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

Officers

N. H. Knobb, President               Grant Suiter, Secretary

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

THE BIBLE CLEARLY TEACHES

THAT JEHOVAH Is the only true God, from everlasting to everlasting, and is the Maker of heaven and earth and Giver of life to his creatures; that the Word or Logos was the beginning of his creation and his active agent In creating all other things; and that the creature Lucifer rebelled against Jehovah and raised the issue of His universal sovereignty;

THAT GOD created the earth for man, made perfect man for the earth and placed him upon It; that man yielded to unfaithful Lucifer, or Satan, and 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 men; that God raised up Christ Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every other creature and clothed him with all power and authority as head of God’s new capital organization;

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 new world; that the faithful anointed followers of Christ Jesus are Zion’s children, members of Jehovah's organization, and are His witnesses whose duty and privilege it Is to testify to Jehovah’s supremacy and declare his purposes toward mankind as expressed in the Bible;

THAT THE OLD WORLD, or Satan’s uninterrupted rule, ended A.D. 1914, and Christ Jesus has been placed by Jehovah upon the throne, has ousted Satan from heaven, and now proceeds to vindicate His name and establish the “new earth";

THAT THE RELIEF and blessings of the peoples can come only by Jehovah’s kingdom under Christ, which has begun; ihat His next great act is to destroy Satan’s organization and establish righteousness completely in the earth; and that under the Kingdom the people of good-will surviving Armageddon will carry out the divine mandate to “fill the earth" with righteous offspring, and that the human dead in the graves will be raised to opportunities of life on earth.

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.

Notice to Subscribers: Remittances should be sent to office in your country in compliance with regulations to guarantee safe delivery of money. Remittances are accepted at Brooklyn from countries where no office is located, by international money order only. Subscription rates in different countries are stated below in local currency. Notice of expiration (with renewal blank) is sent at least two issues before subscription expires. Change of addrest when sent to our office may be expected effective within one month. Send your old as well as new address.

Please address the Watch Tower Society in every case.

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ALL SINCERE STUDENTS OF THE BIBLE who by reason of infirmity, poverty or adversity are unable to pay the subsenption price may have The Watchtower free upon written application to the publishers, made once each year, stating the reason for so requesting il We are glad to thus aid the needy, but the written application once each year i required by the postal regulations.

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“SHINING IN THE KINGDOM” TESTIMONY PERIOD

April, set aside as “Shining in the Kingdom” Testimony Period, will close the four-month-long subscription campaign for the magazines The Watchtower and Awake! Seeing that both these magazines are published in many languages, those of many nations wanting to let shine the light of God’s kingdom as reflected on the pages of said magazines will be able to offer them both together along with two premium books published by our Society. They will continue to make this joint offer at the regular subscription rate of $2.00, realizing that this special offer concludes with this final month of April. At the coming of spring north and of autumn south of the equator many readers of these magazines may feel the urge to join in for the finish of the campaign in a brilliant flash enlightening multitudes of people of good-will. To such we say: Write us without delay and let us help you get in touch- with veteran Kingdom publishers as well as supply you with other necessary instructions for service. Kindly furnish us with a service report at the end of April.

MEMORIAL CELEBRATION

The time for observing the Memorial this year will be after sunset or after 6 pun., Standard Time, of Sunday, April 6. Each company of Jehovah’s witnesses should meet that night at an announced hour, both those of the anointed remnant and all persons of good-will. Before those of the remnant partake of the Memorial emblems, some competent brother should present a brief speech extemporaneously or read some pertinent paragraphs from the most up-to-date Watchtower articles on the subject. As shown in the February 15, 1947, issue of The Watchtower both emblems should be served together, seeing that the partaking of the broken unleavened bread and the red wine together show forth the one thing. All companies meeting together in observance of the Memorial will please report to this office, stating the total attendance and indicating the number of partakers. Song and prayer should close the observance.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of April 20: “Reasons for the Resurrection Hope,” T 1-21 inclusive, The Watchtower March 15, 1947.

Week of April 27: “Reasons for the Resurrection Hope,”

•J 22.-42 inclusive, The Watchtower March 15,1947.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

At the Cleveland assembly, the president of the Society, N. H. Knorr, told the brethren of the plans for a convention in California in 1947, following his world tour. We are now pleased to say that this wiR be held in California, with assembly in Wrigley Field, August 13 to 17, inclusive, Los Angeles being the city. Brethren making plans to go should arrange their vacations accordingly. Later announcement will be made as to rooming and other information. This notice now will aid those who plan to attend the California assembly to make their arrangements well in advance.

JfeVWfCHTOWER

ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM

REASONS FOR THE RESURRECTION HOPE

"Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day.”—Acts 24:21.

JEHOVAH gives solid reasons for humankind to hope in resurrection of the dead. The first reason is his own word that such a thing shall take place. If the Almighty God puts his own word at stake on this matter, then who is there to claim that even this miraculous thing could be impossible for him? Another reason is that, having given his word, he has taken steps looking to the resurrection of the dead. He will not reverse himself. Having begun, he will carry matters through to a completion. No intelligent creature, Satan the Devil or anyone else, will be able to turn God’s hand back. His almighty power will support his word and vindicate it. His word will never be flung back into his face unfulfilled, but will be established as the truth.

• ² Jehovah God has given typical illustrations to demonstrate his power to raise the dead. He has also given an actual case of raising the dead to an endless life. For our assurance he provided many witnesses to the truth of these typical and actual cases of resurrection, and we have their record. Why, then, should the resurrection be thought unbelievable? We remember the man who, long ago, stood before a Roman court and its unbelieving judge, King Agrippa, and said to him: “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” And then this man testified that he had in a marvelous way seen the one that had actually been resurrected from death. Yes, he had actually conversed with him. Before that he had fought viciously against believers in this resurrection case. Hence he had to be given direct evidence in order to be convinced. His example should help out those today who incline to think resurrection unbelievable.—Acts 26: 8-23.

• ³ In pleading his case in court this resurrection witness said: “Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:

1. What two solid reasons are there for us to hope in resurrection? 2. What do we have also to testify to the truth of the resurrection?

• 3. What is the purpose of presenting facts about resurrection? that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.” For saying this, Festus, then sitting with King Agrippa, called the witness raving mad. For trying to pin him down to believing that the Jewish prophets foretold the resurrection King Agrippa charged the witness Paul with trying to make him a Christian. (Acts 26:24-28) Some readers of this magazine, The Watchtower, may likewise claim we are trying to make Christians out of them, but our purpose is to present the facts regarding the resurrection and then to let whosoever will be comforted thereby.

• ⁴ In the very last book of the Bible Jehovah God has given a revelation describing in symbolic language the resurrection of dead humankind; but from the very first book of the Bible onward he has pointed to the resurrection and given reasons for hoping in it. When Jehovah God gave his Edenic promise in the hearing of Adam and Eve, who had come under the penalty of death, he pointed to a certain resurrection upon which the future resurrection of mankind would be based. To the great Deceiver, Satan, whose work could be undone only by resurrection of the dead, God the Judge said in pronouncing sentence: “Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed . . . and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Gen. 3:14,15) Later prophecies by Jehovah God made plain that this bruising of the heel of the woman’s seed meant or included the killing of the seed, Christ. Hence if such bruised Seed is to bruise and crush the head of the Serpent, Satan the Devil, who still lives a most active life, it must be after Christ the Seed of God’s woman had been raised from the dead and thus recovered from the bruising of the heel. To the faithful followers of the Seed of the woman the apostle Paul writes: “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” (Rom. 16:20) This, too, must mean the resurrection of these from the dead. In that way

• 4. How in Eden did God point forward to the resurrection?

Satan’s work against them may be fully undone, nullified.

“ About 1,656 years after Jehovah’s Edenic promise a global flood washed out the life of every living creature on earth, except eight humans and the lower animals with them in their big covered float or ark. At that time a whole world died. When Noah and his seven family members stepped out of the ark after the subsidence of the flood it was as if they had come back from the dead. Before the flood what person, lacking faith in God, would have said that these eight in that ark would come out of such a world cataclysm alive ? The apostle Peter connects the case of these flood survivors with resurrection, saying: “Once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.”—1 Pet. 3: 20-22.

⁰ Peter mentions baptism as the antitype or figure like that experience of salvation in the ark. He does not mean baptism in water for repentance. The water baptism of that ancient ungodly world killed it off, but the ark was the means of salvation for Noah and his family. Hence the baptism that Peter means is the baptism of the seven fellow survivors unto Noah in the ark. Noah is evidently a typical picture of Jesus Christ. So, those who want to be saved to eternal life must be baptized unto him within God’s ark-like arrangement. They must become submerged in obedience under the leadership of Jesus Christ in order to gain eternal salvation. Simply the cleaning of themselves up morally in the flesh will not do this. But what gains salvation for them is their gaining a clean conscience toward God by the benefit of Jesus’ life-giving sacrifice. Jesus Christ himself was submerged by a baptism into God’s will. Thereafter he did not seek to live according to his own will. Since he submitted to the divine will even down into death Jesus Christ lives today only by reason of being resurrected. In like manner his faithful followers, who go down into death in obedience to the will of Jehovah God, gain life again only by resurrection. This is because their Leader Jesus Christ himself was the first to be resurrected from the dead by Almighty God’s power. So to such Christians it is written: “And as God raised the Lord to life, he will raise us also by his power.”—1 Cor. 6:14, A?i Amer. Trans.

5 How does Peter connect up the flood of Noah’s day with the resurrection? C. To what baptism here does Peter refer, making necessary the resurrection?

“A GOD OF THE LIVING"

^T Abraham the Hebrew was the one that God chose 427 years after the flood to be the outstanding man through whom the Seed of God’s woman should come. The promise that God gave Abraham for his faith and faithfulness certainly depends upon God’s power of resurrection for its realization. God’s covenant-promise to Abraham said: “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 12: 3) By the time the blessing of all families of the earth should be due so many of such families should be dead and in their graves. How, then, could they all be blessed unless the omnipotent God exercised his power of resurrection at his appointed time? Although foreseeing the need of resurrection, yet also knowing his own miraculous power, Jehovah God made his promise to Abraham of such breadth as to sweep in all families. It was not an impossible, ridiculous boast, but an adequately backed-up promise. Abraham was but a prophetic type of Jehovah. In reality, therefore, it is in Jehovah that all families of those that bless Him will be blessed with eternal life. Jehovah is a God of the living.

• ⁸ There is no questioning that Abraham believed in God’s power to raise the dead and in his purpose to do so. Jehovah had revealed himself to Abraham as “the Almighty God”. When Abraham and his wife Sarah were practically dead as far as power to produce children is concerned, God miraculously made their dead reproductive powers to live and function again in order to bring forth their promised son Isaac. “And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” “Whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” (Rom. 4:19-21,17; Gen. 17:1; 21:1-7) In connection with this son Isaac came the tremendous test of Abraham’s faith in Almighty God’s power to raise the dead from the graves. His faith in resurrection helped him to meet successfully the test of his absolute obedience to God. In this instance his obedience called for him to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac on Mount Moriah. With Isaac lying bound upon the wood on the altar Abraham was about to strike him dead with a knife, when God’s angel stopped his hand, stopping thus the human sacrifice.

• 7 . What promise did God first make to Abraham? and upon what does it depend for realisation?

• 8 . What miracle was required for the birth of Isaac? and what helped Abraham to meet the test in sacrificing Isaac ’

God released Isaac from the altar of sacrificial death and provided a ram to be offered up instead.

’ In receiving his son Isaac from the altar Abraham was acting out a living drama depicting how God would receive his only begotten and beloved Son Jesus Christ from death as a human sacrifice. The apostle Paul, pronouncing this a prophetic figure of the resurrection of Christ, says: “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.” (Heb. 11:17-19) That the seed of God’s woman, bruised at the heel by the Serpent, was prefigured here by Isaac is indicated by the promise that God gave Abraham immediately afterward in which he said: “In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies [including bruising the Serpent’s head]; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”—Gen. 22:17,18.

¹⁰ As foreshadowed by Isaac, not only was the promised Seed, which is Christ, to be resurrected from the dead, but also God was to use this Seed in the resurrection of others in order that all the nations might be blessed. Thus God was establishing our confidence still further in a coming resurrection. Doubtless, too, the faith of Abraham in resurrection was strengthened, so that he looked forward to the day of this Seed of blessing, that is, to Christ’s day. That fact is certified by Jesus Christ himself. From his heavenly prehuman place he had observed the course of faithful Abraham and therefore was able to say to the Jews: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. . . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”—John 8: 56-58.

” Disbelievers in the resurrection, namely, Jewish Sadducees, were the ones that caused Jesus to show us a resurrection proof in the Hebrew Scriptures that we might doubtless have overlooked otherwise or not been positively certain on. In the Hebrew Scriptures this proof is found in the account of the angel’s appearance to the shepherd Moses at the burning bush near Mount Horeb. By the angel Jehovah said: “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Ex. 3:6) Jehovah made a similar statement to

• 9 . What prophetic drama was Abraham here enacting? and how does Paul confirm it?

• 10 Thereby, faith in what miracle was strengthened? and to what did Abraham look forward?

• 11 ,12. What resurrection proof in the Hebrew Scriptures did Jesus point out to the Jewish Sadducees, and why?

Jacob after his grandfather Abraham had died and at the time of the dream of the ladder reaching up to heaven. “And, behold, Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac [still alive on earth]: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; . . . and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”—Gen. 28:13,14, Am. Stan. Ver.

• ¹² Not that the Hebrew Scriptures did not contain other proofs just as good of the coming resurrection, but likely because the Sadducees used a part of the law of Moses (Deut. 25: 5-10) to try to ridicule the resurrection, Jesus used a part of the same law of Moses to prove it. (Ex. 3:6) He said: “But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the place concerning the Bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the G od of Jacob. Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.”—Luke 20: 37, 38, Am. Stan. Ver.

• ¹³ For God not to be the God of a dead Abraham, Isaac and Jacob he must resurrect them from the dead. He had not already done so, for Jesus said that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the faithful prophets were yet to be seen in the lungdom of God. (Luke 13:28) But God had unchangeably purposed to resurrect these faithful men of old through his Seed of the woman, and God’s purpose was so definite and sure of fulfillment that all these faithful ones, though then dead in the graves, lived to God and he could speak of being their God. Here was again a case where “God, who giveth life to the dead, . . . calleth the things that are not, as though they were”. In due time his power, equal to every call and need, will make them to be what he has called them. (Rom. 4:17, Am. Stan. Ver.) Hence every place in the Scriptures where he calls himself the God of men then dead in the grave is a proof of the sureness of the resurrection.

FIRST-FRUITS OF THOSE ASLEEP IN DEATH

• ¹⁴ Another proof foreshadowing God’s purpose to overpower the “gates of hell” and deliver the dead is his law concerning the spring first-fruits of the grain harvest. Moses recorded it. “And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring the sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath [next day

13. How. then, 1b Jehovah a God of the living when bo many are dead? 14. What law recorded by Moses at Leviticus 23 foreshadowed the resurrection? after passover] the priest shall wave it. And in the day [Nisan 16] when ye wave the sheaf, ye shall offer a he-lamb without blemish a year old for a burnt-offering unto Jehovah. . . . And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor fresh ears, until this selfsame day, until ye have brought the oblation of your God."—Lev. 23: 9-14, Am. Stan. Ver.

• ¹⁵ The apostle Paul calls our notice to this law as showing the performance and the date of the most important resurrection, the first of its kind and the foundation of all future resurrections. In his vigorous argument on resurrection as a certainty Paul triumphantly exclaims: “But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; then they that are Christ’s, at his coming.” (1 Cor. 15: 20-23, Am. Stan. Ver.) In harmony with his being the first-fruits of those asleep in death, Jesus Christ was raised from death on Nisan 16, the very day on which the Jewish high priest offered the sheaf (or omer) of barley grain to Jehovah God at the temple in Jerusalem. According to God’s law the offering of the first-fruits was followed by the gathering and eating of the after-fruits. Hence if Jesus is the first-fruits of those asleep in death, it denotes resurrection for such other sleepers afterward at the divinely appointed time.

• ¹⁶ On the fiftieth day from his resurrection came the feast of Pentecost, when the first-fruits of the wheat harvest were offered to the Lord God at the temple. (Lev. 23:15-21) On that day of Pentecost the consecrated followers of Christ became alive to God in a spiritual sense by the outpouring upon them of the holy spirit of God. On that same day, with the help of this outpoured spirit, the apostle Peter called public attention to another advance proof in the Hebrew Scriptures of the resurrection. Peter quoted King David’s prophetic statement in Psalm 16: 8-11 and said: “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul

• 15. Why did Paul properly call Christ the “firstfruits” of them asleep in death? and what does this term also Indicate?

• 16. What resurrection proof did Peter point out in the Hebrew Scriptures on the day of Pentecost? was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.” (Acts 2:27-32) The hell in which Jesus’ soul or existence was not left was the grave, and not an infernal fiery place of eternal torture of the wicked. Those in “hell” are absolutely dead, and not painfully alive in torments. From this unconscious death-state it was that God resurrected Jesus to life, as predicted in Psalm 16.

^1T Some days after Pentecost the spirit-filled Peter gave another proof from the ancient Hebrew Scriptures that Jesus Christ was foretold to rise from the dead, hence another prediction of the resurrection. This time Peter stood before the Jewish Sanhedrin, which several months before had sentenced Jesus to death as a blasphemer. Peter was called upon to give answer on how he cured a beggar born lame from his mother’s womb. Said Peter, without mincing any words: “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12) Here Peter quoted from Psalm 118:22, and the way Peter applied it shows it foretold the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ The verse that Peter quoted, together with its surrounding verses, reads: “I will give thanks unto thee; for thou hast answered me, and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner. This is Jehovah’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which Jehovah hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, we beseech thee, 0 Jehovah: 0 Jehovah, we beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of Jehovah: we have blessed you out of the house of Jehovah.” (Ps. 118:21-26, Am. Stan. Ver.) Now, how did this prophetic scripture predict a resurrection? In that the builders’ refusing the stone meant the death of Jesus Christ and then the stone’s becoming the head of the corner meant Jesus’ being raised from the dead to heavenly glory and power.

¹⁰ On the tenth day of Nisan, four days before the Passover, of A.D. 33, Jesus rode in the style of former Jewish kings into the city of Jerusalem while the multitudes cried out in the language of Psalm 118. We read of this at Matthew 21:9-11: “From the throng in front and from those behind the cry went

17. What resurrection prediction did Peter quote to the Sanhedrin? 18. How did this scripture predict a resurrection?

• 19. How was Psalm 118 fulfilled at Jesus’ triumphal ride⁹ and how did he show what rejecting “the stone” meant? up: Save [or, Hosanna to] the Son of David! Blest is he who comes in the name of the Lord; Give him help on high! As he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, Who is this? The crowd answered, This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Torrey’s translation) Two days later Jesus was engaged in discussion with the chief priests and religious elders at the temple, and as a climax he quoted from Psalm 118. “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” (Matt. 21:42-44) In the parable of the vineyard which he had just given before these words of warning Jesus showed that the builders’ rejection of the stone meant lulling him violently. The Jewish religionists knew whom Jesus meant as the killers, for we read: “And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.”—Matt. 21:45.

• ²⁰ Two days later the would-be “builders” of a Jewish religious kingdom did reject Jesus as a worthless, objectionable “stone” having no place in the Idngdom building. They had him arrested and then asked the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, to release to them a robber and murderer, Barabbas, rather than Jesus. 'When Pilate displayed Jesus to the mob with the challenging words, “Behold your King!” then, as we read in the record, “they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Cassar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.” (John 19:14-18) Thus Peter could afterward tell the Jews: “Ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and lulled the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.” (Acts 3:14,15) It is therefore proved Scripturally and factually that the builders’ rejecting of the stone included the putting of Jesus to death as if not fit to be king or head.

• ²¹ Correspondingly, the malting of the Stone to be the head of the corner included, yes, rested upon the

• 20. How do we prove factually that the builders’ rejecting the stone meant killing Jesus?

• 21. Upon what miracle did making the stone the corner*head rest? and why was It marvelous to the eyes? raising of the rejected Stone, Jesus Christ, from the dead. Only Jehovah God, the great Builder of all things, could do this. Psalm 118:23 had predicted that it would be “Jehovah’s doing”; and it was. On the third day of Jesus’ lying dead in “hell” Jehovah God sent prosperity to his Kingdom cause by saving his faithful Son, The Stone, from the dead and not leaving his soul in “hell”. In spite of the Bible prophecies that foretold it, even Jesus’ own disciples did not expect it. Hence his resurrection was “marvellous” in their eyes, and justly so, because it was God’s greatest miracle. It was the “working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places”.—Eph. 1:19, 20.

• ²² The making of the rejected Stone to be the Head of the corner did not stop with Jesus’ resurrection, but progressed to exalting him to heaven, to God’s own right hand as the King-designate of the promised new world of righteousness. This, too, was marvelous in the disciples’ eyes, for, just before he ascended to heaven, these disciples asked him about setting up his kingdom on earth among the Israelites. So his ascension amazed them. (Acts 1:1-11) On the day of Pentecost they began to understand, and Peter then explained the outpouring of God’s spirit by saying: “He is Jesus, whom God raised from the dead, and to whose resurrection we are all witnesses. So he has been exalted to God’s right hand, and has received from his Father and poured over us the holy spirit that had been promised, as you see and hear.”—Acts 2: 32, 33, An Amer. Trans.

• ²³ In his first letter to Christians this same apostle Peter combines the prophecy of Psalm 118 with that of Isaiah 28:16, and accordingly this latter prophecy of Isaiah must find its fulfillment at Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation to God’s heavenly organization Zion. Note Peter’s words: “Coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house [of which Jesus is the Chief Corner Stone], . . . Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner.” (1 Pet. 2:4-7) Isaiah’s prophecy, which Peter here quoted and which is addressed to the “scornful men” of Jerusalem, who rejected the Stone Jesus Christ, reads: “Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jeru-

• 22. What did the making of the stone the corner-head also include? 23. How does Peter in his first epistle show Isaiah 28:16 implied a resurrection?

salem: . . . thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” (Isa. 28:14-16) In this prophecy of Isaiah, then, the promise of a resurrection lay implicit, the resurrection of the Chief One of Jehovah’s capital organization, Zion.

FOREFATHERS AND DANIEL

• ²⁴ In view of the resurrection of the Sure Foundation Stone, Jesus Christ, what follows! This: the blessing of others out of all families and nations with a resurrection from the dead. This seems to be what is understood, though not directly so said, at Psalm 45:16, which reads: “Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou shalt make princes in all the earth.” (Am. Stan. Ver.) According to the Hebrew pronoun thy, in masculine gender, this is addressed to the anointed King of Jehovah, namely, Jesus Christ, whose faithful fathers according to the flesh included Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David, and others, all of whom died with faith in God and in his good purpose. So, then, for these dead men to step into the shoes of “children” of Jesus Christ and to be made “princes in all the earth” there must be a bringing of them back to life on earth by a resurrection. Since the King Jesus Christ is the One to whom they become “children”, their resurrection to life must be by virtue of his death for them and also by means of his power to raise the dead whom he redeemed by his sacrifice.

• ²⁵ In such way his forefathers acquire life through him, and he becomes a direct Father to them. “And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isa. 9:6, Am. Stan. Ver.) The anointed King, Jesus Christ, left no doubt about the resurrection of his faithful forefathers to life. He told the Jews who disbelieved and rejected him: “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.”—Luke 13: 28; Matt. 8:11,12.

” One of those prophets, Daniel, whom King Darius made president over all the princes of the Medo-Persian empire, received a direct promise of a resurrection at the time of the kingdom of God by his” Messiah, Jesus Christ. After foretelling the “time of the end”, and the “abomination of desolation”, and the increase of knowledge on the Bible, and the “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time”, Jeho-

• 24. In consequence of the above, how, then. Is Psalm 45: 16 to be realized? 25. How did Jesus indicate to the unbelieving Jews that those faithful ones of old would be resurrected?

• 26. How was a resurrection promise directly given to Daniel? and why is it near of fulfillment? vah’s angel said to faithful Daniel: “But thou, go (thy way) toward the end; and thou shalt rest, and arise again for thy lot at the end of the days.” (Dan. 12:1,4,11,13, Leeser) At that time Daniel was about a hundred years old and, so, close to his death. He died after the third year of Darius’ successor, Cyrus. His rest during the twenty-four centuries since then has been in the grave, and not in any imaginary limbo. Hence his ‘standing in his lot’ in God’s due time means his coming forth from the tomb to life on earth as one of the “princes in all the earth”. Seeing that the time of unparalleled trouble is fast maturing and that we are in the time of the end with its increase of knowledge and its abomination of desolation, we can be sure Daniel will stand in his lot at no far distant date by the power of the resurrection. He will become thereby one of the “children” of the great “Prince of Peace”, who has been actively reigning at Jehovah’s right hand since A.D. 1914. The angel’s promise to Daniel is to our hearts a mighty proof of the resurrection.

” Having such things narrated to them in the inspired Hebrew Scriptures, and being descendants of faithful servants of Jehovah God who believed in the coming resurrection, the faithful Jews of Jesus’ day looked forward to a resurrection. Naturally they did not expect Jesus’ resurrection in their time three days from his violent death. Even the Pharisees held to a belief in the arising of the dead; and certainly they did not believe this because Jesus taught it. “For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.” (Acts 23:8) And so, in the court of Judge Felix, Paul said: “But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” (Acts 24:14,15,21) It is clear, then, that the use of this term resurrection was a regular thing among the Jews, years before Jesus was born.

“ANASTASIS” AND ITS MEANING

” Let us remember that the Hebrew Scriptures of the Bible began to be translated into the common Greek (or koine Greek) in the third century before Christ. This translation became known as the Greek Septuagint (LXX). Then the books of the Maccabees were written in Greek and completed, at least a half century (B.C. 64) before the birth of Jesus. The Greek-speaking Jews added these books of the Mac-

• 27. From what facts Is it clear that years before Jesus’ birth the term “resurrection” was a regular thing among Jews?

• 28. Why were the Jews In Jesus’ day familiar with the Greek word “anastasls”, and what does this word literally mean? cabees to the Greek Septuagint. The Greek word which is translated “resurrection” in English is the word “anastasis”. It occurs a number of times in both the Greek Septuagint and the book of Maccabees. It literally means “a standing up- again” or “a rising again”. This is the sense of the word at Lamentations 3:63, which reads: “Behold their sitting down, and their rising up [anastasis]; I am their musick.” Also at Zephaniah 3:8: “On that very account, wait thou for me, saith the Lord, until the day of my resurrection [anastasis] for a testimony. For this judgment of" mine is for the assemblies of nations; to admit kings, to pour out all the fury of my wrath on them. For by the fire of my zeal all this land shall be utterly destroyed.” (The Septuagint, by C. Thomson) The apostles of Jesus in their writings made many quotations from the Greek Septuagint, and were familiar with anastasis and used this word.

²⁸ In the above-quoted verses from the Septuagint anastasis has no reference to the rising of the dead from the graves. But in the second book of Maccabees it is so used. In the passage which the Roman Catholic Hierarchy quote in support of their doctrine of a “purgatory"’ and offering masses for the dead we read: “And the noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, after having seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those-who had fallen [in battle]. He also, took a collection,-amounting to two-thousand silver drachmas, each man contributing, and sent it to Jerusalem, to provide a sin offering, acting very finely and properly in taking account of the resurrection [anastasis]. For if he had not expected that those who had fallen would rise again [verb: anaste-nai], it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead; or if it was through regard for the splendid reward destined for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, so that they might be set free from their sin.”—2 Macc. 12:42-45, An Amer. Trans.; also Catholic Douay translation.

³⁰ We agree: those verses mention “resurrection”, but not a so-called “purgatory” of torments in fire and other things described in “The Divine Comedy” by the Italian poet Dante. Opposite from placing the dead in a purgatorial half-way station between heaven and hell, verse 45 above refers to the dead as being unconscious, like those who “fall asleep”. Their hope of life is not by getting out of a “purgatory” and going to heaven, but by ‘rising again’ from the death state in the graves. The ancient Jews believed in resurrection to life on this earth, but not in going to heaven to become spirits. The money collection

29. In connection with what does 2 Maccabees use the word “anastasis”? 30. Why does 2 Maccabees 12:42-45 not prove a “purgatory” or actual removal of sins of the dead by money collections? by Judas Maccabaeus for those fallen Jews brought about no change morally or religiously in the dead Jews found with amulets of idols under their shirts, but, as they went down into death, so they will return from the graves morally and religiously. Ecclesiastes 11:3 tells us: “If the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.” Without the blood of Jesus Christ, the most that Judas could have hoped to gain for those fallen Jews by means of the money collected was a typical atonement. It was a typical cancellation of sins against the Mosaic Law such as the living Jews gained by offering animal victims as atonement sacrifices for themselves. (Lev. 4:1-35) Thus viewed, even if the Roman Catholic Hierarchy do insist that the book of Second Maccabees is inspired and is part of the Holy Bible, it offers no support for a “purgatory” in which to torment human souls after death.

• ³¹ At 2 Maccabees 7: 8-14 we read regarding a J ewish mother and the torture of her seven sons: “So he also underwent the same series of tortures as the first suffered. But when he was at his last gasp, he said [to the king], ‘You wretch, you release us from this present life, but the king of the world will raise us up [verb: anastesei], because we have died for his laws, to an everlasting renewal of life.’ After him, the third was mocked, . . . And when he had departed, they tortured and maltreated the fourth in the same way. And when he was near his end, he spoke thus: ‘It is better to die by men’s hands and look for the hopes God gives of being raised again [verb: anastesesthai] by him; for you will have no resurrection [anastasis] to life.” (An Amer. Trans.; also Douay) These verses are of historical value. They show that the Jews of the second century before Christ had faith in a return of the dead to life on earth as human creatures. The verses also show the Jews believed that some men were so wicked and sadistic that God would not grant them an awakening from death by a resurrection.

• ³² In harmony with this belief, if the Jews of Jesus’ day judged a criminal so deep in wickedness as to have no show of a resurrection, they had the body of the executed criminal thrown into the deep narrow glen south of Jerusalem called Gehenna, or valley of Hiwnom. Into the depths of this narrow gorge the carcasses of animals and every other kind of filth were thrown in order for the combustible parts thereof to be consumed by fire. Gehenna’s fires were kept burning day and night, and to speed up the fiery destruction brimstone or sulphur was pitched into the fire. Any dead animal matter that lodged on ledges of the gorge and so escaped the fire bred worms in

• 31. What does 2 Maccabees 7:8-14 show as to resurrection beliefs ?

• 32. For what purpose was Gehenna used, and what did it symbolize? the heat of the place. These worms then became the agents of destruction and did not die until they had consumed the decaying, putrefying matter. Historically, Gehenna was a place of destruction by fire or worms. Only the twisted religious imaginations connect up conscious torment of human souls with Gehenna. In the Bible, however, Gehenna is used as a symbol of everlasting destruction, annihilation, for those barred from a resurrection. Jesus with his own eyes looked at that Gehenna south of Jerusalem many times and knew its purpose and use. And so he and his disciples used it in their speech as a symbol of destruction without a resurrection, and never as a symbol of everlasting torment in fire and brimstone applied by devils. For example, Jesus said: “And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” —Matt. 10: 28, Am. Stan. Ver., marginal reading.

• ³³ Gehenna is different from hell, Hades, or the grave, because there is no resurrection from Gehenna; it means destruction of the creature completely, soul and body. To show that Gehenna means the opposite of life, Jesus further said: “And if thine eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is good for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire.” (Matt. 18: 9, Am. Stan. Ver., margin) If the opposite of entering into life is being cast into Gehenna, then Gehenna does not mean torment but means death, extinction of life. Knowing the dreadfulness of this fate, Jesus cried woe to the hj’pocritical religious leaders: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye make him twofold more a son of Gehenna than yourselves. Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of Gehenna?” (Matt. 23:15,33, Am. Stan. Ver., margin) Being sons of Gehenna meant they were sons of destruction, doomed to destruction, to suffer the eventual fate of their father, the great Serpent, Satan the Devil. Christ Jesus as Judge will say to the modern-day counterparts of those hypocritical scribes and Pharisees: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matt. 25:41) The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ do not result in any benefit to such unreachable, irreformable wicked ones.

• ³⁴ Although above we treated several verses of Second Maccabees, it is not to these uninspired apocryphal books that we look for our surest reasons for hoping in the resurrection of the dead. As demonstrated in the preceding paragraphs, God’s inspired

• 33. How is Gehenna different from Hades or hell? and why did Jesus cry out woe to religious hypocrites?

• 34. Where do we look for our surest proofs of the resurrection?

Hebrew Scriptures provided plenty of undeniable proof that, from the time of man’s surrender to Satan the Devil in Eden with death as the penalty, God made it his purpose to resurrect the dead from their graves by the Seed of the woman. Hence the faithful Jewish remnant in Jesus’ day hoped in the resurrection, and the Greek-speaking Jews among them used the term anastasis, meaning resurrection.

³⁵ Reading the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, they found the verb which means to rise from the dead, and it is the verb from which the noun anastasis is drawn. In itself this Greek verb (anastenai) means to get up or rise again, and is so used at Isaiah 52:2, where Jehovah God says to desolated Jerusalem: “Shake thyself from the dust; arise [andstethi], sit on thy throne, 0 Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bonds of thy neck, 0 captive daughter of Zion.” (Am. Stan. Ver.) At Amos 9:11, where God speaks of the restoring of the royal house of dead King David through Jesus Christ, we read: “In that day will I raise up [transitive verb: anasteso] the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up [awasieso] his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old.”

³³ It is when the Greek verb is used in connection with the dead that it means (transitively) “to raise to life”, or (intransitively), “to rise up to life”. For example, at Isaiah 26:19 we read: "The dead shall be raised up again [anastesontai], even they in the tombs shall be raised up: and they in this land shall • be filled with joy: for the dew from thee is healing for them; but the land of the ungodly shall fall.” (Septuagint) And when the prophet Daniel was given his resurrection promise the angel said to him: “But as for thee, come and go to rest, for still there will be days and hours to the final accomplishment. And thou shalt stand up anas t esei] for thy portion at the end of days.”—Dan. 12:13, Septuagint.

• ³⁷ In the Latin translations of the Scriptures, which began to be made in the second century after Christ, anastasis was translated as rcsurrectio, which means resurrection. There are rare cases in literature where the one that rises to life is spoken of as himself resurrecting. This is because the ancient Latin translation used the word resurge for rising to life, and from this Latin verb comes our English word resurrection. In fact, today in English to resurge means to rise again or to be resurrected. On the other hand, the expression to raise to life or to resurrect is rendered in the Latin translation by the words to resuscitate. Hence when Jesus rose

• 35. How does the verb from which “anastasis” is drawn help to show the literal meaning of “anastasis”?

• 36. When this Greek verb is used in connection with the dead, what does it then mean?

• 37. How did the Latin translations render the expressions concerning the raising up and the rising again of the dead? from the dead he resurged. (Matt. 17: 9, 23; 20:19; John 20:9; Latin Vulgate) And when God raised up Jesus from the dead, God resuscitated him.( Acts 2:32; 13:33; Latin Vulgate) When Jesus spoke of raising up the dead at the last day, he spoke of resuscitating them.—John 6:39,40,44,54, Latin Vulgate.

• ³⁸ The above study of words may have been tedious to some, but it has been necessary to help us to appreciate how the resurrection subject was understood and expressed in the various languages. It also helps us to understand the subject properly in our own tongue.

“A BETTER RESURRECTION”

• ⁸⁹ For example, since we have taken considerable note of the coming resurrection of the faithful men and women of old, let us examine Hebrews 11:35. In the preceding verses of this eleventh chapter Paul briefly described the exploits of faith of ancient servants of Jehovah God, beginning with Abel and continuing down to Daniel and his three Hebrew companions in Babylon. Then the apostle writes: “Women received their dead by a resurrection [anastasis]: and others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance ; that they might obtain a better resurrection [andstasis].” (Heb. 11:35, Am. .Stan. Ver.) This shows that the ancient faithful ones had faith in the resurrection. Also, back there, “women received their dead raised to life again,” not just as a hope in view of a coming resurrection under God’s kingdom, but by means of God’s prophets in whom they exercised faith to call upon them for help. Thus the widow woman with whom Elijah lodged at Zarephath in the land of Zidon during the great famine received her dead son by a resurrection performed at the hands of Elijah. The Shunammite woman who had graciously entertained Elisha, successor to Elijah, received her dead boy back by a resurrection performed by means of Elisha. (1 Ki. 17:17-24; Luke 4:25,26; 2 Ki. 4:18-37) In fact, when Abraham unbound his son Isaac and took him down off the altar of sacrifice and offered up a ram instead, he in effect received Isaac back from death: “for he

• 38. Of what value has the above study of words been to us?

• 39. In ancient time how did some women receive their dead by a resurrection ?

considered that God was able even to raise men from the dead. Hence he did get him back, by what was a parable of the resurrection.”—Heb. 11:19, Moffatt.

• ⁴⁰ The above were typical resurrections, foreshadowing greater ones to come. The “better resurrection” which the faithful ones of old wanted to obtain by refusing to accept deliverance by unfaithfulness, and by choosing to be tortured to death, will be “better” than those typical resurrections. How so? Isaac, who was figuratively restored from the dead, and the boys whom Elijah and Elisha raised to life were brought back to life during this old world under the control of Satan the Devil. They were brought back still unredeemed by Jesus Christ and subject to the condemnation of death inherited from Adam; and hence they were inescapably due to grow older in their imperfections and to return to the death state.

• ⁴¹ The ’‘better resurrection” of the faithful servants of God of ancient times will therefore be superior in these respects: It will be performed at the hands of Jesus Christ, who died and rose from the dead that he might lay the basis for the resurrection of mankind. (John 5: 25-29) It will be at a time when Jehovah God by Jesus Christ is reigning as King, and this resurrection will open to them the way to eternal life on earth under His kingdom. (Rev. 11:15-18) By obeying the Kingdom they may have the condemnation of sin completely removed and be justified to everlasting life in the new world. Also by reason of their past faithfulness and integrity to God until death they are just that much more advantaged than the rest of humankind who will be restored to life on earth. Also, the King Christ Jesus, making these resurrected faithful ones of old his children, will make them “princes in all the earth” to visibly represent his Kingdom toward the rest of mankind. (Ps. 45:16) In the case of all these in the “better resurrection” Jesus’ words will apply: “I am the resurrection, and the life: . . . whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”—John 11:25,26.

• ⁴² Further discussion of the resurrection, about other features, we reserve to a supplementary article in the next forthcoming issue of The Watchtower.

• 40. What kind of resurrections were such? and what were their limitations? 41,42. How, then, will the “better resurrection” be superior?

THE RELIGIOUS RACKET

TIE most cruel and seductive public enemy on record is the enemy that employs religion to carry on a racket, deceiving the people thereby and causing the name of Almighty God to be reproached, and thus making religion the greatest racket ever invented and practiced. There are numerous systems of religion, but the most subtle, fraudulent and injurious to humankind is that which is generally labeled “the Christian religion”. Why so? Because it has the appearance of being a worshipful devotion to the Supreme One of the universe. Thereby it easily misleads many honest and sincere persons. Carefully examined, what is called “the Christian religion” and what is real Christianity are diametrically opposed to each other. Most persons in the land of Christendom have been led to believe that the two things are one and the same, but through the general lack of knowledge of the facts great injury continues to be done to the people. No one will object that the greatest public enemy is that which operates with a righteous appearance but which is fraudulent, brings reproach upon God’s name, misrepresents God’s purpose, and then robs the people of their money, their peace of mind, theif liberty of speech and thought, and their opportunity of life everlasting in God’s new world of righteousness.

Under more than sixteen hundred years of the practice of the so-called “Christian religion” the world has undeniably reached that period described in the Bible in these words: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses [before Pharaoh in Egypt], so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.”—2 Tim. 3:1-5, 8, 9.

Please, now, do not confuse Christianity with this so-called “Christian religion”. This latter thing operates in the name of God and Christ but is wholly against Christ and his kingdom, the only hope of humankind. Religion labeled “the Christian religion” is a racket invented by Satan the Devil to defame the name of Almighty God and is practiced by men, some of whom are honest and are practieers of it because they have been induced to believe it is right, while others know that they are doing wrong and are working a fraud upon the people. These latter men are doubly dangerous to the interests of the human race. Because the name of Christ has been and is used to work a great fraud upon the people, the racket thus practiced is the greatest of all. So, then, what we here say is not an attack upon men, but is an attack upon the most subtle and devilish kind of fraud that ever existed.

Christ Jesus is the Head or beginning of Christianity, because he leads and others follow in obeying God’s commandments. The title Christ means Anointed, and in the Bible it means the One that is commissioned to carry out God’s purpose. Never for one moment did Jesus Christ start the so-called “Christian religion”. Unlike those practicing this “Christian religion”, Jesus always strictly obeys the commandments of the Almighty God, his Father. He instructed his faithful disciples in the Word of God. After his resurrection from the dead, the holy spirit of his Father, that is to say, the invisible active force of God, came upon Jesus’ faithful apostles and they understood the truth as it was not possible for them to understand it before the day of Pentecost, A.D. 33. In the name of God and of his Christ those faithful men went about “from house to house”, teaching the people and preaching to them that the shed blood of Jesus Christ provides the redemptive price for man from condemnation, and that it is the purpose of Jehovah God to give life to those who believe on Christ Jesus and follow in his footsteps.

Because those men were freely telling the truth to the people concerning Christ, the religionists among the Jews assaulted the apostles, brought them into the courts, and demanded: “By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?” One of those faithful apostles of Jesus Christ replied in these words: “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified,, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This [Christ] is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”—Acts 4: 7, 10-12.

During the rest of the earthly career of the apostles they kept on preaching to the people about Jesus Christ, his crucifixion and resurrection, and the coming of his kingdom as the only hope of mankind. Many of the people heard and believed. To offset the work of Christ’s apostles, Satan the Devil began to build an anti-Christ organization, into which many people were drawn. Ambitious men assumed the leadership among those who had once started to follow in Christ’s footsteps. Those ambitious and selfish men became the teachers and leaders of the organization, and then they labeled their organization “the Christian church”, and, of course, the doctrines and practices thereof were from that time forward called “the Christian religion”. (Acts 20: 29, 30) The Lord had warned his disciples of the coming of the anti-Christ, that is, those who deceive the people in the name of Christ. (2 John 7) Such deceivers were manifesting themselves already in the days of the apostles. (2 Thess. 2:7) Today, in this year 1947, the religious organization that has its headquarters at Vatican City, on the Italian peninsula and adjacent to Rome, calls itself “the Christian church” with the “Christian religion”, and dominates the religion of Christendom.

The Vatican once ruled Rome politically. When Rome was openly pagan it became a world power, practicing the Devil religion. In course of time Pagan Rome blossomed into what became Papal Rome, which Rome in particular was instrumental in inventing what is called “the Christian religion”, a fusion religion. Here we note some historical facts upon the matter to show that Rome was always under the Devil religion, which facts we quote from The Americana:

“Roman Religion. From the time that the Roman religion appears within the pale of traditional and recorded history it seems to have been constantly and progressively subjected to varying influences, both internal and external, and to have passed through many changes. . . . Fundamentally the primitive religious ideas of all the Indo-European peoples were quite similar. Even the Roman religion, in the days when Rome was governed by kings and had already begun to evolve complicated rituals and complex myths, still retained a suggestive similarity to that of India. . . . The early Roman gods were the personification of the elements of nature. The old Roman deities and supernatural beings of their nomadic life, the patrons of the chase and the guardian spirits of the mountains, the rivers, the earth, the sky and the upper heavens gradually assumed more definite attributes. . . . The deities and religious customs and practices of all the tribes of Italy of Indo-European origin, which were quite similar, gradually became domesticated in Rome. Naturally as the Roman Empire broadened and became more cosmopolitan, its religious system also became broader and more all-embracing. Having absorbed the deities of the Italic Peninsula, the habit of absorption became, with Rome, all-impelling, and the pantheon of the Imperial City, reaching out its octopus arms in every direction throughout the already wide confines of the rapidly extending Roman domain, and even beyond it, brought new creeds, new deities and new religious philosophies into Rome. Under such conditions as these little or no religious dogma could exist; nor did it. . . . Thus ecclesiastical Rome became as cosmopolitan and eclectic as the Roman Empire itself. This is but another way of saying, however, that the religious life of the Roman community was constantly shifting as the process of broadening continued.

“ . . . Diana, the moon goddess, under one name or another and with somewhat varying attributes, the favorite deity of so many nomadic peoples given to the chase, and in all probability the chief deity of the nomadic Romans, gave place to the earth mother, the producer, the characteristic deity of an agricultural people. . . . Jupiter, the god of the sky, of the upper regions and of thunder, usurped the foremost place primitively held by Diana, the moon mother, becoming the titular deity of the Romans and the supreme god of the Latin races united under the imperial sway of Rome. . . .

“ . . . Juno, the female counterpart of the supreme deity himself, and the definition of the supposed female qualities of the sky. In other words, she is but a subdivision of Jupiter himself, whose sister and wife she is represented, in Roman mythology, to be. . . .

“Next to Jupiter and Juno, his regal consort, the greatest of the Roman state gods was Mars, . . . the patron of war, . . . Mars, who was especially honored in March and October, was the patron of the opening and closing of the war campaigns and of the sports connected therewith. . . .

“ ... At this early period in the life of the Roman people, the superior priesthood seem to have been almost inseparably connected ■with the nobility and the kingly rulers, the latter of whom had already begun to lay claim to descent from the gods. The seeds of ancestor worship had also already been planted, a custom which was later on to deify kings and emperors, as the legal and de facto representatives of the gods upon earth. . . .

“ ... It looked very much as if the old religion were about to go by the board when the establishment of the [Roman] empire saved it for the time being. The emperors claiming to rule by divine right and direct descent from the gods, it was very much to their interest to uphold a state religion ; which they did on a magnificent scale, bringing into the national church all the officers, employees and dependents of the government. The state church, at this latter stage, was an immense fraternity, all the members of which were bound, by virtue of their office, to support it. This revival of the ancient Roman religion was, therefore, less religious than political . . . Babylonian, Greek, Assyrian, Egyptian and Eastern religious ideas found welcome in Rome. The Great Earth Mother of Asia Minor [therefore of Babylon] and Isis, the mother goddess of Egypt, were not only introduced into Rome but their worship, which was accompanied with elaborate ritual and ceremonial, became almost universal throughout the Roman Empire; and such a firm root did it take among the masses of the Roman people and the Eastern nations under the domination of Rome that the early Christian missionaries found great difficulty in eradicating it.

"... This craze for foreign deities went to unheard-of extremes, going so far afield as Persia, from which was introduced the great sun god, Mithras, with his elaborate mystical worship, which became very popular in the Imperial City itself. . . . Thus Rome, bathed in philosophy, scepticism, mysticism, emotionalism and stoicism, with nothing solid to which to anchor, drifted upon the rocks of national religious shipwreck. In this condition she was found . . . for the development of the Catholic faith.”—Quoted from The Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 23, pages 641645.

The “gods” referred to in the above quotation are none other than what the Holy Scriptures call the “demons”, over whom Satan the Devil is “the prince of the demons”. (Matt. 12:24-28, Am. Stan. Ver.) Shocking though it be to Christian sensibility to say it, the above-mentioned “Catholic faith” fell heir to and took over the diversified demon-religion and wrenched the Christian doctrines to try to make them fit with doctrines of demons, to form the so-called “Christian religion”. The faithful apostles of Jesus Christ saw the anti-Christ religion advancing in their day and forewarned their brethren against it. Soon after they passed from the earth in death the “prince of the demons” saw to it that what began as the Christian organization was corrupted and turned into what has since been called “Christendom” with its “Christian religion”, dominated chiefly by the Roman Catholic religious system.

At Proverbs 29:25 the Lord God gives warning to us in these words: “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.” The man who fears that he may lose some human honor or other thing that he regards as valuable unless he pursues a compromising course and fuses with this world is certain to fall into Satan’s trap. Selfish ambitious men are easily led into Satan’s trap. No doubt some early leaders in what is known as the “Catholic Church” organization were sincere, but, being ambitious for honor among men and fearing to lose what they had by persecution, they quickly fell to the flattery of the Devil, who saw to it that they had plenty of it. About three hundred years after the death of the apostle Peter, and in the days of Emperor Constantine and thereafter, the Roman Catholic “Hierarchy of Jurisdiction” was organized. After still further time had passed, and the people had been kept in ignorance of Bible truth, it was then an easy matter to induce the awe-struck, gullible people to believe that a man whom they were taught to honor as pope and head of the Hierarchy is the successor of the apostle Peter and that said Peter is the foundation rock upon which Christ’s church is built. The people were thus induced to believe a great and injurious falsehood, and to give their blind allegiance to a system of fusion religion. The effects of this is felt to this day, and is one of the convincing proofs that the religions racket is the greatest and most condemnable of all rackets. Only God Almighty by his King Jesus Christ will break up completely and forever this religious racket at the battle of Armageddon.

ELIJAH, EXPOSER OF BAALISM

WHEN Ahab ascended the throne of Israel and took to wife heathen Jezebel, the state religion sank to new lows. To the already idolatrous worship of the golden calves something new in the way of demonism was added. That addition was Baal-worship. Though it surprise today's politicians, this introduction of “more religion” did not put the nation in good with Jehovah God. Alas, no; for the divine record declares Ahab’s action “did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him”. (1 Ki. 16:33) God made his anger known through the fiery tongue of his prophet Elijah; and these words Jehovah backed up with louder-speaking action. Turning back time to review Elijah’s expose of Baalism will be more than a lesson in ancient history; it will reveal prophetic events that cast their shadow all the way down to this twentieth century in warning of Christendom’s modern version of Baalism.

Suddenly Elijah the Tishbite of “Tishbe in Gilead” appears before King Ahab to confront him with these startling words: “There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” (1 Ki. 17 :1) Just as suddenly the prophet disappears, nipping off any reprisals the king might bring into play and leaving him frustrated and boiling inwardly. King Ahab scoured his own countryside and that of neighboring nations to locate Elijah. Fruitless search. One might say that the prophet had “gone underground” in his Theocratic activities. First he hid himself by the brook Cherith east of Jordan, where twice each day ravens carried bread and flesh to the prophet. When the brook dried up Elijah fled to Zarephath of Zidon, where he was miraculously sustained by the widow whose handful of meal in a barrel and bit of oil in a cruse did not fail for many days. It was at this stopping-place that Elijah performed a miracle of resurrection: the widow’s son died, and when the distraught woman cried to him in anguish the prophet stretched himself over the child and prayed to Jehovah God and the child revived.—1 Ki. 17:17-24.

During this time the drought was continuing ■without letup. Perhaps at first Ahab and Jezebel considered it as just another one of the dry spells characteristic of that country. But as dry months dragged into drier years, the king and queen would recall more often the words of the prophet, and would bitterly blame him, and vengefully search for him. But as matters developed it was not Ahab that found Elijah; Elijah sought out Ahab. In the third dewless and rainless year Elijah moved into the open, where he soon met God-fearing Obadiah. Was this not the man who had hid and fed a hundred of Jehovah’s prophets when bloodthirsty Jezebel was conducting a campaign of murder against God’s servants? Yes; so Elijah bade this man go inform Ahab of his presence. But Elijah’s ability to elude the net spread for him by Ahab was well known, so much so that Obadiah cried out: “As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee.” He then expressed his fear that after he informed Ahab Elijah would vanish, and irate Ahab would slay him. However, Obadiah carried the message.—1 Ki. 18:1-16.

It was a tense moment when Ahab once more stood face to face with Elijah. The king broke silence: “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” Back into the teeth of Ahab Elijah flung the charge, tagging him the troubler because of his turning to Baalism. The prophet pressed the issue, demanding that Ahab gather Israel to Mount Carmel, and specifying that the Baal priests should attend. The assembly was called; the stage was set. Elijah, a solitary figure for Jehovah’s worship set to oppose 450 priests of Baal, steps forward. His opening words veil only slightly a taunt: “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” (The very meaning of Elijah’s name makes clear his position, it being “my God is Jah”.) It appears that Elijah was alluding to the two religious sects favored by the state: calfworship and Baalism. Calf-worship, though idolatrous, was supposedly a worship of Jehovah through those symbols. Baalism, on the other hand, was out-and-out demonism. Elijah was mocking the unstableness and fickleness of the people in worship. But now the tenseness increases. Elijah proposes a test between Jehovah and Baal. Two bullocks are to be slain and made ready for offering, but no fire is to be touched to the wood. The religious priests will call upon Baal to consume by fire their bullock; Elijah will make a similar petition of Jehovah concerning the other bullock. The people said in judgment: “It is a fair test!”—1 Ki. 18:17-24; An Amer. Trans.

The priests prepared their bullock and cried to Baal to consume it. No answer. As time passed their religious frenzy increased, and they leaped about their altar. No answer from Baal. Till noon Elijah stood silently watching, then mocked: “Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” This helped religious tempers not a bit; the taunts stabbed deep and wounded religious susceptibilities. The Baal priests were spurred to louder cries, and slashed themselves with knives till their bodies were bathed in their own blood. On through the afternoon they gyrated and contorted about the altar. Baal answered not. Certainly not. Baal existed only in the imagination of the credulous religionists. Exhausted priests gave up.—1 Ki. 18: 25-29.

After Elijah prepared an altar and the bullock and the wood underneath, he ordered that four barrels of water be poured over the sacrifice. Done once, he commanded that it be repeated. And for a third time the barrels were filled and the water doused over the offering, till the water soaked the sacrifice and the wood and filled the trench around the altar. Then, in sharp contrast with the vain repetitions and shrieks and showy antics of the Baal priests, Elijah prayed simply that Jehovah make His great power known. Immediately fire fell from heaven and consumed not only the bullock but also the wood and the altar stones and the dust. Even the water in the trench was licked up. Jehovah was proclaimed as the true God; the troublesome priests were slain at the brook Kishon.—1 Ki. 18: 30-40.

With the troublers gone and the power of Baalism temporarily broken, God ended the drought that had parched the land for three and a half years. (Luke 4:25; Jas. 5:17) Elijah hiked to the top of Carmel and bade his servant go to a vantage point and look out over what is now the Mediterranean sea. The servant saw nothing. Seven times he went, and on the seventh time he spied a wisp of cloud rising out of the sea. Elijah hustled him off to warn Ahab of coming rain. Soon the heavens were blackening with clouds, and rising wind was swirling the dark masses into a gathering storm. A downpour followed.—1 Ki. 18:41-46.

Jezebel was a die-hard for her Baalism. When she heard the outcome of the test at Mount Carmel she raged that by tomorrow she would make Elijah as dead as the 450 priests whose blood trickled down the Kishon riverbed. Eljiah fled far to the south, and set himself under a juniper bush and wished to die. From slumber he was awakened by an angel and fed, and struck out across the barren country for the mount of God. There Elijah lodged in one of the many caverns of that mountainous region. “What doest thou here, Elijah?” questioned Jehovah. The prophet spoke of his zeal for God and for exposing the Baalism into which Israel had backslidden, adding that he alone remained true to God, and his life was in danger. But there was not such a lack of living proof for Jehovah’s side of the issue, as Elijah soon learned. He was awed by a mighty wind, and by the earthquake that followed in the wake of the wind, and by the fire that succeeded the earth-shaking. Then came a still small voice, its stillness and smallness emphasized by the contrast with the fury of the wind and earthquake and fire; in it was the wisdom of God: “I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” How the prophet’s spine must have tingled with the thrill of those words! He was not so alone! He was also instructed to anoint Hazael king over Syria, Jehu king over Israel, and Elisha to be prophet in his stead.—1 Ki. 19:1-21.

About four years of Elijah’s life have been traced. For the next few years he drops from view, but thereafter bursts back into the national picture at a time embarrassing to King Ahab. Ahab was en route to possess murdered Naboth’s vineyard, and perhaps by this time had about forgotten the exposer of Baalism. Hence it would be with dismay that he cried out upon seeing Elijah at the vineyard ahead of him: “Hast thou found me, 0 mine enemy?” But more disturbing than the mere sight of the prophet were his words. Ahab was guilty of murder, and then seizing the victim’s property. As dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, so would they lick up Ahab’s blood. He had sold himself to work evil, and Jehovah would recompense evil upon him. He had provoked God to anger. He had made the nation to sin. His name would cease from the earth. Those of his offspring whom the dogs would not eat the vultures wheeling tirelessly overhead would devour. And after his death Jezebel would die by violence and be meat for the dogs. Ahab’s temporary repentance gained only temporary postponement of execution of judgment.—1 Ki. 21 .■ 17-29.

More years pass, and the next glimpse of the prophet comes after Ahaziah has ascended Israel’s throne and an accident has imperiled his' life. Believing the religion of his parents good enough for him, Ahaziah sends to Baal-zebub to inquire whether he will recover. Elijah intercepts the traveling messengers and puts this accusing question for King Ahaziah: “Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you are on your way to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?” Without pausing for an answer, Elijah dispatches this warning to Ahaziah: “You shall certainly die.” The wrathful king sent a captain of fifty with his men to take Elijah into custody. Fire from heaven devoured them. A second fifty with their captain are licked up similarly. The third contingent had learned by observation; so on his knees the captain besought Elijah to come with him. Elijah did, and repeated the doomful message to Ahaziah’s face. Soon Ahaziah died. (2 Ki. 1:1-18, An Amer. Trans.) It was shortly after this that Elijah sent a communication to the southern kingdom of Judah. Jehoram was on the throne there, ruling as viceroy to Jehoshaphat, and he was condemned for sins like unto Ahab’s.—2 Chron. 21:12-15.

Now comes the dramatic end of Elijah’s service as Baal’s exposer. For some years Elisha has been a service companion of Elijah. One day Elijah sought to leave Elisha behind. Elisha refused. Three times this occurred. Elisha and the sons of the prophets knew it was the time for Elijah’s departure. The two travel toward Jordan river. From a hilltop fifty sons of the prophets observe. They see Elijah roll his mantle and smite the waters. They see the waters divide. They see the two cross on dry ground, and earnestly converse on the other side of Jordan. But they cannot hear Elijah ask what his successor would have him do; nor can they hear Elisha’s request for a double portion of the spirit that was upon Elijah. They do see the two walk slowly on, talking, and then: descending and separating the two is a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and a whirlwind sweeps Elijah skyward! As in the case of Moses, no man witnessed the death or burial of Elijah. Only his mantle remained, and this Elisha took up.—2 Ki. 2:1-13.

Proving that Elijah’s work was prophetic, Malachi 4: 5, 6 states: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Many thought Christ was Elijah returned, called in the Greek Scriptures “Elias”. But an angel and also Jesus identified John the Baptist as doing a miniature “Elijah work”. (Matt. 11:14; 16:14; 17:3, 4, 10-13; Mark 6:15) It was also a visionary Elijah that, with Moses, appeared with Christ in the transfiguration. Coming down to modern times, an antitypical Elijah work was performed from 1878 to 1918. Prophecy and physical facts show that in 1918 Christ came to the temple; prophecy and physical facts also show that for the forty years prior thereto Christ’s followers prepared the way before Him by exposing false religious doctrines and preaching fundamental Bible truths anew. And since Baalism sprang from Nimrod, and since many of religious Christendom’s teachings spring from Nimrod’s time, the work of Jehovah’s witnesses in exposing today’s religious fables parallels Elijah’s exposure of Baalism.

GILEAD’S FIRST INTERNATIONAL CLASS GRADUATES

FOLLOWING the blessed Glad Nations Theocratic Assembly at Cleveland, in August, 1946, representatives from eighteen countries were invited to remain in the United States to comprise the eighth class of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead. On September 4 the term opened with 102 ready to undertake their advanced ministerial studies. The roll call was answered by men and women from Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hawaii, Mexico, Netherlands, Newfoundland, Siam, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

All the students having a working knowledge of English, in almost no time they settled into the routine of school life and study. In the course of the twenty-three-week term the various instructors had followed a long inventory of Bible subjects and truths which had been presented for the edification of the students.

Graduation day for Gilead’s first international class was set for February 9, 1947. The usual preliminaries were enjoyed where graduates, instructors and the many visitors intermingled to recount their many happy associations and common experiences before disbanding to the four corners of the earth after graduation. Though the week-end proved to be very wintry and stormy the several hundred visitors were undaunted.

Sunday morning at 9 a.m. an audience of 714 assembled for the principal exercise of the graduation. The president of the school, N. H. Knorr, sat as chairman, opening the session with a song and prayer of praise to the Universal Sovereign. Then followed a short talk by the legal counselor of the Watchtower Society, H. C. Covington, who likened Gilead-trained graduates to soldiers full-panoplied for the warfare in fields far flung from these shores. Next President Knorr introduced the newly elected secretary-treasurer of the Society, Grant Suiter, who succeeded the late W. E. Van Amburgh. Aptly G. Suiter showed how the graduates were being given as gifts to aid men of good-will. President Knorr’s secretary, M. G. Henschel, then read a number of messages of greetings and congratulations from a score of countries abroad from friends and previous graduates now stationed in those outposts in the Lord’s vineyard. Before the principal address, brief remarks of farewell were made by the Kingdom Farm servant and each of the four instructors of the school.

Mr. Knorr’s presidential address was on the subject “Peace and Unity”. He based his extemporaneously delivered lecture on Paul’s epistle to the Romans, chapters 12, 13 and 14. For an all-too-short hour he held the audience’s close attention as each and every one felt he was talking to him rather than the students’ being given parting counsel. Following his address he arranged for all the 99 graduates to come to the platform for their envelope of special gifts from the Society. Applause after applause went up as graduates from country after country marched up to receive their gifts. It was then announced that of the 99 graduates who completed the entire course, 94 had been granted a diploma for meritorious service. Promptly at the conclusion of this brief ceremony one of the students rose to request the chairman for permission to read a letter from the student body. This letter was then unanimously adopted by the graduates and presented to Mr. Knorr as an expression of their gratitude to him and the Society. It follows:

February 9, 1947 Dear Brother Knorr:

On this our last day together before leaving for our assignments in more than thirty nations throughout the world, we want to tell you just what we feel in our hearts about our term here at Gilead.

We all agree that these five months have been the richest of our lives. Daily it was our delight to delve deep into “the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God”. As the weeks flew by we were conscious of the fact that our study and training were building up and strongly reinforcing our faith in Jehovah and multiplying our knowledge and understanding a hundredfold. And side by side with this grew our appreciation of Jehovah’s Theocratic organization—its spirit and operation. We came here convinced of its identity, but, by His grace, we go away with a grand, broad vision of it as, from Brooklyn headquarters, it diligently and vigorously presses on with the Kingdom work under Christ Jesus. We count it the highest honor to go forth now as graduates of this Bible school to represent Jehovah under the organization that He has made and blessed for his own name’s sake.

Looking back now on the glorious time we have had here, we are reminded more than ever of our great indebtedness to our Father in heaven for his infinite love to mere “children of men”. Through the “faithful and wise servant” Society, he has filled our hands with the power of greater service and poured out blessings we simply cannot contain. Our hearts overflow with gratitude. We want to say, too, how thankful we are for the love of our brethren whose contributions, whether of money to the Society or of time and patient effort, have made this school possible. Indeed they have given with two hands, and we love them for their faith and devotion to The Theocracy.

As we leave now, we are determined to put all this knowledge and training to work in the field. Our “sword of the spirit” is glittering and ready for the fray. In the fight for Jehovah’s side of the issue it is our prayer that we may always keep before our eyes his universal sovereignty and omnipotence and ever be found at unity and peace with our brethren. We feel the strength of mutual interdependence as together we shoulder our responsibilities. We assure you of our desire to follow organization instructions and hold to the Head, Christ Jesus, wherever we may be. Jealously we will look to the peace and prosperity of Zion. The fire of Jehovah’s spirit burns within our bones as we leave this blessed place to join our fellow missionaries in far-flung fields and ply our hearts, souls, minds and^- strength to the cry, “Oh praise Jehovah, all ye nations."

Our fervent prayers ascend to God on your behalf as you now set out to compass the globe, amplifying the life-giving call to the nations all along the way.

Yours for unity and peace,

Eighth Class

During the few days to follow two by two the graduates will be traveling to the many countries abroad to carry the gospel to multitudes of persons of good-will hungering for a knowledge of God’s kingdom.

The missionary assignments of this class will take the graduates to the following countries:

Australia, Bahamas, Bermuda, Britain, Canada, Ceylon, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Egypt, Fiji, Finland, Gold Coast, Hawaii, Iceland, India, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Newfoundland, Nigeria, Palestine, Philippines, Portugal, Siam, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland.

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