongue to be genuine witnesses of the Lord God that people should hear them instead of us clergymen’’ By that they mean that these witnesses did not get the name and the commission going with it from the religious clergymen. They are right about that! Those clergy are not witnesses of Jehovah but are blasphemers of His name; so how could they either educate or ordain anyone to be Jehovah’s witness? Jehovah God has repudiated their religious organization. He transmits no ordination through it. He does not use it as an educational, training school for his witnesses. He is the Teacher of his witnesses, and so states, saying: “Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am

• 21. Who Is the servant that next speaks in Isaiah SO? and what Is the present office and responsibility of this servant?

• 22. What does the clergy's dispute with Jehovah’s witnesses show as to ordaining them’ and bow ere they ordained and equipped? he:.. . therefore ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and I am God?' (Isa. 43:10-12, Am.Stan. Ver.) Jehovah goes right over the heads of the clergy-ridden religious systems and he himself appoints this servant body to be His witnesses. He teaches them what to say and gives them the tongue or powers of expression to say it.

“Jehovah thus ordains them by Christ Jesus. Even Jesus on earth was not ordained by the religious leaders and schools. Nevertheless it was said of him by henchmen of those religious leaders: “Never man spake like this man.” (John 7:46) And when Christ Jesus taught in the temple which those religious leaders supervised, “the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (John 7:15) This explains the secret by which the servant class under their Head Christ Jesus can now say: “The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of them that are taught [or, the tongue of disciples], that I may know how to sustain with words him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught [or, as disciples].” (Isa. 50:4, Am. Stan. Ver., margin) Having the ability to speak intelligently concerning the things of God does not depend upon worldly schooling. Jehovah God, who conversed with the newly created Adam in Eden, is the Creator of the human tongue, and He can give to his servants a “tongue” or ability to speak his message.

“ Those of the servant class may feel backward about speaking and think they lack the gift of effective speaking because of lack of worldly training. But let these remember Jehovah’s words to the man Moses, whom He selected for his prophet. By his angel at the burning bush near Mount Horeb the Lord God appeared to Moses, after this man had been away from the highly educated courts of Pharaoh’s palace forty years. “And Moses said unto Jehovah, Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And Jehovah said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh a man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I, Jehovah? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt speak. And he said, Oh, Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is there not Aaron thy brother the Levite? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him,

• 23. Wbat was the comment made concerning Jesus' tongue when on earth? and upon what does ability to speak intelligently on the things of God depend?

• 24 Those backward about speaking due to lack of worldly training should remember whose case and how God dealt with it? and put the words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people; and it shall come to pass, that he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him as God.”—Ex. 4:10-16, Am. Stan. Ver.

” Satan’s world was foreshadowed by ancient Egypt, and at this end of it Jehovah sends his Greater Moses, Christ Jesus, to deliver his message. He sends him to reveal Jehovah’s name to his consecrated people and to declare his vengeance against the mighty organization of antitypical Pharaoh, Satan the Devil. Christ Jesus being invisibly in the spirit at the temple and not speaking directly to creatures on earth, Jehovah God has given Christ Jesus the remnant of his brethren on earth to speak the divine message for him. They serve as his spokesmen unto the people and as a mouth for him. Jehovah God is with the mouth of his servant class, that is to say, both the mouth of Christ Jesus the Head of the servant class and also the mouth of the remnant today on earth of that servant class. The words which Jehovah gives to his Greater Moses, these Christ Jesus transmits to the remnant by revealing the truth through the Bible. As he said to God: “The words which thou gavest me I have given unto them; and they received them, and knew of a truth that I came forth from thee, and they believed that thou didst send me.”—John 17: 8, Am. Stan. Ver.

“ Confidently, therefore, the remnant of Jehovah’s witnesses go forth, not with the tongue of those learned in the wisdom of this world, nor taught in the religious creeds and traditions of those rejected religious organizations, but with the tongue of those who are disciples of Christ and taught of God. Regarding this, Jesus testified, saying: “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.” (John 6: 45) The Father is Jehovah, and Jehovah says to his beloved “woman” or organization Zion: “And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” (Isa. 54: 13, Am. Stan. Ver.) Jesus, by quoting those words, confirmed this promise unto his followers, who are children of the “Jerusalem which is above”. These never could be taught of Jehovah by Christ Jesus if they did not turn from the religious traditions of men and then study Jehovah’s written Word the Bible and accept its revealed teachings. And so the servant class says: “My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.”—Ps. 119:172.

” Jehovah has given his servant class the learned

• 25. What is the antitype of God's thus dealing with Moses and his brother ?

• 26. How is the tongue of the remnant that of the learned or taught? 27 Why has this learned tongue been ghen them? and what do the Scriptures deciare as to such tongue? tongue or the learned power of expression, and that for a purpose, namely, for the good use of testifying to him as the Creator. Note how his Word teaches that they should use the tongue: “There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health. The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.” (Prov. 12:18, 19) “The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.” (Prov. 15: 2, 4) “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.” (Ps. 37:30) Blessed is the servant class of whom it is true: “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.” (Prov. 16: 1) With the heart these servants of God believe his Word, and thereafter with the mouth and tongue they make confession of his name and kingdom unto salvation.—Rom. 10:10.

” The faithful servants must use their tongue or power of expression in the same wise, wholesome, truthful manner as their Head Christ Jesus did when on earth. Those who are weary of the service of sin and of this world he addressed, saying: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28-30) How weary all the honest-hearted are of religion’s burdens and hypocrisies, and weary of serving Satan’s world! All the expensive costs of religion and its clergy and all its traditions and rites and ceremonies have brought no rest to them nor peace to the world nor peace to the people’s hearts. Now is the opportune time for the servant class to use their instructed tongues to succor such ones, to sustain them, and to speak a word in season to them. The “word” with which to do so is the revealed Word of God, the Bible. Being themselves instructed by Jehovah through his Word, they know how to do this work. They must therefore be vocal, outspoken, as his witnesses. They must be His preachers of the Kingdom gospel, for by his kingdom only will the people find rest and an everlasting peace.

” To carry on in this work, and to be able to meet the changing conditions, and to deal with the challenging situations that arise, the servant class need instruction daily from Jehovah God. Fully aware of their need, Jehovah faithfully gives instruction to them. He has given to them the “hearing of faith”, and they hear and heed his Word in faith. (Gal. 3:2) They rejoice to have his Word fall upon their ear. It

28 To whom must the remnant speak with their learned tongue? and with what “word”?

29 How does Jehovah ‘waken their ears’, and how often, and why? awakens them to action, spurring them on daily in His service. Their ordination from God they hear from his Word. The religious clergy disputes this ordination and argues that they are not sufficiently learned for the work of the gospel ministry, but Jehovah’s servants say: “Each morning he wakens, he wakens my ear to hear as disciples do.” (Isa. 50:4, Amer. Trans.) By keeping their ear tuned to His Word to hear regularly, they increase in learning.

’’Jehovah commands his servants to speak to the worldly religious organization which he has repudiated : “Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.” (Isa. 6:9, 10; John 12:37-41) The religious organization is beyond healing, and Jehovah’s Word does not waken “Christendom’s” ear to hear with faith and obedience. Jehovah’s witnesses are not like such religionists. The hearing of God’s Word is their delight, even though it brings a responsibility. It calls for their obedience. It calls for all hearers to forsake this world and its religion and to align themselves with Jehovah’s Theocratic organization, which is not of this world. It calls for them to proclaim the Word heard to others. It commands: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”—Jas. 1:22.

PERSECUTION NOT SIDE-STEPPED

“ The religionists of “Christendom” rebel against the requirements of God’s Word and turn away from its counsel. Jehovah’s servants, as foretold by Isaiah’s prophecy, do not imitate the religionists, but imitate their Leader and Head, concerning whom in particular it was prophesied: “The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” (Isa. 50: 5, 6, Am. Stan. Ver.) Jesus on earth knew that for him to preach the straight Word of truth which he heard from his Father it would mean such persecution and maltreatment for him from the religious clergy and their blinded dupes. Nevertheless, Jesus did not shrink back from such an experience and did not rebel against doing his Father’s will by preaching his Word and exposing the falsities of religion. He knew that such persecution upon him for bearing witness to Jehovah and his truth was from the Devil’s side and was permitted merely for a test

• 30. What does Jehovah command them with respect to the worldly religious organisation? and how are his witnesses unlike that organization as to hearing?

• 31. When Jehovah opened Jesus' ear tc hear, what course did Jesus take, despite the certainty of persecution? and why? of his integrity toward God and his allegiance to God’s universal domination. He knew that by moving forward obediently in God’s service and faithfully enduring such opposition and persecution to the very death he would thereby be privileged to vindicate Jehovah’s name and universal domination. Hence Jesus did not rebel against Jehovah’s universal domination, but submitted to it for the honor of Jehovah’s name, praying: “Not my will, but thine, be done.”

” Spitting upon a person was an expression of contempt and it heaped shame upon the one spit on. (Num. 12:14; Deut. 25:9) When God’s appointed time came for his Son to die, Jesus submitted without protest to this shameful treatment and also to being buffeted and scourged and to having a wreath of thorns put upon his head, before being spiked to a tree at Calvarv. (Matt. 26: 67, 68; 27: 27-31; Mark 10:33, 34; 14:65; 15:15-20; Luke 18:32, 33; John 19:1-5) All such outward disgrace and abuse Jesus endured with a faithful spirit toward his Sovereign, Jehovah God. This was not in order to provide a ransom sacrifice for humankind, but in order to show up the Devil as a liar and to prove Jehovah to be true and thus to vindicate his Father before all the universe. The redemption of humankind w^Tas accomplished by his death and resurrection. The religionists’ persecution of Jesus did not represent Jehovah’s attitude toward him at all and did not signify that Jesus was a fraud and forsaken of God. To prove that fact Jehovah raised up his faithful Elect Servant Christ Jesus to spirit life immortal in the highest heavens. By this action, which has been testified to before angels and men, Jehovah vindicated his Chief Servant. He cleared him of all the unjustified, malicious charges laid against him by Satan’s world.

” The “faithful and wise servant” class today on earth know that to be obedient doers of God’s Word means for them to suffer like treatment at the hands of this world and its religionists. Jesus has forewarned them that it would be so. (Matt. 10: 24, 25) They are no more immune or exempt from such mistreatment than was he. They too, like him, must preserve their integrity toward God under keen trials and provings in order to share with Christ in vindicating Jehovah as Universal Sovereign, the One whose will it is always proper to obey, even at cost of great suffering and reproach. Hence, although knowing that to undertake to be obedient proclaim-ers of his Word means shame, antagonism, violent treatment, and misrepresentation by all the religious sects and cults, Jehovah’s witnesses have not rebelled against discharging their duties and responsibilities 32. (a) How wm Isaiah's prophecy concerning the persecution fulfilled upon Jesus’ and why did be endure it? (b) How did Jehovah God then vindicate his Chief Servant?

• 33. Why has the “faithful and wise servant” class on earth not rebelled against being doers of God's Word? and what facts prove it? as His witnesses. Forward they have marched, proclaiming the divine Word “publicly, and from house to house”. All “Christendom” knows that these persistent witnesses of Jehovah have suffered reproaches, beatings, lynching and mobbings, despoiling of their property, jailings and concentration camps, and beheadings, shootings, and other violent deaths.

“Do they now feel they have had enough? No. Jehovah’s witnesses are still determined to go on. They are going on, to the very ends of the earth. Why? Because this is the course of obedience and of faithfulness even unto death. They know that the Supreme One, whom they devotedly serve, will always back them up in this course. His not yet having vindicated them beyond cavil and dispute in the eyes of the world does not grieve and weaken them. That they yet have a ways to go before they are vindicated at the battle of Armageddon by Jehovah’s victory there, does not make them faint or slack the hand in his service. “For,” say they as did their Captain and Exemplar Christ Jesus, “the Lord Jehovah will help me; therefore have I not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.” (Isa. 50:7, Am. Stan. Ver.) They have not been confounded by what sufferings and world-wide disrepute have come upon them. They know that more such things, or worse things, await them in the postwar period, when the beastly “abomination of desolation” ascends up out of the abyss to dominate the earth in unholy defiance of Jehovah’s Theocratic Government by his Son Jesus Christ. But they know that the Almighty God helped them in the past and has helped them hitherto, and will not fail them in the climax of sufferings ahead. Their sole desire and purpose is to hold fast their integrity to Him and fulfill their ordination from him to be His witnesses, and in that way to share in the vindication of His name.

" For that reason they do not rebel against the addition of further service that is laid upon them, to succor and sustain the weary people of good-will wuth His life-giving Word in the oncoming postwar years. They do not draw backward from the enlargement of their service. They look on it as an increased privilege, even with the self-expenditure, the hardship and the persecutions that such means. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith,” they are strong, because they see that he endured such things in the extreme degree. And so, as they “consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself”, they are kept from fainting and growing weary in their minds. (Heb. 12:2, 3) They admire

• 34. Why have they not been confounded by their eufferinga thus far? and why are they determined to go on in faithfulness?

• 35. Why do they not rebel against the addition of further service? and why have they Mt their face like a flint? how, notwithstanding the contradictions, the persecutions, and the cruel death that awaited their Leader at the religious stronghold of Jerusalem, yet, “when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51) So Jehovah’s servants today set their faces hard like flint to cut through the hostility of the opposers and to forge ahead with the witness work. They know the outcome will be glorious, and not one of shame and confused embarrassment. Not concerned at the glowering faces of the religious and political foes, they make bold to deliver God’s Word without dismay or compromise. They do not quail before the multitude and pomposity of their enemies. If they did, then Jehovah would confound them before such enemies, because fear of man entangles a person in a snare.—Jer. 1:8, 17; Prov. 29: 25.

” Our readers need not be told that the religious frauds and their worldly friends condemn Jehovah's servants with all the judicial, pulpitarian, newspaper and radio facilities at their disposal. But the servants are concerned only with what Jehovah thinks of them. Conscious that He is at their side as their heavenly Vindicator, they challenge the combined opposition and say: “He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with met let us stand up together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord Jehovah will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? behold, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.” (Isa. 50:8, 9, Am. Stan. Ver.) Having their Vindicator with them to back them up, they are willing for the controversy over universal sovereignty to go on, with themselves on Jehovah’s side, regardless of whether.the whole world is on the opposite side contending as mighty, violent adversaries against them. Jehovah, who is with us, is mightier than all that can be against us.

^,r Gorgeous religious toggery such as adorns the popes, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests and knights and legionnaires does not determine who is on the right side and who will survive the coming settlement of the controversy. It is the serving and being a witness for the God of truth and right that determines one’s being on the right side. At the settlement of the bitter controversy by the final battle at Armageddon Jehovah will fight and prove that fact. In that battle all those richly decked con-demners and persecutors of his faithful servants will be removed from the limelight, just as old, worn-out garments are removed and cast aside. In comparison with Jehovah’s power they will be so weak as if they could be consumed by a garment-eating moth. But the apparently weak servants of Jehovah will be 36 Why do they not fear to challenge the combined opposition crowd? 37. How will the condemnen ‘wax old as garments and be moth-eaten’? and how will Jehovah justify his servants?

gloriously vindicated for ever by his preservation of them!

FIRE-KINDLERS DUE FOR SORROW

“ Since A.D. 1918 Jehovah has been speaking by his “faithful and wise servant” class under Christ Jesus. The controversy between them and “Christendom” increases. The judgment of the nations is on, and the dividing of the “sheep” from the “goats” is in progress. The necessity for decision is being forced upon the peoples. Through his “servant” organization Jehovah’s good counsel and solemn warning sound out to the perplexed people, saying: “Who is among you that feareth Jehovah, that obey-eth the voice of his servant? he that walketh in darkness, and hath no light, let him trust in the name of Jehovah, and rely upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that gird yourselves about with firebrands; walk ye in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of my hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.”—Isa. 50:10, 11, Am. Stan. Ver.; also LXX and Louth.

” In this time of gross darkness upon the earth and its peoples the “goats” turn for light to others than to Jehovah. They build the fires of hatred and persecution against Jehovah’s witnesses and shoot out fiery darts against them, darts which only a shield of faith in Jehovah can stop cold. They build the great beaconfire of a world organization for peace and security to act as the guiding light of this world. Forth from this burning leap many firebrands and sparks, namely, political, religious and social leaders, who sparkle and who brighten up the eyes of the bedarkened people and capture their imagination. Deceptive lights these are! Already the Nazis and Fascists who kindled the fires of a world revolution to make all people slaves to a religious organization and its political dictators for a thousand years are meeting with bitter disillusionment; and their rabblerousing firebrands and sparks, such as fuehrer, duce, and caudillo, do not sparkle so famously any more, but all are doomed to die out in the increasing world blackness. The dupes of politics and religion will continue to walk on in the blaze of other man-made fires and to be captivated by the bright-shining worldly-wise lights that leap forth from the burning. But let all such peoples know that this spells their doom from the powerful hand of Jehovah God. They shall lie down in a sorrowful death at the battle of Armageddon; for then this world shall end.

• *’ Ho, then, to the sheep class! Do you choose to fear Jehovah God instead of those bright-shining

• 38. Why is the necessity for decision being forced upon the peoples * end through his servants what counsel and warning does Jehovah give them* 39. ia) How have many kindled a fire and girded themselves about with firebrands? (b> What end will those have who continue to do so?

• 40. What admonition is therefore given to the “other sheep” class that has walked in darkness but would fear Jehovah? religious, political, economic lights of this world! If so, then obey the voice of Jehovah’s Elect Servant, Christ Jesus, as he speaks now through his “faithful and wise servant” class on earth. Have you walked in the darkness of the wickedness of this world and had no light from its religious systems and their political and social allies! By now you must realize that the artificial fires built by worldly leaders who promise to build a finer world cannot remove the world darkness or keep it from thickening. Put, then, your trust in the name of Jehovah and rely on him as God Almighty. Do so now, in honor to His name. Then you will be blessed when the vindication of the name of your God and the vindication of his Servant Jesus Christ and his fellow servants occur. Then you will walk in everlasting life in the light of His kingdom, which is the light of the New World of righteousness. —Rev. 21:23, 24.

INTEGRITY OUTLIVES CONCENTRATION CAMP

WITNESSES of integrity have lived since nearly six thousand years ago. They have ever been the targets of the Devil’s “fiery darts”. (Eph. 6:16) But against the “shield of faith” of Jehovah’s witnesses the darts have only blunted themselves and have left undamaged the Godly integrity they sought to pieree. The first witness, Abel, was murdered by an envious religionist ; but his integrity remained unbroken, and “by it he being dead yet speaketh”. So the apostle Paul declared four thousand years later, and down to this day the maintained integrity of Abel yet speaks in answer to and in flat contradiction of Satan’s challenge. (Heb. 11:4) With the passing of years and centuries and millenniums that first answer of integrity has been caught up by hundreds and thousands of other throats and by our day has swelled to a tremendous chorus that drowns out the protesting cry of the challenger of God.

Since his ouster from heaven the Devil has specially hardened his heart against Jehovah’s witnesses, and in desperation has done his worst to still their voices of integrity. But how dismally has he failed! To prove this we could turn to no better place than what was once Nazi Germany. Probably at no other time or place, excepting Jesus’ special case, has the test on integrity been more searching. To bring death to Godly integrity the old Serpent brought to life the Nazi concentration camp. For a dozen dark years it glutted itself on floggings, torture, starvation, bloodshed, and violent death. Now it has run its infamous course; it has reaped as it sowed. It brought death, not to Godly integrity, but upon its own head The faithfulness and integrity toward God of Jehovah’s witnesses has outlived the concentration camp.

The truthfulness of the foiegoing will be shown by focusing attention on one camp General but skimpy news of concentration camp breakups has trickled through from the pens of worldly correspondents. How could their reports be otherwise, since they are not on the scene when the deathblow is struck? And even if in their belated reports they penned a true picture of what they observed concerning Jehovah’s witnesses in those camps, what public press would dare incur the wrath of papal religionists by publishing them? But Jehovah’s witnesses do not fear to publish the truth, neither do they fear any religious repercussions that truth may touch off. Furthermore, they have the facts at hand, which is the first essential. Two hundred and thirty of Jehovah’s witnesses spent from five to nine years at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and they lived through the last stormy days of that camp’s existence. They have submitted a lengthy report of its death thioes. For news value alone it constitutes what newspaper parlance labels a “scoop”, but it is passed on to Watchtower readers for the loftier purpose of showing that the integrity of Jehovah’s witnesses will always outlive concentration camps or any other onslaughts this demon-ruled old world can muster against it.

“When Jehovah brought back those that returned to Zion, we were like unto them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the nations, Jehovah hath done great things for them. Jehovah hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.” With these inspiring words of Psalm 126:1-3 (Am. Stan. Ver.) the witnesses open their report, and, while acknowledging that its application is to the divine deliverance from bondage to Satan’s organization following World War I, they strongly aver that it fitly expresses the heart-feelings of themselves as they emerged from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. And none who read their report can deny that “Jehovah hath done great things for them”. Listen to the dramatic story it tells.

Preparations were made to evacuate the Sachsenhausen camp, in view of the unstoppable Russian offensive. Then the Russian drive halted of its own accord, and tension relaxed, so far as immediate flight was concerned. But unrest increased. Prisoners from other camps were assembled at Sachsenhausen, so that when the time to flee did come all could move in one large body. Dirty, lousy, undernourished, looking like skeletons and completely apathetic, the miserable transferees poured into the camp. Blocks built to accommodate 150 to 170 were packed with 800 to 900. Many were forced to eat standing, and two and three had to sleep in one small bunk, the bunks being as many as four high. Windows were kept closed and darkened, and the lack of ventilation was made more unbearable by the terrible odor of the daily dish of Sachsenhausen, turnips, and the perspiration from so many laboring bodies Toilet facilities did not begin to be adequate. Then it was that the course of war dictated that the Sachsenhausen camp must take flight.

Jehovah’s witnesses imprisoned there were prepared. As early as January, 1945, they had laid plans that would enable them to stick together. April 21 was set as evacuation day. But the night before, wild disorder and chaos reigned. The SS guards had robbed the Jews, and now men and women prisoners robbed those robbers. They themselves were in turn robbed by other marauding prisoners; and so it continued. The demonized block leaders and guards sought desperately to quell the rioters, and many that night were whipped to death and some were shot. The dawning light revealed much confusion still, but previous planning and preparation had prevented the scattering of the witnesses. They had spent the evening and early morning hours in the tailor shop, safe from violence and harm.

With the coming of morning the camp exodus started. The guarded prisoners left in columns of 600, and according to nationalities. First went the Czechs, next the Poles, then other nationalities, and finally the Germans. In some of these columns there were some of Jehovah’s witnesses, and all but two were able to extricate themselves from these groups and join the main body of witnesses at the tailor shop. The witnesses had been ordered to remain till the last; they were to leave only on special order. And while they waited amidst the confusion of moving out in columns from 25,000 to 30,000 prisoners, what did Jehovah’s witnesses do? Let their report answer direct:

“Tn the meantime, we tried to bring sick brethren from other sections to the tailor shop. We did not leave a thing there. We planned on taking everything along with us. Some had Watchtowers, some had Bibles, and some other literature. And then we had our first Kingdom assembly, something we had not had for many years¹ The quietness and peace of our meeting was interrupted only by the shooting of those prisoners who were eaught plundering. Otherwise, our assembly was very blessed and strengthened all of us in view of our coming delivery.

“Then the signal came, ‘All Jehovah’s witnesses, ready to go!’ So we packed everything together. We put a sick sister on a wagon and slowly we marched each column in groups of five out through the door. For the first time we walked through the door which we entered from five to nine years ago, the place which we never believed we would leave alive. So the Devil and his henchmen thought and so reminded us frequently. But the Lord had a different thought on the matter. Sachsenhausen was now behind us. The joy that entered our hearts can never be expressed in words.”

Even in flight Jehovah’s witnesses were isolated from the others. Why? Was it for the same reason that had kept them separated from the other prisoners during the years spent within the concentration camp, the fear that they would testify to others concerning God’s kingdom’ No, the personal selfishness of the SS guards dictated this latest policy of isolation. In flight the SS guards were taking along some stolen booty; they put it in a wagon in the column of 230 witnesses; they knew the witnesses would not violate God’s commandment against stealing just as well as they knew none of the other prisoners would be curbed by it. The report makes the interesting comment: “Our isolation in the past caused no difficulty, because no one wished to join the Bible students, because they were ill-treated; but now everything was changed, because they saw the Lord was with us. We had much difficulty in hindering those foreign elements’ joining us.”

Next in the report unfolds the lurid tale of flight. One hour out on the road, and they could look back and see and hear the thunderous explosions of the Russian bombardment of Sachsenhausen and Oranienburg. They were hard-pressed by the Russians, and this caused excitement bordering on panic to seize the SS guards. Any prisoners that fell exhausted were brutally shot. In a short distance 300 bodies had “stopped lead” and lay on the road. Before the east-to-west flight ended at the American lines thousands littered the long line of march. But Jehovah was with his people of integrity. Listen:

“From our troop of about 230 brothers and sisters none, not even the weakest, was lying on the road; in spite of the fact that we had some brothers from 65 to 72 years of age. They were all standing faithfully. You could again see the Theocratic spirit and arrangement and how the Lord's angel protected us. How wonderfully on this day the promises were fulfilled by Jehovah from Isaiah 40:29-31: 'He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.’ ”

The first day and night they walked 51 kilometers without anything to eat, except some meager leftovers. For the first two days and nights there was much marching but little eating and resting. Weakness made many see black. The straggling columns reached the heavily bombarded city of Neu Ruppin, where a rest was scheduled. But where to rest? The people of the vicinity were afraid to let the prisoners use even their barns for stopovers. Why? Because the prisoners generally plundered unchecked anything and everything at hand. But note how Jehovah worked for his witnesses. One of the witnesses had lived in the neighborhood, when arrested nine years before. He knew some sisters who lived outside the city and near the little town of Bechlin. They, too, had been whisked off to a concentration camp, but they had a house and barn which was still in the possession of the consecrated. To that place trudged the witnesses. Here let the report take over the narration:

“Here we had an experience that cannot be described. Surely those dear friends did not hope to ever see that brother again. Now he was again before them after nine years. With tears in their eyes, they cried, ‘O Lord, our God, he is alive!’ The joyful emotion was simply heartrending. When they were told that we were over 200 Jehovah’s witnesses to stay there overnight, they said they were willing to put 100 in their bam and that the rest would be in some neighboring barns. At first it was quite difficult, but after the people heard that we were all in the column of Jehovah’s witnesses all fear was gone, and regardless of what the SS could do the Lord gave us a blessing. These events amazed our group leaders.

“In two barns there were over 100 brethren in each. They prepared to rest, happy to have a roof over their heads and to lay down their tired, worn-out bodies. In spite of the exhaustion of the brethren they still gave a witness and opened the hearts of many of the people there, who became more and more friendly. The next morning they prepared some victuals and cooked some stuff for us, and the Lord is sure to reward them according to his promise in Matthew 25:31-40. The little town of Bechlin had certainly never seen so many of Jehovah’s witnesses singing the praises of Jehovah, and surely this gave a more excellent witness than the brother who was there nine years before.”

INTEGRITY MAINTAINED BY GOSPEL-PREACHING

At this point a new note enters the report, and that is, Kingdom witnessing! It never departs thereafter. The witnesses had been flung into the Sachsenhausen concentration camp for the express purpose of cracking their integrity. For nine years they endured the worst the camp could mete out, but they did not sign the declaration renouncing faith in Jehovah God that was repeatedly put before them. Now that camp was fleeing for its life, dying on its feet; but the integrity of Jehovah’s witnesses was still strong and living, and making itself felt daily in gospelpreaching. As a result, the people trusted the trekking witnesses. They not only housed them, but also fed them. The people of good-will along the line of march appreciated the Scriptural rule, ‘‘The labourer is worthy of his hire.” (Luke 10: 7) Not only at stopovers did the witnesses preach, but even as the columns plodded along some of them would stop at houses along the way and witness to the people, and in return were showered with food and provisions. Then they rushed to catch up with the moving columns. Just listen to these field-witnessing experiences:

“In the little village of Ragel'm [the stop after Bechlin] 1 came to a house where there were twelve army men, and I gave them a witness concerning the kingdom of God and our experiences in the concentration camp. They all listened very attentively, and then said, ‘You shouldn’t speak so loud, because in the next room there are some of the guards called SS.’ I said that we would talk all the louder and that they also had to know that we are now in the time of the fulfillment of the announcement made on October 7, 1934, in which we proclaimed that Jehovah is against the Nazi regime. We did not stop talking then and we will not do any ‘soft-pedaling’ now. The result was that those German army men did everything to help us, and we left with rich provisions for our holy brethren with great rejoicing.

“In another case there were some soldiers and they collected money for us and one of the sergeants gave 20 marks and encouraged us, saying, ‘Keep your heads up, boys, it is only a short while and you will be delivered.’

“From some farmers we received bread and milk, flour, potatoes, and even some buttered bread. In many cases the hearts of the people were so opened up to us after we gave them a testimony concerning the Kingdom: one farmer divided his last bread with us. Everywhere we realized that it was a great fulfillment of Jehovah’s prophecy as foretold at Amos 8:11: ‘Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.’ ”

But a famine for bread as well as for spiritual food dogged the heels of the other prisoners, despite their tactics of pillaging and plundering. What a contrast their methods of getting food disclose, as evidenced on the march from Bechlin to Ragelin! The account graphically describes :

“Troops could be seen and troop movements [of German forces] showed that we were close to the front. On both sides of the road we saw the dead bodies of prisoners. Then we saw homes destroyed by the aviators, and saw airplanes burning, and saw dead horses, and over the cadaver we saw the Russian and Ukrainian prisoners going out of their groups like wild beasts and with knives and fingers tore out pieces of meat from the dead horses, and some ate it cooked and some ate it raw. Their hands and faces were covered with blood. The same goes for the sacks of potatoes. They tried to rob them, and then the guards would shoot them, and often you could see the dead bodies over the sacks of potatoes.”

On April 26, the sixth day out from Sachsenhausen, a four-day stop was made at a large Buchenwald (beech forest). The camp still numbered over 24,000, despite the large loss of life the past hectic days. Great confusion marked the main camp, such as when the thirst-driven prisoners broke wildly for a small muddy brook and were driven back with clubs and rifle shots. As was their custom, Jehovah’s witnesses camped off to themselves. They dug a small well that yielded elear water, enough to get by on. Order and organization reigned among the ■witnesses. “Every man in his place round about the camp,” was the Scriptural principle followed. While some dug the well and performed other service, other witnesses were builders. The report reads:

“Other brethren built some cottages of foliage, and many of them developed a really fabulous ability and it looked just like the feast of tabernacles of the Jews in Israel We could not help thinking about the words of our camp leader Kolb, whom we saw just before we entered Behlow [the beech forest]. He said: ‘Now go there and build your tabernacle like the children of Israel and see if you get some manna from heaven.’ By this he meant that we would get nothing from them to eat. Nevertheless, the Lord had made provision for his people for everything necessary, manna spiritually as well as physically.”

On April 29 they break camp. The next few days pass as did the others: Jehovah’s witnesses starting the day with prayer and Kingdom songs, then witnessing to the people along the way and in return being blessed with food, the main body of prisoners plundering and many being shot. The report describes the horrible hunger that stalked through the camp at large, grass, herbs, bark and cooked roots being eaten and from 100 to 110 dying daily. But the Lord sustained his witnesses, who maintained integrity by preaching from house to house. The report proves it, saying: “Our sisters were again assigned to a bam in the little village Crivitz [the brothers camped in a forest]. They took occasion to give a witness from house to house concerning God’s kingdom and they were received with open hearts. In the evening they came to our forest camp full of joy to give us the report. They had also received plenty of potatoes, flour, and bread for us, so that we could start to cook.” Throughout the journey the witnesses had a common “larder”; all things were used to the benefit of all. How different from the rest of the camp, where everything was controlled by selfishness!

The stirring account out of Germany now reaches its climax. This one-time mighty Sachsenhausen concentration camp dies in a final violent and horrible death-spasm The trudging columns reached the forest of Schwerin. The Americans were only six or seven kilometers ahead, the Russians hard on their heels. The Nazi “heroes” trembled; they called their prisoners “comrades”. The tempo of battle raging on all sides increased The leading camp officials fled, and many of the SS guards left behind later slipped silently away and were swallowed up by the night’s blackness. Let the report give the final death throes of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp:

“In the evening greater activity of aviation air attacks started in from both sides, and the cannonade became more and more lively. It clattered and crashed and you could hear the rattling of the machine guns. It promised to be a vivid night. Through the leading major of the camp we had received the news that the Russian armies were marching on. We had to make a decision. The only way through to the American section was about six kilometers. In the forest camp there started a great confusion. The night was dark and everybody ran to and fro, and we heard the rattling of guns that came closer and closer. Even among the brothers and sisters there was a certain unrest.

“In a common prayer we expressed our confidence and trust in Jehovah. Then we lay down again to rest, waiting the coming morning, in spite of the chaos around us. The angel of the Lord kept watch over us and protected us from all evil. These actions proved to be the right way, as we realized the next day. The order to begin marching that we had received from the Nazi major on the preceding night was given with the purpose in mind of having many of the prisoners shot in the darkness. Many prisoners returned and told that they had been shot at by SS, and when day came we saw many of the prisoners on the road killed and wounded.

“About 11 o’clock on the morning of the first of May we started for Schwerin, the first time under our own direction without SS. The highways were indescribable. Endless rows of cars and all kinds of vehicles, people walking toward the Americans. We advanced only meter by meter, and in six hours we reached our resting place, about ten kilometers from our starting place. Vehicles of the army, cars, fleeing old men and women, soldiers, men and women and children, all fleeing from the Russians toward the Americans. The highways and the fields along the road were littered with all kinds of guns, ammunition and all kinds of equipment, paper, books, cars and wagons of every kind, destroyed automobiles, corpses of persons —a terrible mess. On the faces of the restless men were mirrored the desperation, the misery and horrors of the terrible experience and the bitter deception of the last days. So we witnessed here the end of a Godless-world conception of crazy and demonized men—a brilliant soap bubble, after being held aloft for twelve years, exploded into nothingness.

“As we heard later on, our departure [from the forest] was also watched over at the right time, because two hours after the departure from the camp the SS men surrounded the forest like a chain and shot everybody left in the forest [remember that those who left earlier, at the major’s sly command, were also shot]. All together there were about 360 to 400 prisoners shot. They were collected by the Americans and the whole population of Schwerin was forced to review the dead bodies there on exhibit. They should be forced to see the ruthless, murderous result of their chosen mass-murder government; and so to leax e them with horror and shame.

“What would have happened if we had remained only two hours longer in that forest! We would have been among the dead. ‘How great is thy goodness, 0 Lord, and the children of men take refuge under the shadow of thy wings.’ ”

Thereafter the witnesses’ report detailed the entry into the American lines. They had much praise for the quiet and dignified conduct of the American troops. Their report closes:

“For the first time after many years the Lord’s people felt themselves free from their oppressors and hangmen who had for such a long time blasphemed and slandered the name of Jehovah God and Christ Jesus. With joyful hearts we sang the song ‘Give Praise to Jehovah’. This spirit of hearty thankfulness was well expressed in a Resolution which was unanimously accepted and which follows now:

“‘Resolution Made in a Forest near Schwerin in Mecklenburg by 230 of Jehovah’s witnesses from 10 Different Nations

“ ‘We, Jehovah’s witnesses here, send our hearty greetings to the faithful united people of Jehovah and their companions all over the world with Psalm 124. May it be known to you that our God, whose name is Jehovah, has made true his word toward his people and especially in the countries of the flung of the north’. A long, hard time of trial is behind us and we have been brought forth from the fiery furnace without a scent of the fire upon us, as mentioned in Daniel 3:27. On the contrary, we are full of power and strength in Jehovah and we wait wholeheartedly for new orders from the King and to take care of the interests of The Theocracy. Our decision of willingness of service is expressed at Isaiah 6: 8 and Jeremiah 20: 9-11.

“ ‘It was the intention of the enemy to lead God’s faithful people in this country to disloyalty by employing devilish force and violence; many thousands of ways of Middle Ages, Jesuitic, Inquisitional methods, physical and spiritual, many ways of flattery and deception by the demoniacs, haters of The Theocracy; but they all were frustrated by the great and merciful help of the Lord. All the manifold experiences, which would require volumes to write down, are well described in the words of the apostle Pau) at 2 Corinthians 6:4-10 and 11: 25, 27. Satan and his demonized tools have again been marked as liars. (John 8: 44) The great question at issue has again been answered in favor of and to the glory of Jehovah God.—Job 1: 9-11.

“ ‘To our and your joy, we should like to inform you that Jehovah God has given us a rich blessing because 36 persons of good-will joined with us in leaving the Sachsenhausen camp. Out of their own free will they declared, “We want to go with you, because we have seen that the Lord is with you.” Here the prophecy of Zechariah 8:23 was fulfilled. Because of the hasty exodus many of our friends of The Theocracy were not able to join us, but no doubt Jehovah will direct that they will find their way to us again in due time.

“ ‘We, Jehovah’s witnesses, declare again our unswerving devotion to Jehovah and our whole devotion to The Theocracy.

“ ‘We have only one desire after the long chain of innumerable proofs of the Lord’s most marvelous protection and salvation out of thousands of troubles, struggles for life, and afflictions during the stay in the “lions’ den”. Out of deepest thankfulness to Jehovah and his King Christ Jesus, willingly and with joyful hearts we will serve Him throughout eternity. This would be our most precious reward.

“ ‘We close our resolution with Psalm 48 and with a joyful expectation to meet again.

Your Co-Fighters for Jehovah’s Holy Name?”

“Deepest thankfulness to Jehovah and his King Christ Jesus” not only is felt by those 230 faithful overcomers, but is offered up in a hush of humility and unutterable gratitude by Jehovah’s witnesses everywhere to the great Higher Powers making this victory possible. While the Sachsenhausen concentration camp lived ruthlessly, the witnesses there held fast their integrity; while it was running for its life, they clung to integrity and preached; after its violent death, their Godly integrity lived on! Their inspiring Resolution shows them still “strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might”, awaiting further orders from the King. The devilish camp that sought to kill their integrity is now itself dead, and its purpose returns void to the religious serpents who hatched it. Never did it at any time make the 230 witnesses fall short in obediently ‘presenting their bodies a living sacrifice’. Their integrity lives and speaks out in a powerful rebuke to the false challenger, Satan, and joins the thunderous chorus of integrity answers first started by Abel nearly six thousand years ago. Their God-given triumph over religion and Satan imparts strengthening joy to Jehovah’s witnesses earth-wide. So, Forward, Jehovah’s witnesses, everywhere! With full confidence in Jehovah of hosts, know that by His grace Godly integrity will outlive all Satanie opposition.

FIELD EXPERIENCES

IN WINTRY ONTARIO (CANADA)

“I was standing on the street corner last Friday evening in 12-below-zero weather, when a young girl 17 years old asked me how much were those papers. I explained they were placed on a contribution of 10c. So she took one. I talked with her a few moments and found out she was boarding in the Y.W.C.A., as her home is not here. She said she would read it and let me know how she liked it. Saturday afternoon she came to me again and said she would like another one. I had the same issue (as I explained to her) but produced the Truth book, and she took that with a smile and said: ‘If it is like the magazine I will certainly enjoy it? I arranged to go down on Monday to have a study with her at 7 p.m. She was waiting for me, but said she would have to look on my Bible, as she did not have one. I placed the No. 10 Bible with her and also a magazine subscription for one year. She came to our book study the next night and met all the friends and expressed her wish to take part in this work. Wednesday night she came out on two book studies with me, and Friday night in the street-corner work. She is already giving testimony to Jehovah to all with whom she comes in contact, and says she does not care if they do put her out on the street, those religionists in the Y.W.C.A.; that she will never quit this work. This all happened in one week.”

FROM SPECIAL PUBLISHERS LN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

“It is with joy that we report that another book study of ours has become a regular publisher reporting each week and attending company studies. We are also having an interesting time with a returned soldier of the last war, who handed his name in at the United Announcers’ convention. He waited up three nights for us to call on him, and when we arrived he was overjoyed. Imagine our surprise when he took us inside, and everything was found ready for a study, even to his having a copy of 'The Truth Shall Make You Free’. He had borrowed this from his sister and had marked all the pages Tight to the end of the book. He told us he realized now was the time to do something about it, and inquired about baptism. We have another study with a married couple who are taking their first step to attend the Watchtower studies. They have progressed wonderfully, particularly since they were thrown out of their lodgings on account of having the studies there. We hope to have three more ‘sheep’ tied in with the company studies soon. That will be four new Kingdom announcers, if it be God’s will.”

FROM A SPECIAL PIONEER PUBUSHER IN BRAZIL

“While witnessing the other day I approached a maternity hospital, and, noting that everybody was quite busy, I hesitated a bit wondering whether to witness anyway or pass on waiting for another opportunity more favorable. However, I decided to witness; so presented the message to a nurse in the office. After a little tact, she consented to read the testimony card. After she had read it, she stated that her time was extremely limited, to which I agreed, pointing out to her, however, the importance of what I was presenting. She then very graciously called several nurses into the office; but no one seemed to be interested. Finally, a nurse made the comment that her life was taken up helping bring children into the world. ‘Why? I spoke up, ‘you have a noble work to do; not only maternity duties here in the hospital, but also transmitting valuable information to the mothers of these babies who will become children in the near future, and, what is more, possibly children of the King? I held up the book Filhos ‘This book gives necessary⁷ instruction on how to bring up a child? Opening the book on page 206 I read aloud the third paragraph, on when to begin to teach the children. ‘I’ll take that book,’ she spoke up. Then another wanted one, and then a third. We were interrupted when the pleasant voice of the head nurse just entering said: 'Filhos, what a wonderful book! I have Inimigos, Riquezas, Salvat;ao and Jeova; Religiao also. You are one of Jehovah’s witnesses, are you not! Come and visit us at our home sometime, will you not!’ Will I not! And I almost passed this up because everybody was busy.”