^HeWATCHTOWEK

Published Semimonthly By

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; that 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

THIS 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 8u&ecriter»; Remittances «hoaM be eent 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 la 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 address 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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Translations of this journal appear In many languages.

ALL SINCERE STUDENTS OF THE BIBLE who by reason of infirmity, poverty or adversity are unable to pay the subscription price may have The Watchtower free upon written application to the publishers, made once each year, stating the reason for so requesting 1L We are glad to thus aid the needy, but the written application once each year & required by the postal regulations.

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“SONG OF PRAISE” TESTIMONY PERIOD

The 1948 Service Calendar designates February as “Song of Praise” Testimony Period. Psalm 18:49, upon which the designation rests, sets as the motif for this period the singing of praises to God’s name among the nations. This we will do by intensifying our efforts in the second month of the 1948 Watchtower campaign for getting subscriptions for this magazine. All house-to-house workers will present the special offer of a year’s subscription together with a premium of eight booklets published by the Watch Tower Society, all at the regular subscription rate of just $1.00, American money. The peak of the northern winter has never halted the forward push of these annual campaigns, and publishers of God’s praises are determined it will not this year either. Come along with us, all you readers of The Watchtower. Your co-operation is appreciated, your service is valued, your joy will be enhanced by singing praises to the Most High. We are always ready to supply information and references for you to work with organized, trained campaigners. Take part and be able to hand in your report at the month’s end on what you have accomplished in this “song of praise”.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of February 1: “Why They Are So Different in 1948,” "*[ 1-25 inclusive, The Watchtower January 1, 1948.

Week of February 8: “Why They Are So Different in 1948,” T 26-46 inclusive, The Watchtower January 1, 1948.

1948 YEARBOOK OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

Now you can enjoy the new Yearbook issued by the Watch Tower Society, covering the activities of the 1947 service year by Jehovah’s witnesses who co-operate with the Society in the eastern, western, northern and southern hemispheres of our globe. You will rejoice at the totals registered for the varied service activities nationally and world-wide. A fine introduction by the president starts the reader off into consideration of interesting reports from all the scores of Society Branches. The president’s extensive comment on the yeartext for 1948 is followed by texts and comments drawn from the past year’s issues of The Watchtower for each and every day of the new calendar year. Order now, remitting therefor at 50c a copy.

1948 CALENDAR

During the year 1948 keep up to date with the Society’s new service calendar, now available. One of the handsomest we have yet turned out, its beautiful three-color art picture reflects the yeartext overhead: “I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.* (Ps. 57:9, A.S.7.) The date-pad at the base points up the months and days with aaming the bimonthly special testimony periods for 1948, and the special service-themes for the off-months. If in a company or group, send in your order at 25c a copy, or $1.00 for 5 copies sent to one address.

ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH'S KINGDOM

Vol. LXTX                            January 1, 1948                                  No. 1

WHY THEY ARE SO DIFFERENT IN 1948

"Instead of being moulded to this world, have your mind renewed’’—Rom. 12:2, Moffatt.

JEHOVAH God is far different from this world. His thoughts are not its thoughts, and his ways are not its ways. (Isa. 55:8,9) He is the great Life-giver, and his purpose to give everlasting life to men of good-will differs far from the religious ideas of this world. For this reason it is only by His grace that we exist in this year 1948 and are able to move about in the earth and make expression of our thoughts to others and to do the work that we do. Man owes appreciation toward God for what God has done for him without man’s deserving it; but, unfortunately, the majority of men of this world do not know Jehovah God and little do they try to find out anything about him. They are self-satisfied.

² However, there are some who are different in this respect, and those who are now acting before the eyes of the world as Jehovah’s witnesses give evidence of an appreciation of Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth. They know he created man from the ground and placed him upon the earth and instructed him to subdue it and bring it to a perfect, beautiful state as well as to multiply and fill it with his kind. (Gen. 1:28) These servants of Jehovah know that he gave man life and that in His due time men of good-will are to receive power and authority to do this grand work of beautifying the earth and populating it under the established kingdom of God. Furthermore, Jehovah’s witnesses recognize that to maintain this gift of life and the privileges that go with it, they must always honor Him as their Creator and bring praise to Him. They differ from men of this wicked world who choose to be fools by ignoring God and his wisdom, works and almighty power. —Ps. 14:1.

’ The apostle Paul had mankind pretty well sized up in his day, and since Paul’s day man has not improved in knowledge of the Supreme One, but, down to the present time, man continues on in his selfish way and continues to try to suppress the truth. In his epistle to the Romans Paul set forth the following (1:18-23):

‘ "For God’s anger is breaking forth from heaven

1. How Is Jehovah God far different from this world? 2. Who also show themselves to be different, and how?

3. 4. How does Panl size op mankind at Romans 1:18-23? against all the impiety and wickedness of the men who in their wickedness are suppressing the truth. For all that can be known of God is clearly before them; God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible [person]—his eternal power and divine [being]—have been clearly perceptible through what he has made. So they have no excuse, for, though they knew God, they have not honored him as God or given thanks to him, but they have indulged in futile speculations, until their stupid minds have become dark. They called themselves wise, but they have turned into fools, and for the splendor of the immortal God they have substituted images in the form of mortal man, birds, animals, and reptiles.”—An Amer. Trans.

‘ Today men generally are of the same mind as the people that lived under the Roman rule in Paul’s day. The rulers have not changed, neither have the people, in this respect. The rulers of the ancient Roman Empire pushed God out of the picture for their concept of “one world” and forgot that God created the earth; they forgot that even the little life they had, the short existence being then enjoyed by men, was only by God’s grace. At that time the big idea was the Roman Empire under Caesar. Today it is the “one world” under the United Nations; but today as then the selfishness, greed and idol-worship remain the same, if not worsened. In the days of the Lord Jesus Christ it was an all-out support for the sprawling Roman Empire that was demanded. Jesus was willing to render to Caesar of Rome the things that were Caesar’s, but that could go to only a certain extent. There was something else in the Holy Scriptures upon this issue for the people to consider, namely: “And [render] unto God the things that are God’s.” (Matt. 22:21) Rendering to Caesar the things that were his was all right, as far as it went; but the doing of this could not rightly interfere with the proper worship, the true worship of Jehovah God the Life-giver. They killed Jesus because he did not go all-out for the Roman government and because he held to preaching God’s kingdom as the only hope for humankind and because he held to giving praise

• 5. For what reason* of theirs did they kill Jeeoa? to God, which praise rightly belonged to his Father in heaven. So they killed Jesus because he was different from this world.

• ⁸ What, now, will you do, Mr. Reader? Will you be like the men Paul described and ‘indulge in futile speculations’ as the delegates to the United Nations do, putting your trust in men, politics, militarism, religion and images? or will you be different and follow Jesus’ counsel and keep God in mind and serve him? Will you also render to God that which is God’s? Jehovah’s witnesses choose to be different. They recognize Jehovah as the only true Sovereign worthy of praise and render to him all that is due to him as their Father in heaven. They fully appreciate that Satan the Devil is the “god of this world” and that this one is determined to try holding on to his power which has given him the opportunity, for a time, to be the mighty invisible ruler of this world. (2 Cor. 4:4; John 14:30) But, different from this world, Jehovah’s witnesses do not serve and worship Satan the Devil as God.

’ It was back in the garden of Eden that Satan turned man from God through deceptive promises that Satan made to man, saying man would be like God, knowing good and evil, if only he ate the forbidden fruit. Adam was selfish, and he rebelled against God. He disobeyed God’s plain commandment that would have led to eternal life, and became the worshiper of a demon, such as the Scriptures say the Devil is. “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.” If, by disobedience to Jehovah God, Adam became a god, it was by setting himself up to be worshiped by himself. He no longer looked to his Father in heaven as the great Life-giver, to whom he owed everything. Because he was still alive after sinning against Jehovah, he may have thought he would be able to maintain his life. He idolized himself or worshiped himself. This is indicated by the stubborn course of action he took in disobeying God, for God’s Word sets forth the principle, “Stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.”—1 Sam. 15: 23.

• ⁸ From that time on stubborn man has substituted images in the form of mortal men, birds, animals and reptiles, to which to give his worship. Man thinks a lot of himself, and he thinks he is able to do something that God alone says He will do. Men think they can set up a human organization, the United Nations, as the only hope for world peace and prosperity, and by so doing they ignore God’s kingdom, for which Christians have been taught to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Man, under the rule of Satan the Devil, “the god of this world,” has indeed become a stubborn creature, so that now the heads of the governments of this

• 6. In what way do Jehovah’s witnesses choose to be different ?

• 7. How did Adam set up demon-worship and self-worship ?

• 8. How do men today Indulge in futile speculations? world, of all the nations and their peoples, come to worship a United Nations, a form of world government. They want all the commercial organizations, all the political organizations, all the religious organizations, everything in society, labor, culture, science, yes, all of such, to support and become part of this international creation of theirs, a United Nations organization. So man goes on indulging in futile speculations, until his stupid mind has become grossly dark. Indeed, “they called themselves wise, but they have turned into fools.” The wise men of this world do not see the need of God: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” (Ps. 14:1) Such wise men no longer recognize him as the great Lifegiver.

THE PECULIAR PEOPLE

’ Still, there remains a people that are different, Jehovah’s witnesses. This small group are looked at by the governments of the earth as an obstinate people, a people that just will not fall in line and that will not accept this man-made thing as their savior. The world, through its judges and its rulers, demands that these witnesses render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and more, too; for they forget the rest of the command: ‘Render to God the things that are God’s.’ These witnesses, no matter under what nationality or form of government they happen to be born, always comply with the rules and regulations of that nation. They pay their taxes; they speak the language of the nation; they accept the education of the nation through its schools. They support all the laws of the land that are in full accord with God’s principles of truth and righteousness. They follow most of the customs and habits of the people. But one thing Jehovah’s witnesses cannot do, and that is, violate their conscience. Their conscience has been trained according to God’s Word, which says: “Give God what belongs to God.”—Matt. 22:21, Moffatt.

• ¹⁰ Because they do not violate their consciences or disobey God’s law, the governments of the earth have cast them off as a peculiar people, not orthodox, hard to deal with. Yet, all in all, they observe that they are an honest, upright people, persons of good habits and easy for their neighbors to get along with. However, this being honest, upright, and loving one’s neighbors as oneself does not suit the rabble-rousers of the world. Preaching peace and prosperity under God’s kingdom is not supporting or being part of a political or religious organization. ‘If these people are left alone,’ they say, ‘the whole world will be following after them.’ The rulers of the nations then say, ‘Stop their talk!’

• ¹¹ In 1933, when Hitler came into power in Ger-

• 9. To what extent do we render to Caesar his things?

• 10. Why do the nations' rulers say, “Stop their talk!’’?

• 11, 12. How did Hitler frame mischief against them? and why? many, Jehovah’s witnesses were doing much preaching in all parts of that land, advertising the Kingdom as the only hope of the world. They had to be stopped! So propaganda was sent forth through the government agencies that ‘Jehovah’s witnesses are Communists; they are Jews; they have to be silenced !’ They would not heil Hitler; they would not support the new “master race” idea. They clung to their simple beliefs and the truths they had gained from God’s Word, the Bible. As time went on, Hitler with his supporters and idolizers moved forward to rule the earth. Then the following notice was issued to all the superior officers throughout Germany: “The teaching of the Bible Researchers [Jehovah’s witnesses] represents a disguised form of Communism. The destruction of the nations of the world in the battle of Armageddon, the lifting of all national distinctions, the inauguration of Jewish legislation and Jewish dictatorship, the lifting of all racial distinctions: these are the objectives of Jewish world Bolshevism, and have absolutely nothing to do with religion! Setting up the Jewish world rule under the cloak of religious activity, that is the way the goal of the International Bible Students may best be described.”

• ¹² Hitler and his government could find no cause against Jehovah’s witnesses. So they made mischief by framing laws. (Ps. 94:20) By this means thousands were put in concentration camps. More than a thousand died in these camps, and hundreds of others were tortured and killed, because they were serving God rather than men.

• ¹³ In the democratic countries, while the second world war was on, Jehovah’s witnesses were accused of being Nazis. In still other countries, as in Germany, they were accused of being Communists. The religionists joined in in the loud cry against Jehovah’s witnesses, and an expression typical of them is found in the religious magazine Catholic Mind, namely: “Whatever may be the professions of Jehovah’s witnesses, there is no room for doubt that the practical effect of the Watch Tower activities is to stimulate Communism, not to say anarchy, and to undermine all feeling of reverence for authority.” From other countries, like Greece, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt, the cry comes forth that the work of Jehovah’s witnesses is a promulgation of Jewish propaganda, and so the Greek Orthodox religious organization has recently distributed pamphlets stating that Jehovah’s witnesses are financed by Jews. On the other hand, the Jewish organization in Greece protested to the head of the Greek Catholic religious system, saying that their statement is false and that the Jews have nothing to do with Jehovah’s witnesses, nor Jehovah’s witnesses with the Jews.

• 13, 14. How are they falsely accused in “democratic” lands? and what proves they are not “Communists”?

• ¹⁴ While there are several thousand of Jehovah’s witnesses in Russia, hundreds of them have been sent to Siberia and put into work camps, because they prefer to serve God rather than men and to proclaim a kingdom of righteousness, a new world that will be governed by a righteous overlord, Christ Jesus, and not by Communist rulers. Why should Russia treat Jehovah’s witnesses that way if they are “Communists”! They are not such, but in every nation Jehovah’s witnesses are juggled around to suit their oppressors. The point in common is: Annihilate Jehovah’s witnesses; get rid of them!

• ¹⁵ Let us then, briefly, look at Jehovah’s witnesses of the present day and see how they view conditions in the world, and let us get their viewpoint. Who are they! Where did they get their instructions! and why do they appear to be a different and unwanted people!

A CLOSE-UP SCRUTINY

• ¹³ These servants, who worship the Supreme One of all the universe, believe that Jehovah God alone is the Sovereign God and that all worship, honor and glory are due to him. They believe he is the great Source of life and is able to save all who come to him with humble hearts. Those who have come to the Lord God and accepted his Word and who abide by it are blessed of God, and they become his witnesses. And to these the Lord God says, at Isaiah 43:10,11: “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 he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour.”—Am. Stan. Ver.

• ¹⁷ Men and women from all parts of the earth, from all nations, kindreds and tongues, have come to the Lord God because of a study of his Word, and they have accepted his Word as truthful and right and are abiding by it. They appreciate that in Isaiah 61:1-3 a commission is set out for those who consecrate themselves to serve God as followers of his Son. They know that this message which they are commissioned to preach offers comfort and hope to all nations of the earth. They know, too, that Jehovah’s chief witness, Christ Jesus, who was born a Jew and under the Mosaic law, did not compromise with the nations of the world, but stood firm for the preaching of Jehovah’s Word and of His government of righteousness that He promised to set up over earth. At the time that Jesus was on earth a call went forth for many of the Jews to enter into a new covenant with God; but when that Jewish nation did not respond, the call was extended to go on out to the ends of the earth, to the Gentiles, and God select-

• 15, 16. How have they become witnesses of the Sovereign God?

17, 18. How did persons from all nations become such witnesses? ed a people that would have the law of God written in their hearts, and whom nothing could turn away from the service of the Most High God.

“ It is therefore stated, at 1 Peter 2: 9,10: “But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: who in time past were no people, but now are the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”—Am. Stan. Ver.

• ¹¹ These people of God’s mercy have become different and peculiar in the eyes of the world because they are determined, by his grace, to serve the only living and true God. They have become his chosen people. They have heralded forth his message of righteousness; and thousands upon thousands of others have heard in these last days of the Devil’s organization and have sought refuge within God’s organization. These have taken up the same call and are saying to all nations, kindreds and tongues: ‘Come, and drink of the water of life freely.’ So today, from one end of the earth to the other, there are thousands of persons that say: “I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.” (Ps. 57:9, Am.Stan. Ver.) They cannot sing the praises of the worldly nations, single or as United Nations, nor of any sect or religion, because all these are exposed by God’s Word as being idolatrous. They have the Lord’s Word and in it they find God’s instruction to praise him and thus gain life everlasting. By faithfully preaching they save themselves as well as others who hear them. (1 Tim. 4:16) They receive from God his holy spirit or active force, and they go forth speaking the truth, a “pure language”, as it were.—Zeph. 3:9.

” The witnesses of Jehovah, who have been called from all nations, kindreds and tongues, being all of one mind, have cut through all boundaries. Language has been no barrier to their unity. Religions, politics, the ideas that men have tried to instill in the hearts of individuals, have all been cast to the winds. There is no divisive force that can stand in the way of Jehovah’s witnesses’ having one mind, which mind is the mind of Christ. Regardless of the country in which any witness of Jehovah lives, he is all out for supporting God’s kingdom and preaching it. He is an ambassador for Christ in this respect. Being an ambassador in this old world and being at the same time no part of it, he certainly is not opposed to the present governments of the earth; nor will Jehovah’s witnesses ever try to fight against them. Nor should they fight against such governments. They have no reason to do so, for Jehovah God allows the governments to remain until he shows

• 19. Whose praises do they sing? and how. and why?

• 20. Despite what are they united, but not fighting governments? forth his power; and this he will do at the battle of Armageddon.

NONPOLHTCAL

“When Jesus Christ was upon the earth, he was not opposed to the Roman rule which existed over Palestine. He lived under it in that land. He complied with the regulations that existed, and he paid his taxes, too. But he was not devoted to the Roman government, nor would he defend it. He was a minister of the kingdom of God. His saying is well known, namely, ‘If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight; but my kingdom is no part of this world.’ (John 18:36) The same evil, selfish organization, only operating through different governmental authorities as far as human creatures are concerned, still exists today. It is under the same management that the Roman Empire was under, namely, Satan the Devil, this world’s god. It follows, then, that the invisible evil ruler has not changed. —1 John 5:19, Am. Stan. Ver.

“Now, then, Jehovah’s witnesses not being for this old wicked rule that exists in all the nations of the earth, but being for the kingdom of God, which will rule in righteousness, it can easily be seen why they are not divided as are the Roman Catholics, the Protestant organizations, the Jewish organizations, and all other religious bodies throughout the world. The people of all the different religions in the various lands, being of different nationalities and political connections, are divided against one another. This state will not be found among those consecrated to Jehovah as God. They are one organization, no matter where they reside. Difference of speech does not hold them apart. Customs do not divide them. Even the governments over them do not matter. It makes no difference what form of government may rule over them, democratic, Nazi, Communistic, Jewish, totalitarian, or autocratic, such form of government is not allowed to stand as a barrier to Jehovah’s witnesses in unitedly serving the Almighty God. They are not of this old world, but are for God’s kingdom by his Christ. In this way they are different, not conformed to this world.—Rom. 12: 2.

” In the days of the early church the apostles and their fellow Christians of that time followed the command of Christ Jesus: ‘Go ye therefore, and disciple all nations.’ (Matt. 28:19, Am. Stan. Ver.) So they went into Greece, Italy, Egypt, Babylon, and Asia Minor, even though in those places there were people with different habits, customs, and forms of government, most of them under Roman imperialism. But people who loved righteousness there learned the truth and became Christians. They left all their

• 21. Why did Jesus not oppose, yet not defend Rome’s empire? 22. How do we differ from religious systems of this world? 23. What did Jesus command to go and do? and what has resulted? former religious idol-worship and their political organizations, and followed the teachings of Christ. A complete change took place in their lives. It did not take them long to see that it was better to obey God rather than men; for the only way to receive life would be by being faithful to the great Life-giver in heaven. As God said, he himself is the Saviour, and it is he alone that can give everlasting life and blessings in the new world.

• ³⁴ The political systems and nations of the world have, for centuries, yes, for thousands of years, tried to give the people better government. But will anyone today say that conditions are better in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, and in America, than they were twenty years ago? a hundred years ago I or a thousand years ago? Some will argue that living conditions are now better; but who say so, and where? In only a few countries. The point is, Is man more unselfish? Does he love his neighbor more? or is he the same stubborn idol-worshiper that he was in all times past?

• ³⁵ It is true that among the ranks of the witnesses of the Lord God one can find persons from every walk of life, from every nation, from every kindred, and from every language. Yet, different from this world, they have all the same spirit of love and peace toward their neighbor, and a desire to praise the one God, Jehovah, and to sing his praises unto all the nations. Their indefeatable zeal is a thing that, even though the worldly governmental authorities try to do so, they are unsuccessful in breaking.

MINISTERS OVER OBJECTIONS

• ³⁸ In many parts of the world that have come under the power of great religious influence the authorities in power do not like to recognize Jehovah’s witnesses as ordained ministers, although they are commissioned of God as such. The authorities object because these ministers are different. They do not realize that one man cannot make another man a minister of God. Being a minister of God is by reason of His pouring upon His servant the holy spirit or active force from on high; and this outpouring the Most High God said he would perform upon those who love him in truth. God has poured out his spirit “upon all flesh”: men and women, young and old, bond and free. He did this to the faithful remnant at the iime..of Pentecost A.D. 33, and he is doing it to a like remnant at the present time. (Joel 2: 28, 29; Acts 2:17,18) His spirit motivates those who have made a consecration to serve him to preach the gospel, and it makes no difference whether those individuals be young or old. If the heart of each one is right and seeking righteousness and is fully

• 24, 26. Among ■whom have conditions bettered, essentially?

• 26. Who makes ministers, and of whom? and how? devoted to the Lord God, he will be favored of Jehovah God with his spirit through Christ.

• ³⁷ The objection is made by many rulers and judges that young people are not qualified to preach the gospel. They think that a person has to become old and hoary of head before being able to have wisdom and understanding. They forget to take into account the activities of the person in making their decision as to whether that person is an ordained minister or not. Christ Jesus was busy about his Father’s courts when at the age of twelve. (Luke 2:42-49, The Emphatic Diaglott; An Amer. Trans.) The apostle Paul’s companion, Timothy, was a young man when he was called and anointed of the Lord to preach the gospel, and the churches as well as Timothy himself were advised not to despise his youth. (1 Tim. 4:12) The Bible presents, in fact, a long record of young persons that have stood for the Lord God and fought valiantly in their youth as well as in their older age for the preaching of the message of God’s Word. Jeremiah, Samuel, and others, were recorded as excellent examples of youth’s taking up the ministry of God as preachers.

• ³⁸ Coming down to later secular history, let us take John Calvin, the sixteenth century reformer and student of the Bible and minister of religion. Was he not recognized as a chaplain at the age of twelve years? Yes; and if this John Calvin could be recognized and put in office as a minister of religion, certainly young men and women of today who are as devoted to God as John Calvin ever was can also be acknowledged by worldly authorities as ministers of God. Not only was John Calvin a preacher in the Roman Catholic religious organization at the age of twelve, but his revenue from preaching was sufficient to assist him in going through school in his later years. It is recorded in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 4, edition of 1892, that John Calvin, who was born in 1509, was made a chaplain as described: “In his thirteenth year his father, whose circumstances were not affluent, procured for him from the bishop the office of chaplain in the Chapelle de Notre Dame de la Gesine. A few days after his appointment he received the tonsure and on the 29th of May 1521, he was installed in his office.” Centuries earlier, Benedict IX was ihstalled as pope at the age of 12 and continued in office from 1033 to 1056.

• ³⁹ Certainly if John Calvin qualified as a minister or chaplain in the Roman Catholic religious system, and if Benedict IX qualified as pope of Rome, both at the age of twelve years, then hundreds of Jehovah’s witnesses, who have made a careful study of the Bible along unsectarian lines, can qualify for ministerial status, while yet in their teens, before governing bodies in the world today. There are hun-

• 27. Why la objecting to youth as ministers unscrlptural?

• 28, 29. How do Calvin's and Benedict IX’s case estop objections?

dreds of young men and women from sixteen to twenty-two years of age that have gone out into the missionary field work, many to foreign lands, learning tongues not their own, in order that they may there preach the gospel. Youth is no barrier to one’s becoming a minister. One who does become a minister ‘for the Lord will daily preach the good news. It has always been recognized that ministers would take a neutral position as to world affairs and that they would be indifferent to the controversies of the world, because they are not of this world nor a part of it, although they are in it. (1 John 2:15-17) In the same way Christ Jesus was not of this world. He was in it, but this was for the sole purpose of preaching the gospel and vindicating his Father’s name.

*° Christ Jesus, in a prayer to his Father in heaven, requested him that the same spirit that was poured upon him be poured upon all his followers, and he asked his Father not to take them out of the world but to leave them there that they might preach the good news of the Kingdom and thus some could be saved. (John 17:14,15; 14:16,17) This makes it plain that age is not the determining factor with God’s ministers, neither is sex; but the thing that qualifies one as a minister is his knowledge of the Lord’s Word and his zeal and devotion to the Most High Sovereign, Jehovah God, and, most importantly, the spirit of the Lord God upon him.

NONNATIONALISTIC ORGANIZATION WORLD-WIDE

“ From time to time government officials in various parts of the earth make claims that Jehovah’s witnesses are controlled by an American organization and that Jehovah’s witnesses are spreading American propaganda. However, it will readily be understood by all persons reading any of the publications of Jehovah’s witnesses as printed and distributed through the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, a Pennsylvania corporation in America, that none of their teachings are nationalistic. They set forth the belief in God’s kingdom as the only hope of humankind. That kingdom is what the witnesses serve, and they look to Christ Jesus as their Commander and Leader, who is above all nations and political parties. Just because the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society happens to be formed in the United States and is used by Jehovah’s witnesses of that country and of many other countries to carry on their ministerial activities is no reason for men to say that the organization of Jehovah’s witnesses all over the earth is an American organization.

” In different countries of Latin America and throughout Europe and on the other continents of the earth Jehovah’s witnesses have formed local

• 30. What qualifies one for the ministry?

• 31. Why is this not an American organization and propaganda?

• 32. Why do not local societies make them nationalistic?

Brooklyn, N. Y. organizations, or societies within the countries in which they reside, so as to further the interests of their ministerial activity there. Such societies are just as necessary locally as the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society in America. And just because a society is formed in one particular country, it would be no reason to say that Jehovah’s witnesses of that respective country are French or German or Brazilian. Jehovah’s witnesses world-wide have one aim in life, and that is to magnify the name of their heavenly Father, Jehovah, and to share with Christ Jesus in the vindication of his name and Word. They realize that he has gathered together the persons of good-will who love him into one organization, and that is, a Theocratic organization. Theocratic, yes, but not nationalistic are these witnesses of Jehovah. Because governments of men have set up boundaries and have adopted certain languages for certain territories, and because some of God’s consecrated people live in those particular lands, these are no reasons for believing that they are separate and distinct from all the other witnesses of the Most High God throughout the earth. They are not. They are one body in the Lord, one organization, with one God Jehovah and one Lord Jesus Christ and one law. That is the law God has given them, namely, to minister to him and to preach the gospel of the Kingdom in all the world for a witness to all nations.

NONPARTISANSHIP

“ There you have the reason why Jehovah’s witnesses, scattered in scores of lands, will not engage in carnal warfare one against another, because they will not violently fight their brethren. At the same time the Lord’s faithful servants will not interfere in a violent combat between nations. They are neutral as to the political affairs and military operations of nations; and they look to Jehovah God as the One that gives life and has the right to take it away, and the One who can also preserve them into the new world of uprightness where they will enjoy peace, prosperity and everlasting life. They fully appreciate that God’s Word says that his servants will come from every nation, tribe and tongue but that, because of having his spirit, they will be one people to him, a chosen generation, devoted to peace. Knowing that they are his chosen people under the one Theocratic law, they serve him with undivided attention. They have the proper fear of God, for they hate the evil, the arrogance, the pride and Godlessness of this world. There is no room for partisanship among them. All are for the one ideal, the New World government by Christ Jesus.

’‘Logically, in obedience to the divine commands for this day, such persons as these are putting forth

• 33. Why is there no room for violent partisanship among them? 34. What would reading the Yearbook show regarding them?

every effort to push forward the principles of truth and righteousness and to turn the minds of the people toward the one true Deity and his gracious Word, the Bible. This they will continue to do right on down to the final war, the long-predicted Armageddon. Come opposition, trials, persecution and other troubles from the governmental agents or the governments themselves, they will move ahead fearlessly and courageously, standing for Jehovah’s "King of kings, and Lord of lords”, Christ Jesus. This has been wonderfully demonstrated during the year of 1947 just gone. An unbiased person has just to read the Yearbook covering this past year’s activities throughout the earth by Jehovah’s witnesses to grasp with ease that these are one people and one organization, a Theocratic organization; and that they look to Jehovah God and his Son, Jesus Christ, as “The Higher Powers” who are guiding and directing their activities. The reader of such Yearbook, after considering the reports from 92 lands, should be helped to realize that the witnesses are not serving any man or any worldly organization, and that the organization which the witnesses have is not American, French, German, Communistic or Jewish, but is a God-directed organization, or Theocratic, and that its members are interested solely in the lasting peace and good-will of the peoples everywhere.

^!5 What time do they have for dabbling in political campaigns and battles, or in trying to influence the secular governments as to what course of action they should take in the present-day struggle for world domination? Their commission to preach takes the best of their time, and their devotion to the principles of truth and integrity and uncorruptedness grips them all their time. They fully know and are persuaded that the only way for peace and perfect happiness to be brought to the human family is by man’s accepting Jehovah God as the Supreme One of the universe and also accepting his Son, his chief witness, as the Ransomer of mankind and as the rightful King of the new world. This One, before his own death on the tree of torture, said in prayer to his heavenly Father: “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3) Ah, yes, Jehovah God has made the provisions for man to get life through his Son. Jehovah is the real Life-giver, and all human creatures that hope to have life in the beautified peaceful “world without end” will have to abide by his provisions and accept him as God and his Son as the Redeemer and King. Jehovah’s witnesses are different from this old world because they conform to these divine requirements for life. Thousands upon thousands of persons of good-will who love truth and

35. Why do they not have time for political activitiea? who have turned a hearing ear to the Kingdom message have sought the Lord God and have associated themselves with the Theocratic organization of Jehovah’s witnesses and have joyfully joined them in proclaiming the message of the Kingdom.

PROOF OF THEIR MINISTRY

*' Speaking one language, the “pure language” of the truth, from one end of the earth to the other, Jehovah’s witnesses in the service year ending August 31,1947, piled up a mighty flieap of witness’ to the honor and glory of Jehovah’s name. (Zeph. 3:9) Again they have proved themselves to be a society of ministers. They have faithfully preached the good news of God’s kingdom to millions of persons and have shown what the ‘joy of all the people’ really is. Throughout the year 181,071 witnesses of Jehovah co-operated with the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society with monthly regularity and preached the gospel in 92 different lands, including the principal nations, the isles of the sea, and the colonies of the great powers. They were found working in the states and provinces of all such countries, the cities, the towns, and the rural countryside. The world is their field, and they are trying to reach the people in this wide field.—Matt. 13:38.

" During the said 1947 service year these hardworking servants of the Most High God devoted 43,842,305 hours to preaching. Their devotion to the truth and to the ministerial work resulted in the associating by many persons with Jehovah’s witnesses, and these persons undertook to faithfully follow Christ Jesus and became publishers of the Kingdom, too. Consequently, a new all-time record was reached, namely, 207,552 ministers participating in the field-service work sometime during the twelvemonth period. It is sincerely hoped that all these persons will be regular Kingdom publishers in 1948, so that the command of Jesus, “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations,” may be accomplished on an ever-greater scale in the years ahead before the final battle of Armageddon.—Matt. 28:19, Am. Stan. Ver.

’’ These new publishers of the Kingdom, along with those who have been in the way for many years, realize that it pays to be different from this old world. The broad way down which the world is traveling fast leads to destruction; the new way, God’s way, into which they have entered, leads to eternal life. This narrow way will bring reproach, suffering and persecution from the world upon these servants of God, but they appreciate that their faithful continuance and endurance in God’s service will bring eternal life and contentment. They have come to know the only true God, Jehovah, and his Son Christ 36, 3T. How did they prove themselves * society of ministers? 38. How do they know It pays to be different from this world?

Jesus, whom to know means life eternal. (John 17:3) They have learned of God’s kingdom and the blessings it holds, and it is their keen desire to share in these blessings and bring praise to the Lord God forever. All over the earth it is said by them: “I will sing praises unto thee among the nations” (Ps. 57:9, Am. Stan. Ver.); which is the yeartext of Jehovah’s witnesses for 1948.

” It is of real interest to consider, if only thus briefly, the work done by Jehovah’s witnesses during the past twelve months. They distributed 20,472,739 books and booklets, in scores of languages, in 88 countries, provinces and isles of the sea. Tn addition to this they placed 12,049,344 individual copies of the magazines The Watchtower and Awake! and these in many languages. Not only that, but they interested readers of these magazines to subscribe for them, and the number of subscriptions obtained by the Kingdom publishers was 563,101. In a fourmonth campaign (January-April) for Watchtower and Awake! subscriptions they obtained 313,786 such subscriptions. Jehovah’s witnesses are grateful to God for the opportunity of placing with the people something that they could read and study in their own homes, especially the Bible and books to help one understand the Bible. Since the year 1920 they have placed 513,186,451 books, Bibles and booklets with the people, but they know this placement is not all that is necessary. If people are going to come to a knowledge of the truth, they need personal help, and to this end Jehovah’s witnesses make millions of calls upon them. Invited into their homes, they sit down with the people and answer their questions and look up scriptures in the Bible to prove their teaching ; and thus they truly bring comfort to those who mourn in all the earth.

• ⁴⁰ Not only do Jehovah’s witnesses preach the gospel from house to house and publicly, but they spend much time in giving private instruction, as a minister of God should. World-wide, Jehovah’s witnesses made 11,710,832 return visits upon the homes of persons already interested. In fact, every week there are conducted all through the earth 113,035 book studies in homes of those taking literature. In these little private home meetings there are usually from two to eight persons that study regularly every week some publication of the Society, along with the Bible, under the private instruction of a minister, one of Jehovah’s witnesses.

"While much attention is given to the private study with individuals, Jehovah’s witnesses make public proclamation also. Thousands of auditoriums, public parks and other open-air meeting-places have been used by Jehovah’s ordained ministers for public 39, 40. (a) How much literature did they place? (b) How many return calls and book studies did they accomplish in 1947, and why?

• 41. What public proclamation did they accomplish in 1947? meetings. In all nations and languages these meetings have been carried on during the service year here reported on, to the extent of 101,632 different meetings. The attendance at these meetings runs into millions. On one Sunday alone, when a check was made of attendances, 252,582 persons in all parts of the world listened to the good news.

** Jehovah’s witnesses today are like the apostle Paul in that they do not need a letter written in ink by someone to prove they are ministers of the gospel. Paul said: “For I am no peddler of God’s message, like most men, but like a man of sincerity, commissioned by God and in his presence, in union with Christ I utter his message.... Do I, like some people, need letters of recommendation to you or from you! You are my recommendations, written on my heart, for everybody to read and understand. You show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by me, written not in ink, but in the spirit of the living God, and not on tablets of stone, but on the human heart.” (2 Cor. 2:17; 3:1-3, An Amer. Trans.) The 158,034 witnesses of Jehovah who were out in the field during the 1946 service year now have a letter of commendation which is a real recommendation of their faithful ministry, for in the following year, 1947, many more publishers were associated regularly with them to raise the number to 181,071 regular publishers of the Kingdom, or an increase of 23,037. And there are many more now that are showing zeal for the only righteous cause, which will succeed.

“ Do Jehovah’s witnesses need letters written by men! or do the facts prove that they have recommendations written in the hearts of those who love the Kingdom! All the world knows that Jehovah’s witnesses have proof of their ministry, but it is not what Christendom calls “orthodox”. However, whether orthodox or unorthodox, they do their work like the Master, Jesus. They are not ‘peddlers of God’s message, like most men’. Jehovah’s witnesses are devoting their time, their money, their strength, their all, in the service of God. During the past service year the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society sent from the Brooklyn office alone to foreign Branches and missionary homes $256,661.77 in cash to help the expansion work, this in addition to supplying the Branches with literature valued at $388,606.44.

" Neither do Jehovah’s witnesses neglect the association of themselves together, for throughout the world there were 10,782 companies organized. At the meetings of such companies Jehovah’s witnesses come together to further fit themselves for the ministry. At the company meetings every week they study the magazine The Watchtower for an hour, which contains spiritual food. Additionally, for another

• 42, 43. (a) Why do they, like Panl, not need letters In Ink to conunend their ministry? (b) What monies were sent to Branches?

44. How many companies are organized, conducting what meetings?

of their ministry to many thousands more, who, on that account, will join with them in the grand song of praise to Jehovah among the nations.

^4e In order that the readers of this magazine may have some idea of what is being accomplished in the many nations and lands of the earth, a table on page 11 is set out giving some of the details. Let each reader consult this tabulation for the figures covering the land in which he resides, and also lands where he has friends and relatives, and take note of what has been done there during the service year

46. What does the table show regarding Jehovah’s witnesses? under review. For a report from each respective land we shall have to refer our readers to the 1948 Yearbook of Jehovah’s witnesses. But what has been briefly said in the foregoing paragraphs is sufficient to show that Jehovah’s witnesses are different from this materialistic, pleasure-bent, self-seeking, divided old world, because they are taking an uncompromising stand for God’s kingdom and all of them everywhere are singing praises to Jehovah God and his Christ among the nations. (Ps. 57: 9, Am. Stan. Ver.) What a joy is theirs! And they are glad to have others share in it with them.

“THEIR ROCK IS NOT AS OUR ROCK”

THE reason for quoting the above -words from Moses’ song, at Deuteronomy 32: 31, is an article by the New York Daily News, of October 10,1947, page 41. In an editorial of double-column width it features the heading “Russia’s War on the Pope”, and right under it the article quotes a Bible verse, which is why it interests us and makes it perfectly proper for us to comment on the article. The verse reads: “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”—Matthew 16:18, Douay.

Having thus linked the pope with Peter and “this rock”, the editorial proceeds to say: “Red Czar Josef Stalin of Russia has done some fairly dumb things in his time, but when he takes on Pope Pius XII as an antagonist we begin to wonder whether Joe is getting senile.” At this point the newspaper reader is confronted with an insert picture of the pope, while just separated from this editorial by a column is a large cartoon showing a building styled “The Vatican” and, in front, a dark figure labeled “Red press” slinging mud at the Vatican, and the cartoonist inserts a little diagram with the words of comment, “The Eternal Can Endure the Transient.” Apparently, the cartoonist means that the Vatican is eternal, and the Red press not so, just “transient”. Thus the editor and his co-operative cartoonist launch off onto things religious.

The editor wonders “whether Joe is getting senile”, and for good reason; because, if the Communist leader is acquainted with history, he should know that other big politicians of the past have tried a private war with the Vatican and have failed. The editor glories in that fact, somewhat thereby betraying his religion, for in paragraph five he says: “Stalin studied for the priesthood in his youth; but maybe he never ran across the rather famous Biblical verse quoted above. Or maybe he has never pondered the fact that the gates of hell and all other attackers have not been able to overthrow the Roman Catholic Church in almost 2,000 years of trying.”

The editor evidently slipped up here, because Stalin studied for the Russian Orthodox church’s priesthood and, if as a student he did read Matthew 16:18, he did not apply it to the pope of Rome, Vatican City not having existed back in Stalin’s student days. The editor should remember that Pius XII issued an encyclical on “The Mystical Body of Christ” in 1943, and in paragraphs 42 and 43 of it the pope exalted himself to say: “Christ. . . After His glorious ascension into heaven this Church rested not on Him alone, but on Peter, too, its visible foundation stone. . . . They, therefore, walk the path of dangerous error, who believe that they can accept Christ as the Head of the Church, while they reject genuine loyalty to His Vicar on earth. They have taken away the visible head,” &c.

Did the patriarchal head of the Russian Orthodox church, with whom Stalin entered relations, accept that claim of Pius XII which applied Matthew 16:18 to Peter and to Pius XII as Peter’s claimed successor? Flatly no. Stalin’s patriarchal friend, and also the archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Anglican Church, came out with widely published protests against the pope’s blatant claim and denied it. Hence Stalin, with any residue of Russian Orthodox religion in him, had no reason to fear he was attacking the true Rock upon whom the true Church of Christ is built.

In line with the foregoing, we have before us a dispatch received over the International News Service wire on Sunday, November 2, 1947, and which reads, in part:

Attacks on the Vatican lessened, and a significant day in Soviet communist history was Aug. 21, 1941. On this day, when Nazi forces were nearing Moscow, the Soviet radio urged in a broadcast that “all God-loving inhabitants of the occupied countries” rise to defend their religious freedom against the Nazis whom it accused of “menacing the very existence of Christianity,” and trying to overthrow “Christ, the King.” On Nov. 9, 1942, Sergius, acting Patriarch of the Orthodox Russian Church, conferred the church’s official blessing on Premier Stalin for the first time, calling him “the divinely anointed leader of our armed and cultural forces.” On Sept. 3, 1943, Stalin reciprocated by re-establishing all the early rights and privileges of the Orthodox Church and the new Patriarch of all Russia, Metropolitan Sergius, was installed officially in the office. Attacks on the Vatican by the Russians were not resumed during the war until Feb. 1,1944, when Hitler’s star was setting. Izvestia, the official Soviet Government newspaper, then called the Vatican’s policy pro-Fascist and declared it had “earned the hatred and contempt of the Italian masses” and disillusioned Catholics throughout the world.

No informed student of the Holy Scriptures would think to link up the Communist party and its leader with the “gates of hell”. Why not? Because the Bible hell is not the Roman Catholic kind, but is simply the grave. Satan and his wicked demons were never in hell. But Jesus Christ went there, to stay there, not forever and ever, but for part of three days. And at Pentecost, fifty days from the resurrection of Christ, the apostle Peter said concerning David’s prophecy at Psalm 16:10: “Foreseeing this, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ. For neither was he left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised again, whereof all we are witnesses.” (Acts 2: 27, 31, 32, Douay) At this end of the world on the battlefield of the universal war of Armageddon, the man-made political states of all kinds will descend into hell, the Bible hell, to remain; and then the Vatican, which insists on union of church and state and which unites herself with political states by concordats and other means, will descend into that hell with her political paramours, never again to rise up. Then the “gates of hell” will close over her and prevail over her forever, and she will prove to be no more eternal than the “transient” political-party press that had the courage to expose her.

That finish of the Vatican will prove it is not founded upon “this rock”. Moses said concerning God: “I will proclaim the name of Jehovah: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. The Eock, his work is perfect;... For their rock is not as our Bock.” (Deut. 32:3, 4, 31, Am. Stan. Ver.) The Vatican’s rock is a man, an Italian aristocrat, but not the Eock of ages, Jehovah. (Isa. 26: 4, Am. Stan. Ver., margin) Christ Jesus is the only begotten Son of this Jehovah God, the everlasting Rock. Hence, when speaking to Peter, Christ Jesus likened himself to a rock; and Christ Jesus builds the true church upon himself as the Rock. He, the Rock, died for our sins and went down into hell, the grave; but its gates did not prevail against him, because the third day Almighty God, Jehovah, the great Rock of ages, raised his Son from the dead. Then the apostle Peter said to the Jewish court: “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.”—Acts 4:10-12.

Thus Peter disclaimed being the Rock on which the church is built. He agreed with our Savior that Christ Jesus builds his church upon himself as the foundation Eock. Therefore the members of the true church will not have the gates of hell shut them in forever at death, but in due time, at the establishment of God’s kingdom, Christ Jesus raises these faithful members of the church from the death condition in hell. Thus the true church in heaven will be eternal and reign with her foundation Eock Christ Jesus forever.

JOEL FORESEES JEHOVAH’S AVENGING

WHEN will Jehovah alone dwell in Zion and Judah know Jehovah is our God? So mused the prophet Joel as from the darkened Kidron valley he watched the lengthening shadows of the western hills creep up the towering temple porch that rose from the sacred hill. Now only its crown was illuminated. Soon that too would be in darkness. Within his heart he thought: Jehoram has been reigning less than a year, but, already, how dark the land has got. Though the hills are .still forested, and the valleys and plains give an abundance of fruit and grain; though the cattle are sleek and the flocks are increased, and the pastures are wide and green; though the brooks are not dry, and the oil and wine are not lacking, and our land looks like an Eden paradise; all is not right. That demon-worshiping foreigner, Athaliah, who infests our holy city, has ensnared her husband the king, and he, the nation. Baals appear in every town, polluting the land. Though good Jehoshaphat still lives, Jehoram has murdered faithful princes who in every town used to teach us the law of our God. Now the dwellers in the land forget their teaching and prefer the drunken revelries of Baal, which the new king sponsors. When I remind them that Jehovah is our God, they only scoff.—2 Chron. 17: 7-9; 21:2-4, 6, 11.

As Joel wondered when Jehovah would avenge his name and faithful worshipers, he felt God’s spirit clothe him.

He hears a zooming sound in the north. He sees the northern sky is dark. The zoom increases as the darkness extends overhead. The smoke-like cloud descends; it is locusts. “They look like horses, they run like war-horses, as chariots rattle, they leap on the hill-tops, like flames that crackle, consuming the straw, like a vast army in battle array. They rush on the city, run over the walls, climb into the houses and enter the windows like thieves.”—Joel 2: 4,5,9, Moffatt.

Joel feels an urge to speak. The first words God’s spirit moves him to utter call attention to the unusualness of the locust plague. One swarm after another brings about a complete desolation of the land, sparing neither man nor beast. No more wine for the Baalist topers; the vines are all ruined. The whole land is doomed.—1:2-6.

Famine results. The locusts consume even the bark from the trees, leaving only the bare, bleached branches. The prophet can hear the unfaithful priests howl and lament; for lack of grain, wine and oil they cannot continue their functions. Crop failures distress the farmers, and all men forget their mirth. He warns the priests to turn to Jehovah. Not even a prospect of crops remains; the barns are permitted to go to ruin. The herds dwindle, the flocks perish; prairie fires consume the pastures, the flames scorch all the trees. The water-courses are all dry. But Joel rejoices to hear one here and one there who heeds the warning and cries out to Jehovah.—1: 7-20.

Next, a command from Jehovah to blow a bugle-blast on his sacred hill of Zion to warn them of the great and terrible day of Jehovah. All the while, the locust pest and drought increase in their intensity. The skies grow blacker; the heat, more unbearable. The anguish of the Baal-worshipers mounts. Joel can see the flush of anxiety upon their faces. Nothing stops the orderly, tireless locusts. Jehovah’s thundering voice heard above the locust crackle leaves no doubt that he is their leader. Joel, realizing how great and terrible Jehovah’s day of avenging is, trembling cries out: “Who can abide it?”—2:1-11.

The prophet hears from Jehovah what His devoted ones can do to stand in the day of Jehovah: “Return to me with your whole heart, and with fasting, and weeping, and mourning.” (2:12, An Amer. Trans.) Jehovah calls all repentant ones, young and old, male and female, to assemble and the priests to plead for His people. In contrite expectancy Joel almost holds his. breath. “Then was Jehovah jealous for his land, and had pity on his people.”—2:12-18, Am. Stan. Ver.

As Jehovah promises to prosper his repentant people, Joel sees him break up the cloud of locusts, driving its van into the Dead sea, its rear into the Mediterranean, and the bulk of it into the southern desert, there to perish and rot. He can even smell their stench. The din is gone; the light is come. Joel gives a sigh of relief. Jehovah’s comforting assurance makes his joy complete: "Do not fear, 0 land! joy and rejoice, for Jehovah hath exerted Himself to work. . . . And ye have known that in the midst of Israel am I, and I am Jehovah your God, and there is none else.” —2:19-27, Young.

His joy overflows when he hears Jehovah promise yet another blessing for His repentant ones: "It shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Furthermore, upon the male and female slaves, in those days I will pour out my spirit.” Then wonders in heaven and earth: blood, fire and smoke for the false worshipers, but deliverance in Zion for all who call upon the name of Jehovah.—2:28-32, An Amer. Trans.

Joel’s joy at the prosperity, abundance and blessing of Jehovah’s repentant, reinstated people is interrupted: He suddenly sees the land is empty, Jerusalem and Judah without inhabitants. Where are they? In captivity, scattered among the nations! Far beyond the borders of Judah Joel sees a man bartering a Judean boy to pay for a harlot and another selling a Judean girl for wine, and then he sees him drink it. On the south he sees Egyptians and Edomites do violence to the children of Judah. (3:19) On the west he hears the Phoenicians and Philistines say, as they sell the Judeans to the Greeks: “They said our gods are no gods. Let this be their recompense.” What is that the enemy are carrying into the houses of their demon gods? Why, it is the treasure from the house of our God Jehovah! Joel’s heart is filled with sadness and indignation. He cries unto the Lord in his anguish. Then God’s further message brings him comfort: ‘When I bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, then I will gather all the nations, and bring them down into the valley of Jehovah’s judgment, where I will enter into judgment with them for their treatment of my people and of Israel my heritage, whom they scattered among the nations.’ Then he hears Jehovah address the scatterers: ‘Will you render me a recompense? And if you recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense on your own head.’ (3:1-6, An Amer. Trans., Moffatt, Am. Stan. Ver.) But what about the scattered people of God? wondered Joel. Jehovah continues addressing the scatterers: "I stir them up from the lands where you sold them; I will avenge your action on your own heads by selling your sons and daughters into the hands of the Judteans, and they shall sell them as slaves to the Sabteans, a remote nation.” Joel remembered hearing that the Sabean slavers were very cruel, and he thought, A fitting recompense!—3:7, 8, Moffatt.

Impelled by a desire to do something, Joel gladly accepts Jehovah’s command: "Proclaim this among the nations: Hallow war! Arouse the warriors! Let the fighting men approach and ascend! Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into lances! Let the weakling say, ‘I am a warrior.’ Haste and come, all you nations, and gather yourselves there from every side.” (3:9-11, An Amer. Trans.) In his heart Joel can already see the hosts of the nations assembled in the valley of Judgment, and, anxious for their execution, he breaks in with a prayer to God: “Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, 0 Jehovah.” (3:11,12, Am. Stan. Ver.) Jehovah continues: “Let the nations rouse themselves and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the nations from every side.” Then he hears what he has been waiting for; Jehovah says to his heavenly hosts: ‘Tut in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe! Go in, tread; for the wine-press is full! The vats overflow! For their wickedness is great.” —3:12,13, An Amer. Trans.

Joel sees the valley of decision filled and, while the din of the hordes is in his ears, he hears Jehovah roar from Zion. Heaven and earth shake, but Joel feels safe, remembering that Jehovah is his refuge and stronghold. Then, above the shrieks of the wicked nations as Jehovah’s hosts execute them, he hears Jehovah’s comforting words: "Egypt shall be lying desolate, Edom a desert stretch, for their outrage to the men of Judah, for innocent blood shed within their land, blood that I avenge at last; but Judah shall for ever be inhabited, Jerusalem from age to age, and evermore the Eternal [Jehovah] dwells in Sion.”—3:19-21, Moffatt.

At last Jehovah and his worshipers would be avenged! All along Joel had believed it; now he had God’s reassurance. Refreshed and encouraged, as he made his way home, he looked to the morrow when he would publish the message that God had given him. What was his surprise on reaching home to hear the news that King Jehoram had received a letter from the faithful prophet Elijah telling him that, because of his unfaithfulness to Jehovah, He would strike down the people and land with a plague. (2 Chron. 21:11-15) Quickly Joel went to his room, lit a lamp, and sat down to record the word of Jehovah that had come to him that day.—Joel 1:1.

Joel, in harmony with the meaning of his name, "Jehovah is God,” prophetically represented the witnesses of Jehovah on earth today, who proclaim that He is God and who declare against false worship, eating away, by the message they publish, the false teachings concerning God and his Word, just as the locusts Joel saw in his vision ate away everything pertaining to the false worshipers in Jerusalem and Judah. Just as Joel, they too look to Jehovah’s avenging his name and his people.

THE Lord Jesus in a parable revealed how people would react to the preaching of God’s kingdom by his faithful followers. This parable, recorded in the twenty-fifth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew, shows that some people would react like sheep, meek and teachable, confiding in those who have their interest at heart, while others would be like goats, stubborn, self-willed, opposers. The facts today exactly fit that parable.

For example, in the northern part of the United States some of Jesus’ faithful followers, Jehovah’s witnesses, sought to help any sheeplike ones that might be found in a certain little town, by giving a series of four public lectures setting forth Jehovah God’s purposes and his promised blessings for such sheeplike ones. While looking for a suitable place in which to give the series of lectures, Jehovah’s witnesses learned that the city hall was used regularly for meeting purposes by various organizations; so Jehovah’s witnesses asked the mayor for the use of it, but the mayor baldly replied that no organization was permitted to use the hall for meeting purposes. Other halls in town were also refused. Finally Jehovah’s witnesses found an empty store building. At first the owner refused to let Jehovah’s witnesses use it, but then, because his wife had read some of the Watchtower literature and enjoyed it, he agreed to let those ^faithful Christians use the building for the series of four talks. Jehovah’s witnesses paid the rent in advance and started to invite everyone to attend, in order not to miss any sheeplike ones that might be thereabouts.

When the mayor and the American Legion learned about it they tried hard to intimidate the owner into denying Jehovah’s witnesses the use of his building for the four lectures. The mayor told him that he didn't want Jehovah’s witnesses holding meetings in that town, and that, if he knew what was good for him, he would refuse them access to his property. He was coerced into refusing the use of his building for all except the first lecture. Another meeting place had to be found for the remaining three lectures. A small park there, run by the D.A.R., was also refused. Finally the last three lectures were given in the home of some sheeplike Christians. The stubborn goatlike opposition did not succeed in keeping Jesus’ faithful followers from proclaiming the same message that Jesus spoke while he was on earth.

In the southern part of the United States, too, both the goatlike and the sheeplike characteristics show up clearly in reaction to the proclamation of the truths that Jesus uttered. In the oldest city in the United States, St. Augustine, Florida, a group of faithful Christians carries on Jesus’ preaching amidst the stubborn opposition of the Roman Catholic Church (St. Augustine being a regional headquarters for the Roman Catholic cult). Jehovah’s witnesses of St. Augustine and near-by towns met together in St. Augustine for the discussion and proclamation of the heavenly kingdom that Jesus preached. They proclaimed it in the apostolic manner, from house to house and publicly, on the streets with the Watchtower magazine, and by public lecture. (Acts 20: 20) By such preaching they found many sheeplike people and now they are feeding them on spiritual provender. Many citizens on noticing the Christian behavior of Jehovah’s witnesses were heard to remark: “What well-behaved people!” “What clean-looking people!” “What a happy people!”

Sometimes the sheeplike reaction is weak at first, but that does not turn away the Good Shepherd’s faithful followers; but, rather, they patiently and kindly minister to such. For example, in the western part of the United States, a sheeplike person, because of a misunderstanding of what the Scriptures said, was discouraged in her misguided efforts to live up to such misconceptions. She seemed glad when one of Jehovah’s witnesses set her right on such Biblical questions, but did not accept further feeding. Six months later one of Jehovah’s witnesses visited her again and she was glad to learn more about God’s kingdom for about three or four weeks, but then again she lost her appetite for spiritual food. Eight months later her appetite returned and she and her family showed a strong sheeplike attitude and began to feed voraciously in the Lord’s pasture, tenderly looked after by the Good Shepherd’s followers.

But the fulfillment of Jesus’ parable about the sheep and the goats is not limited to the United States or any one country, but is taking place throughout the earth. On the other side of the globe, in the island continent of Australia, in an inland town in Queensland there lived only one witness of Jehovah, faithfully proclaiming God’s kingdom from house to house. Another faithful Christian minister came to town to proclaim it by means of a public lecture. These two faithful followers of Jesus began to invite everyone to come to hear the lecture. While doing so, one of them approached the occupants of a car parked by the sidewalk and extended to them the usual cordial invitation. The man in the car, a clergyman, expressed his surprise at finding Jehovah’s witnesses in that town and stated that their work infuriated him. He voiced his desire to stop their activity and said he was going to see that they did not give lectures there and was going to have them run out of town. Finally he started up his car and drove off in the heat of his temper, assuring Jehovah’s witnesses of his determination to carry out his threats. That meant a bigger effort than ever on the part of Jehovah’s witnesses to reach the sheeplike ones. Consequently they worked mornings, afternoons and evenings, preaching from house to house and distributing invitations to the lecture at every house, shop, and office, and on the streets, having confidence in the Lord’s blessing upon them and that any effort to stop that work would come to naught. They did receive God’s blessing on their efforts. Five sheeplike ones subscribed for The Watchtower and twenty heard the public lecture. The sheeplike and the goatlike reaction to the preaching of God’s kingdom was clearly manifested there.

In Maryborough, Victoria, Australia, while one of Jehovah’s witnesses was calling back on people who had acquired some of the Watchtower literature, he met a woman who inquired about Christ’s coming in 1914. After a long discussion she said she could not see that 1914 was the date of His return. About six weeks later he met her in town. She invited him and another minister of Jehovah’s witnesses out for a week-end. Jehovah’s witnesses accepted the invitation and played the lecture “Government and Peace” to six of her family. The next week these two of Jehovah’s witnesses moved to another town to preach God’s kingdom to the people there. Before long they received a letter from the sheeplike one. In that letter she said she had reread the booklet "Be Glad, Ye Nations'' and could see it was the Bible truth, and, also, that she could now clearly see that Christ’s coming did take place in 1914. A few weeks later she went on holidays, and, unable to keep the precious truth of God’s Word to herself, she spoke it to her landlady and her husband. The husband said he followed up British Israel. The sheeplike one said, “I too believed Britain was Israel, but the scripture says, ‘Out of Israel only a remnant will be saved.’ ” He showed interest at this and she lent him two Watchtower books to read. Commenting on this experience, she said in her letter to Jehovah’s witnesses: “The more I talk to others the firmer in belief I become that I am on the right side and that the Watchtower Society is God’s visible agent. But Satan has truly blinded the people, and I think it is a privilege to have a small part in the vindication of God’s holy name.” When the sheeplike ones feed upon the provender provided by the Great Shepherd, Jehovah, they delight in sharing it with others of similar sheeplike qualities.

FIELD EXPERIENCES

PLACING PAMPHLETS IN MONTREAL, QUEBEC

“In business I have placed many pamphlets over a period of some four years, since I have been in the truth. About two years ago there was a young man there who talked very intelligently on different subjects, but on Bible subjects he told me he thought I was crazy. He was an ardent French Catholic. I explained to him that I, too, had been a Roman Catholic and that since I had studied I could see where I had been fooled. I was new in the truth at that time and unable to handle God’s Word expertly. Lately I had occasion to telephone him, and he mentioned he had received one of our pamphlets, Quebec's Burning Hate. I was amazed to hear him say, ‘It’s all truth, the real truth. That’s what I like to hear. I’m glad to see all this brought to light.’ I mentioned that he had changed, and he said: ‘Yes, I have changed. I don’t go to church any more.’ He asked me to give him as many French copies of Quebec's Burning Hate as I could, that he wanted to give them out. So, from two years ago, when he was fighting mad because I spoke against the teachings of the Catholic church, to now, when he wants to take action against her himself, it seems a short time but a long hop.”

“On my first Saturday in the street-corner work in Montreal a well-dressed man came up to me and, on handing me $1.00, said: ‘This is to help you fight Duplessis.’ Another noon hour while in street-corner service I was asked for seven magazines within twenty minutes, and all were duly contributed for.”

BLASTING THE FALSE “NO SOUL" REPORT (JAMAICA)

“I am a pioneer working in a territory where Jehovah’s witnesses are called ‘No soul’, with great ridicule and opposition. On entering a home a week ago I had the chance of addressing a man and his wife together. As I introduced my mission they listened attentively but with marked indifference. The wife was the first to speak, asking if I was one of ‘them no-soul people’; and went on to tell me of her convictions and hopes as taught by her religion. I then told her that her arguments proved she has love for God and righteousness, and I was sure she would heed His admonition to reason. I then turned to the fifth chapter of 'Let God Be True’, namely, ‘What Is Man?’ and started to read from the caption ‘Man the Soul’, explaining as I read, showing them in their own Bible the marginal readings of Genesis 1:20, 30. When I reached the third paragraph I saw smiles of approval. The husband admitted not knowing the use of the margin before, and that he could see clearly that man as well as other living creatures are souls or have soul! The wife said it was never explained to her like that before. The husband .contributed for one of the books 'Let God Be True’ and they are looking forward to my calling back. I had a similar experience with a woman the same day. Also there is a meek ‘Friends minister’ on whom I have been calling. He took the book 'The Kingdom, Is at Hand’ and we studied it together. As soon as ‘Let God Be True’ came along, I introduced it to him. He obtained a copy, and we are now studying that book. He has admitted learning many things. For example, some time ago he delivered a sermon on the subject ‘What Is Man?’ but he now has much greater light on the subject. He also is convinced that man is a soul. Truly this is the time for all nations to praise Jehovah.”

FOR FREE WORSHIP IN QUEBEC (SASKATCHEWAN)

“While engaged in doing house-to-house work in my territory in the city I had an interesting experience, which I thought would be of interest to your office, as it concerns the Quebec issue. I called on Mr.------, M.P.,

C.C.F., for this constituency. He was very cordial, inviting me in, and opened the conversation himself on the Quebec situation, discussing it at some length. He said he was quite aware of the rotten state of affairs in Quebec, that we have no real democracy, and also that the situation was dynamite, politically. Mr.------ informed me that

the C.C.F. were preparing a bill guaranteeing freedom of worship, which will be introduced at the next session of Parliament. He admitted that Jehovah’s witnesses were carrying on vital educational work in Quebec, and that all Canada would benefit by our taking the issue to the courts. He also expressed his hope that we would carry our fight to the limit, and that they would be right behind us. This opened an excellent opportunity for a further witness. I presented the literature, with the result that he accepted 'The Prince of Peace' booklet and the leaflet Quebec’s Burning Hate, and after looking through the copy of Awake! he expressed his desire to subscribe for one year. He said he could not understand why we don’t vote, that he thought we had a lot in common, however, but use different methods. Much interest has been aroused here as elsewhere through distribution of the leaflet and publicity through the press. Many express their indignation and disgust with Quebec.”