JULY 15, 1948

“God’s Ministers” Testimony Pebiod .. 210

“Watchtower” Studies ..

“Awake!” _________________________

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"And all thy children shall he 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 “All 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 la published for the purpose of enabling the people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed in the Bible. It publishes Bible Instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah’s witnesses and all people of good-will. It arranges systematic Bible study for its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid in such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public Instruction in the Scriptures.

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

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“GOD’S MINISTERS” TESTIMONY PERIOD

Because the Testimony Period during the month of August is entitled “God’s Ministers”, that does not exclude any of our Watchtower readers. To be one of his ministers does not mean to be an ordained graduate from some sectarian religious theological seminary, it simply means to be one of his servants, spreading the gospel of his King and kingdom. You can be one of such by taking part with all of Jehovah’s witnesses during August in spreading his message by word of mouth and by printed page. The special offer for the month will be the combination of the book “The Kingdom Is at Hand” and the new booklet Permanent Governor of All Nations, on a contribution of 35c. Anyone willing to minister God’s message to the people can easily and quickly learn to present this offer from door to door with success and have the rare joy of singing God’s praises to all nations. Experienced ministers-stand ready to help any desiring to start out in this ministry during August, and your request to us by card will move us to put you in touch with the needed personal help and instructions. All participating in this midsummer Testimony Period should submit their report when August closes.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of August 22: “ 'Our Common Salvation,’ ” pp. 1-19 inclusive, The Watchtower July 15, 1948. Week of August 29: “Contending for the Faith,” pp. 1-18 inclusive, The Watchtower July 15, 1948.

“AWAKE!”

This magazine stepped into the field of public service at the Glad Nations Theocratic Assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses in August of 1946, and is published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc. It answers the rousing call for fearless information, not because we have entered the atomic age, but because the world is fast asleep near the brink of that universal war Scrip-turally called “Armageddon” and lovers of life in security need to be awakened to the real sense of the news and the pressing issues upon which to decide. Awake! is aimed to help them make a right decision that leads to life unending in the now-close New World of righteousness. It is a magazine of 32 pages devoted to news and information of world import, gained from world-wide sources. Its make-up is of fine appearance. Its leading articles, without compromise toward commercialism, politics and religion, present the straight facts, without fear to publish the plain truth. Much variety of interest is also provided in shorter articles of educational and instructive value. Under the heading “Thy Word Is Truth”, each number of Awake! offers a moderate-length discussion of Bible teachings of importance. A final section, headed “Watching the World”, makes note of the latest world news before going to press and gives the pith of all news items, uncolored, undistorted, concise. Awake! is published on the 8th and 22d of each month. A year’s subscription of 24 issues is $1, American money; individual copy, 5c; mailed anywhere.

ffieVWCHTOWER

ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM

Vol. LXIX                             July 15_% 1948                                  No. 14

JEHOVAH is the God to whom salvation is to be I ascribed. If all men but looked up above their ordinary pursuits and recognized that fact and acted in harmony with it, there would be the start of a great difference in earth’s affairs for human salvation. Certain American religionists have raised the prayer: “Savior of the world, save Russia.” The fear because of which they raise this prayer shows they are not saved themselves. They may mock at the suggestion, but, just the same, they stand faced with sudden destruction at the battle of Armageddon. Who will be saved, how can we be saved, from the wreckage of this world when its annihilation comes in the 'Tattle of that great day of God Almighty”? That is a realistic question now. In considering it we should disregard all the mocking to which we can expect to expose ourselves for not following the ideas of worldly-wise mockers. But Jehovah God has provided for the salvation of those who ascribe the glory, majesty, dominion and power for a righteous new world to Him. His salvation will work, and that is what honest lovers of life and happiness want. It is the thing worth contending for against all mockers and subversive elements.

² Some of our readers may exclaim: ‘Oh, I’m sure I’m saved already; I am a good paying member of a religious organization.’ Well, granted that you are now in a saved condition, still you have to admit that your salvation is not at its completion. Not yet; not if you perceive the dangers, the temptations and the conditions on earth that destroy faith in the Savior. You may have a favorite religious organization. Now if, in the great turmoil ahead, this should go down, where will your faith be then? How will you keep from stumbling and slipping then ? Is your faith such that it will survive such an event? Or do your faith and your saved condition rest upon the solid foundation? To use the Bible expression, Is yours ‘the faith that Jehovah God once for all delivered to his holy people’? It is by God’s grace that we are saved through faith. If you have that

1. What is the thing we want? and against whom do we contend for it? 2. What should we now determine regarding our faith, and why? faith and contend for it in order to hold it, it means your eternal salvation. If you do not have it, lose no time in. getting it. Then hold onto it till faith is fully rewarded. If we are all together in this effort, we are going to- share salvation in the new world together with all other faithful ones. We now need warning, and to warn us a disciple of the Messiah long ago wrote a letter, short but of the greatest importance today.

• ³ The writer’s name is Jude, or Judah. He was named after one of the twelve sons of the patriarch Jacob, from whom the twelve-tribe nation of Israel sprang. When this Jacob of old became father to Judah, then, we read about Leah his mother, “she said, This time will I praise Jehovah: therefore she called his name Judah.” Hence the name “Judah”, or Jude, means “praise”, particularly with reference to Jehovah God.—Gen. 29:35, Am. Stan. Ver.

• ⁴ Jude wrote his valuable letter about A.D. 65, or about thirty years after the death of Jesus of Nazareth.* In fact, he was a brother of Jesus. Not that Jude here tells us so, but he identifies himself as a brother of James, who was a brother of Jesus according to the flesh. (Matt. 13: 55; Gal. 1:19; Acts 15:13; Jas. 1:1) But Jude does not try to make capital of his being a fleshly brother of Jesus the Messiah, so as to get any glory for himself. There is a more important relationship to Jesus Christ than as a fleshly brother. It is a spiritual relationship. To this latter Jude points and confesses himself to be subject to Jesus. He does this in harmony with the Christian rule stated by the apostle Paul, that Christians henceforth know no brother according to what he is in the flesh. Though they had once known Christ according to the flesh, yet now, as God’s new creation, they know him no more in a fleshly sense. (2 Cor. 5:16,17) Accordingly Jude writes: “Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ, and the brother of James, to those who have been called, who are dear to God the Father and have been kept

• • See the book “Equipped for Every Good Work”, pages 264, 350-352.

• 3, 4. Who wrote the letter? and how was he related to Jesus Christ?

through union with Jesus Christ; may mercy, peace, and love be granted you in abundance.”—Jude 1,2, An Amer. Trans.

° It is not a self-degrading term for Jude to style himself as a “slave” of Jesus Christ. It shows humility upon his part, and how he is not seeking to glorify himself out of having been Jesus’ fleshly relative. But fleshly relationship carries little importance, for at one time, so John 7: 5 tells us, “neither did his brethren believe in him.” Only after Jesus’ resurrection did these doubting brethren believe upon him. To confess oneself as his “slave” counts more with true Christians than fleshly connection with Jesus Christ. Such slavery to him is a life-giving service, and is what makes us Christian brothers. It is what puts us all upon the same level. Just like slaves, we have been bought, yes, bought by Jesus by the value of his precious blood shed under the most painful circumstances. The apostle Paul reminds us of this when saying: “For a slave who has been called to union with the Lord is a freedman of the Lord, just as a free man who has been called is a slave of Christ. You have been bought and paid for; you must not let yourselves become slaves to men.” (1 Cor. 7:22,23, An Amer. Trans.) Besides being bought by our Master Jesus Christ for his everlasting service, for which he gives us everlasting life, we have been taken captive by his love and have willingly surrendered ourselves to him. As a slave Jude tried to please his Master Jesus Christ. He would try to please him by writing to fellow slaves what was most needful and profitable for them in serving Christ. Only after first mentioning his slavehood to Jesus Christ did Jude identify himself as a fleshly brother of James. He started his letter right.

⁰ Jude’s letter is not addressed to any particular local congregation of slaves of Jesus Christ, and is therefore a general one. Yet the letter is very definite as to to whom it is directed, for it is addressed "to those who have been called”. To what have all these Christian slaves been called¹? To a position higher and freer than that of the freest citizen of this world, freer than the greatest slaveholder or employer of the greatest number of industrial workers. So they have something of which to conduct themselves worthy. For this reason Paul writes to them: “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.” (1 Thess. 2:12) Slaves now of Jesus Christ, but also called by Jehovah God to the glorious kingdom of his Son in the heavens! This ordering of matters illustrates the wise rule of humility before glory. As Jesus said: “Whoever wants to hold the first place among you must be your slave.” (Matt. 20:27, An Amer. Trans.) What a wonderful salvation is in store for these Christian

• 5 . In what way did he start his letter right, and why?

• 6 To whom is the letter addressed? and why are they dear to God? slaves if they walk worthy of it to the end by loyally serving their Master to the death, despite having to bear all the reproaches that came upon him also! No wonder they are said to be beloved and dear to God their heavenly Father, and no wonder they are kept by him. He safeguards them because they are in union with his Son Jesus Christ and they are destined for membership with him in his kingdom. It is the heavenly Father’s good pleasure to give them the kingdom with Jesus if they prove their faith and obedience toward him to the end.

GOOD WISHES FULFILLED

¹ Jude opens his letter with the wish that mercy, peace and love may be multiplied to these dear called ones. That good wish of nineteen centuries ago carries over to us today in this “time of the end”. If we speak for the remnant of “called” ones yet alive on earth, we can say that expressions of divine mercy, peace and love have been granted us in abundance. Of course, we experienced these things when we believed and consecrated ourselves to God and received his forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ. But we have experienced them in special ways since A.D. 1918. That year brought the end of World War I, but it found the remnant of Jehovah’s witnesses on earth quite neglectful of their service to him as slaves of Jesus Christ. Why? Because they had a large amount of fear of men of this world who used governmental measures and violent means to try to suppress and destroy their work of publishing the good news of God’s kingdom to all nations. The remnant were still under the religious idea that the “higher powers” to which all Christian souls must be subject with fear and awe were the secular rulers of this world. Hence if these rulers yielded to their religious prejudices and framed mischief by unjust laws to ban Jehovah’s witnesses and forbid their God-given gospel work, then they must comply. (Rom. 13:1) Besides this, there were other religious soils from which they had not gotten clean and which marred their organization and hindered their free service as witnesses of the Lord God.

⁸ It was, therefore, a multiplying of his mercy to us when the God of salvation opened our eyes to see these sins and shortcomings and forgave us these unwitting transgressions after our confession. It was mercy on his part that he had not let the enemy destroy us, but kept us for Jesus Christ that we might further serve as slaves to him, carrying out his command for the end of the world: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matt. 24:14) He did not mercilessly hold

7. Why did the remnant need mercy to be multiplied since 1918? 8. How did God multiply mercy, peace and love to the remnant? onto his displeasure and anger toward us for our general failure during the period of World War I. No; but he restored us to peaceful relations with him by forgiving us in our repentance and delivering us from the slavish fear of worldly men. He broke the power of the Devil’s Babylonish organization over us and opened up to us new and grander privileges of serving him within his free organization. He cleared out the disturbers and filled the company of his restored, reorganized people with peace to do their work unitedly. Out of love he cleansed us from Babylonish religious soils. He opened up to us more fully the meaning of his Word, revealing to us the fulfillment of its prophecies and feeding us spiritually with fresh truths that imparted new strength. He disclosed that the birth of his kingdom had occurred A.D. 1914, when he enthroned his Son Jesus Christ in the heavens and commanded him to rule in the midst of his enemies till he had destroyed them and brought in a righteous new world.

• ⁸ Manifestly this turbulent, distressed world does not have the divine blessing and favor upon it. But Jehovah’s witnesses know they have God’s mercy, peace and love toward them in abundance. Thousands upon thousands of persons of good-will are beginning to realize this. Oh yes, persecutions are heaped upon these witnesses of the Most High God. Notwithstanding this, they have the evidences of mercy, peace and love such as religious Christendom and the rest of the world do not have. It is because of the evidences of the divine goodness toward these that Christendom and all the world hate and persecute them. But the people of good-will flock to their side. They too want to share in the good things that Jehovah God is showering down upon his faithful remnant of “called” ones. The remnant lovingly welcome these people of good-will, these “other sheep” whom the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ the King hunts and gathers. Together, the remnant and these “other sheep” rejoice that God’s kingdom long prayed for is now here and that shortly Jehovah’s King Jesus Christ will finish his rule amidst his enemies by wiping them out in the universal war of Armageddon. Thus, as one peaceful flock safeguarded by the Good Shepherd, the remnant and the goodwill “sheep” joy together in God’s love and mercy. The prayer of Jude’s letter has been abundantly answered upon them.

HOW “COMMON”?

• ¹⁰ Having together entered into these loving-kindnesses and benefits from on high, we need, more now than ever, to give heed to the faithful exhortation of Jude. He prayed that the divine mercy, peace

• 9. (a) How does Christendom act toward them? (b) How do the “other sheep”?

• 10. From writing on what subject did Jude change, and why? and love might increase toward us, and not decrease and finally cease. This is possible. Hence he writes: “Beloved, my whole concern was to write to you on the subject of our common salvation, but I am forced to write you an appeal to defend the faith which has once for all been committed to the saints.” (Jude 3, Moffatt) This indicates that Jude had been inclined to write in a general way about “our common salvation”. But by the spirit of inspiration God made Jude aware that something more forceful and rousing was needed than mere doctrine on the common salvation, something urgently needed to make that salvation sure to them, by God’s grace. What the circumstance was that inspired him to turn from explanation of the common salvation to stirring exhortation we shall see.

• ¹¹ First, however, what is this “common salvation”, and in what way is it common? This expression that Jude uses in the original Greek is one that occurs in the literary common Greek by non-Christian writers of his day. By them it meant “the safety of the state”.* But Jude uses the expression in a Christian sense and with no reference to the political states, in bilingual Palestine or elsewhere. He is writing to those called to the kingdom of God, which kingdom is not of this political, commercial, religious world. Hence the salvation has reference to that kingdom and is a salvation of those called to it. It is common, but not in the sense of being low-grade, ordinary, for the Kingdom is Jehovah’s capital organization through which he now rules the universe. The salvation is “common” in that it is shared equally and alike by all those in the group of called ones; it is shared in common by them all. Hence they are exclusively God’s kingdom-class and he has made them a nation separate and different from all the nations of this earth.

• ¹² They were foreshadowed by the nation of the twelve tribes of Israel, to whom Jehovah said by his prophet Moses: “If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” (Ex. 19: 5, 6) For lack of belief in Jesus the Messiah, the Israelites failed to realize that divine promise. As a people they failed, but thousands of individuals showed the required faith in Jesus Christ and were called to the kingdom with him. In God’s appointed time he called men and women with faith from among the non-Jewish peoples. He formed all these believers, Jew and Gen-

• • See A. Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, by A. T. Robertson, page 125, edition of 1923.

• 11. What Is this “common salvation”, and how is it “common”? 12. (a) Who foreshadowed this new nation? (b) Who make it up? tile alike, into his new spiritual nation. The apostle Peter bears out this fact, saying to the called and chosen ones: “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (1 Pet. 2:9) This is the nation to which Jude now belonged and whose salvation he meant.

“ Jude wrote at a time when the Good Shepherd had not yet begun to gather the “great multitude” of “other sheep” who were foreseen in the Revelation to the apostle John. (Rev. 7:9-17) Jude was not writing about a salvation that is common to this great multitude or to other faithful ones of mankind. While this present-day multitude of “other sheep” are not included in the “common salvation” of which Jude wrote, nevertheless these dear ones of mankind have good prospects of eternal life before them. All the rest of the Bible is full of divine assurances, promises, and prophecies that they do. Their hope is one of eternal life in the new world as much as that of the remnant of the “little flock” is. But they are not of the spirit-begotten class who are called to the Kingdom and heavenly glory with Jesus Christ. In consequence of this their hope is one of life unending on this earth brought to a global paradise condition by the kingdom of Jesus Christ with his called ones. God’s kingdom is the means for blessing them. Their salvation is dependent upon the Kingdom. The King Jesus Christ died to save them as well as his little flock of called ones, for “he is himself an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world”. (1 John 2: 2, An Amer. Trans.) This is a salvation which the Devil begrudges them. He is now trying to cheat them of it. Their salvation is a precious part of the faith once delivered to the saints in Jude’s day, and it must be unremittingly contended for until the prize is gained by these “other sheep”.

¹⁴ For a “common salvation” we must have a “common faith”, and that we do have, unlike Christendom with her hundreds of religions. (Titus 1:4) The “faith” is the sum of beliefs concerning Jehovah God and his kingdom as delivered to us by Jesus Christ and his inspired disciples. It is based upon the ancient Hebrew Scriptures, to which Jesus constantly made reference to support what he taught, and also upon the teachings which Jesus gave as the Son of God sent down from heaven. It is the gospel or good news concerning God’s “own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”.—2 Tim. 1: 9,10.

13. How la salvation for “other sheep” related to common salvation? 14. What Is the “common faith”?

“ This is the gospel faith that was delivered nineteen centuries ago to the saints “once for all”, and for that reason there is no other gospel. There will never be another gospel given. What has been delivered to us remains the faith, because it is sufficient to accomplish God’s good purpose. It is the good news that Jehovah God had in his prophetic view in the garden of Eden when he said that ‘The Seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the Serpent, who had started sin upon this earth’. The Devil would like to turn the heirs of salvation aside from the true faith of the gospel by counterfeiting the true and foisting a false gospel upon God’s people. There was danger, said the apostle Paul, that some Christians would be removed from God’s favor to “another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed”.—Gal. 1:6-9; 2 Cor. 11: 3, 4.

• ¹⁸ The Devil would like to make us let go our grip on this precious faith and give it up. In all earnestness, then, we have to struggle and wrestle and contend against the shams and diversions ■with which the Devil tries to win us away. It is a “precious faith”, well worth contending for, because it leads to everlasting salvation. (2 Pet. 1:1) By a sham gospel the adversary wilily tries to adulterate our faith and confuse us and make us be conformed to this world’s beliefs and ways. This leads to self-deception and destruction. The Devil makes it his business to add to or take away from the written Word of God so as to bring contradiction into it, confuse our understanding, and turn us to the philosophies of unbelieving “wise men” of this world.

• ¹⁷ There is but the one gospel which was once for all delivered to God’s holy people, the one delivered in purity by the Lord Jesus Christ and his inspired apostles and disciples. Hence the way for us to contend for the true faith is to hold fast to that original gospel in its purity; to go back always to it in cases of doubt or dispute; and to measure any new, foreign suggestions by means of it as the canon or straightedge of faith. That means to go back to the written Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation. If we let this slip from us, there is no escaping destruction. “God . . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, . . . How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the holy [spirit], according to his own will!” —Heb. 1:1,2; 2:3,4.

• 15. How la It a faith delivered “once for all”?

• 16, 17. Why must we contend for this faith? and how do we?

• ¹⁸ It goes without saying that the remnant of God’s called ones must earnestly stand in defense of the faith against all invasion attempts by the Devil and his agents. When we resist what these enemies of the faith have to offer, persecution is raised to make us compromise with the world and its encroachments upon our faith. Now that Jesus Christ has begun his heavenly rule in the midst of all his enemies, including those on earth, we live in the days of the coming and presence of the Son of man. To indicate the great difficulty we would have in holding fast the pure faith in this time of struggle for world domination, Jesus said: “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Not any more faith than in the days of Noah before the flood. (Luke 18:8) If we consider the sore persecution that has come upon the upholders of true, unadulterated faith since A.D. 1914, this is a time of struggle and

• 18. How did Jesus and Revelation show faith would be tested now? testing. Indeed, it began when the witnesses of Jehovah were taken captive by the Devil’s visible organization during World War L To mark this as a time of special proving of our adherence to the true faith, Revelation, chapter 13, describing that organization as a wild, vicious beast, says: ‘^Whoever is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes: whoever kills with the sword, by the sword must he be killed. This is what shows the patience and the faith of the saints.” —Rev. 13:10, Moffatt.

• ¹⁸ Now the Good Shepherd’s “other sheep” as well as the remnant of “saints” must show good endurance and unbreakable adherence to the faith once for all delivered to the saints. As we cling together in the Lord, we strengthen and uphold one another to do so. Beholding our steadfastness, others take courage to adopt this glorious faith, and the number of “other sheep” goes on increasing.

• 19. How do the “other sheep” take courage to adopt this faith?

CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH

THIS twentieth century is not the first time that an enemy has filtered in trained workers into another nation to undermine that nation, weaken it, overturn it and bring it under control of the enemy. Those are the tactics that God’s enemy, Satan the Devil, began using in the first century against God’s “holy nation” in the midst of a hostile world. All the consecrated members of this holy nation are called to God’s heavenly kingdom with Christ. They are heirs of a “common salvation” to that kingdom. God keeps his holy nation for Jesus Christ, and He will save the nation to the Kingdom. But certain individuals that were once members of the nation will not share in that “common salvation”. This is due to those individuals themselves. They may now, in common with other called ones, be holding a hope of final salvation, yet that is no certain guarantee that they will see that hope realized. Our being now in a saved condition is no reason for imagining we cannot be moved, forced or drawn out from that place of refuge and thereby not make our salvation eternal. The adversary is opposed to God’s purpose of saving a holy nation unswervingly devoted to Him. He uses various means to bring about the destruction of as many as he can of those in that saved condition, to the reproach of God. One of his tactics is to introduce slyly in among the ranks of the holy nation persons that will serve his nefarious purposes. This makes it necessary for those who want to make their salvation a fully realized thing to contend earnestly for the faith that saves, once for all delivered to God’s saints.

• 1. Do all in Une for the common salvation gain It? and why?

² Contention, or standing up in defense, is forced upon God’s people. God permits it to test the integrity and devotion of his holy nation to him. We have to contend thus, or stand up in defense, not only in our congregations against any infiltered enemies, but also in our preaching the gospel from house to house. Testing by this method is good for God’s people, to make them strong and immovable. Explaining why he exhorts the people of God to contend for the apostolic faith, Jude says: “For some people have sneaked in among us—their doom was foretold long ago—godless persons, who turn the mercy of our God into an excuse for immorality, and disown our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”—Jude 4, An Amer. Trans.

’ Until Jude wrote his letter, about A.D. 65, some thirty years after Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, there had been plenty of time for foreign elements, persons with devilish designs, to worm their way in among God’s people. Even the Hebrew Scriptures had warned that such enemy agents would steal their way in. About ten years before Jude’s letter (or about A.D. 56) the apostle Paul had warned of the same thing, saying: “I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” (Acts 20:29,30) Jesus had pictorially described the same enemy movement. He gave the parable of the tares, in which the Devil sows the bearded darnel seed, or “children of the wicked one”, in among the good seed, or “children of the

• 2. Why does God let contending for the faith be forced upon us?

• 3. How was the sneaking Ln of such godless men foretold? kingdom”, and does so stealthily by night when men are sleeping. (Matt. 13:24-43) The result has been the corrupt organization of Christendom, with its tremendous falling away from the faith once for all delivered to the saints nineteen centuries ago.

‘ Now we are thirty years past the momentous year A.D. 1918. Bible prophecy, made plain by the spirit of God in the face of world events in fulfillment, indicates that then the reigning King Jesus Christ came to the temple of God for judgment work. Malachi 3:1-5 foretold that this judicial Messenger of God would cleanse the temple of all foreign, injurious elements, just as Jesus Christ did when he came to the typical temple in Jerusalem. To be sure, Christendom and her religious systems have not been cleansed since A.D. 1918, but have grown more corrupt and worldly, have supported a second world war, and now approve the preparations for a third. But look at the witnesses of Jehovah, the most hated and persecuted minority group in all the earth. Their irrepressible zeal for the gospel service of God proves they are consecrated to Him as followers in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. The recent history of their faith, organization and activities proves they have undergone a continuous purification from all soils of this world and a purging of their ranks from undesirable elements. Even the heavy persecution against them has served to purify their ranks and to sever them farther apart from this world. By their fearless zeal in God’s service they show His spirit has been poured out upon them. It is the King and Judge, Christ Jesus, at Jehovah’s temple, who has been thus purifying the remnant of God’s holy nation. It is evident proof that he did come to God’s spiritual temple in the spring or Memorial season of A.D. 1918.

⁵ Honest men love a clean organization. God’s purpose is to have now on earth a clean organization of his people, to which his Good Shepherd can assemble the "great multitude” of “other sheep”. Hence God orders those who bear the vessels of his temple for use in his service to be clean from all Babylonish or worldly contamination. (Isa. 52:11; 2 Cor. 6:17) Having now sent his Messenger-Judge to the temple for the cleansing of those worshiping at it, Jehovah God promises that his temple class shall be kept pure. The enemy forces shall never again defile it. However, droves of "other sheep” are now being gathered to the side of the remnant, and they are joining these in ‘serving God day and night at his temple’. (Rev. 7:15) The Devil would like to infiltrate injurious, evil-designing individuals among them. With Jesuitic craftiness he would like to work them in among the Theocratic organization of God’s people, to start a work of defilement from within.

• 4. Who show a purification since A.D. 1918, and how?

• 5. Despite this purification, why may we not relax our guard?

Even with God’s promise to keep his organization clean, even with his angels on duty to gather out of His kingdom-class all offenders and workers of lawlessness, there is a need to watch. Our reigning King has cast Satan the Devil out of heaven down to the earth, where he now has great wrath and makes war against the remnant and their great multitude of good-will companions. He is out to injure, disrupt, destroy. (Rev. 12:12-17) So we dare not relax our guard among our local groups, for the Devil is still trying his old tactics. All the strict means for straining out or debarring enemy agents and keeping him from gaining a foothold among us must be kept raised up and ever applied.

• Those who now slip in through some craftiness will not succeed in subverting or undermining and defiling the organization as a whole, although they may do injury locally with some individuals. But even this is to be regretted and to be guarded against jealously. Let persons who do slyly get inside know that doom was foretold for such kind as them long ago, and the Lord God will speedily execute it now through his angels. From the start these persons do not sincerely fear God. They do not seek admittance into the organization with the clean desire of learning about him to serve him and worship him. They do not look at the organization and its members with pure eyes and chaste motives. Peter describes them as "having eyes full of adultery [or, an adulteress], and that cannot cease from sin; enticing unstedfast souls; having a heart exercised in covetousness.; children of cursing”. Or, as a modern translation renders Peter’s description: "They have eyes for nobody but adulterous women—eyes insatiable in sin. They lure unsteadfast souls. Their hearts are trained in greed. They are accursed!”—2 Pet. 2:14, Am.Stan. Ver., margin; and An Amer. Trans.

' Worldly men have been heard to say, Til propose immoral relations with this girl and that, and the first girl that refuses me, I’ll marry her as a faithful girl.’ The Devil tries to corrupt God’s organization by insinuating persons of such a mind in among the Lord’s pure-hearted people, to try to lure and entice unsteady souls into pleasurable sin. These evil-minded persons see the grace and mercy that God has extended to his people in forgiving their sins through Christ’s precious sacrifice. They observe that among God’s consecrated people are those who were once fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, men of unnatural vice, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners, such as are named by the apostle Paul at 1 Corinthians 6:9,10. So they think that if God forgave a person for fornication, adultery, sodomy, and such things, in the past, he will be gracious and merciful enough to forgive a

• 6, 7. (a) Will those sneaking in succeed? and how do they look at the organization? (b) How do they reason on God’s mercy toward sin? person if he intentionally and willfully goes after such sinful things again. They think they can go in for a season of enjoying the pleasures of sin whenever they like or feel the urge. All they have to do is to go through a form of repentance and good behavior and ask God’s forgiveness, taking advantage of his grace. Thus they can continue among God’s people, until the next time that they want to seek further indulgence in sin among the Lord’s people, if they can persuade others by false, impure reasoning to yield to their subtle advances.

⁸ Such persons are guilty of “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness”. They pervert the grace of our God into immorality. They overlook the fact that, although the apostle told the consecrated believers, “Such were some of you,” he also added, “But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God.” (1 Cor. 6:11) They do not appreciate that God was gracious and merciful to us in washing us from our sins in Christ’s blood, not for us to yield to the cravings of our fallen flesh and go back to the former filth and uncleanness now and again, but for us to pursue determinedly the way of righteousness henceforth. The faithful person that appreciates this purpose of the grace and mercy of God will not pervert it presumptuously. He will contend for the faith once delivered to the saints by indignantly resisting the advances and suggestions of ungodly persons who creep in among us unawares. We know we are the slaves of Jesus Christ bought with blood for the service of God, in obedience to the example of our Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Hence if we yielded unsteadily to ungodly persons and took up the service of sin for the selfish pleasure of our flesh, it would be denying, yes, disowning Jesus Christ as Master and Lord. True to the faith once delivered, we refuse to do this. By this course we have part with Christ in vindicating Jehovah’s name.

SOMETHING OF WHICH TO BE REMINDED

’What Jude now shows those who share in the hope of “our common salvation” is that this salvation is not yet a closed matter, all sealed up and delivered to us beyond loss and failure. He points out that, despite our being now in the saved condition, we of the remnant can fail of “our common salvation”. How? By not contending for the faith. Just succumb to the enticements of the ungodly persons who pervert God’s grace into an excuse for immorality and worldliness and whose course disowns our Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Jude has already stated that such impious persons had their doom foretold long ago; but how? By the historical record of the Bible. It tells us of such kind of persons in connection with

8 How do we contend for the faith against such men, and why? 9. How can we fail of salvation, and how does Jude remind us?

God’s people in ancient times and of the sentence of destruction that He executed upon them. These were precedents or types of what God will do in like cases now. Let such persons of today know definitely that, before they ever start within the Lord’s organized people into which they have sneaked for unclean, selfish purposes, they are doomed. Let them read their doom, and also let us read how it is possible to fail of final salvation by yielding to such doomed ones, as we quote Jude’s words:

⁹Now I want to remind you, though you know it already, that he who brought the people safely out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed the ones who did not believe, and the angels who neglected their responsibilities and abandoned their homes he has put in everlasting chains to be kept in darkness for the judgment of the great Day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns which like them indulged in immorality and unnatural vice stand as a warning, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”—Jude 5-7, An Amer. Trans.

• ¹⁰ Egypt was a type of this world, where our Lord Jesus was impaled as “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”. (Rev. 11:8; John 1:29, 36) Jehovah God saved the Israelites and the mixed multitude of good-will people out of Egypt. Before ever he did so, they killed the typical passover lamb and sprinkled its blood on the doorways and ate its flesh roasted with fire that night. Their firstborn of man and animal were saved from the death that struck all the firstborn of Egypt not partaking of the benefits of the passover lamb. The next day the Israelites and mixed multitude marched out of Egypt and later marched through the Red sea, God saving them all from death or re-enslavement by destroying all the heavily armed Egyptian pursuers in the midst of the sea. Then the command of God their Savior was that they should not return to worldly Egypt again. (Ex. 13:17; Deut. 17:16) Note, now, what those dramatic events prefigured: Those whom God saves from this world recognize Jehovah as God and Jesus Christ as the passover Lamb whose blood buys them out of this world. They confess, “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” (1 Cor. 5:7) They have been thus saved from this world, but with the understanding that they should never return to it and its sinful bondage.

• ¹¹ However, does this initial salvation from Satan’s world mean we are unalterably saved to everlasting life in the new world without any possibility of failure now? Not if those Israelites with their mixed multitude are a true illustration. God, one time their Savior, destroyed a million or more of them in the wilderness. Why? Because these “believed not”, yielded to temptation and rebelled.

• 10. What was forbidden to Israel after salvation from Egypt? and why’ 11, 12. How did they show our final salvation is not yet certain?

• ¹² The apostle Paul uses the same illustration to warn us here at the end of the world that our being saved from this world at the beginning of our Christian career is no final proof that we shall share in the "common salvation” when the new world begins. He emphasizes that Israel as a whole experienced a common salvation from Egypt and as a nation the Israelites finally entered into the Promised Land of milk and honey, but that hundreds of thousands of individuals perished before entry into the Promised Land was made. Paul states the reason for their failing to attain the final salvation into the land of promise: “Still most of them disappointed God, for they were struck down in the desert. Now these things happened to warn us, so that we should not long for what is evil as they did. You must not become idolaters, like some of them, for the Scripture says, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to dance.’ Let us not practice immorality, like some of them, twenty-three thousand of whom fell dead in one day. Let us not try the Lord’s patience too far, as some of them did, for they were killed for it by the snakes. You must not grumble, as some of them did, for they were destroyed for it by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as a warning to others, but they were written down to instruct us, in whose days the ages have reached their climax. So the man who thinks he can stand must be on his guard against a fall.” (1 Cor. 10:1-12, An Amer. Trans.) Whether we are of the remnant of called ones or are of the “great multitude” of “other sheep”, we must all be on guard. We must contend for the faith.

ANGELS NOT EXEMPT FROM FALLING TO DESTRUCTION

• ¹³ We are men, made a little lower than the angels. (Ps. 8:5; Heb. 2:9) Yet, because angels are free moral agents like ourselves and mortal, they are not free from all possibility of falling to their destruction. Their having access to God and beholding the face of our heavenly Father is a blessed privilege that they have, but even from this high estate in life they can fall. Why, right now there are angels that once enjoyed the light of the favor of Jehovah God and the light of the knowledge of his purpose but that are now under sentence to destruction. What false step led them to this terrible result? It was their departing from the clean, holy condition in which God created them and departing from the responsible place in his heavenly organization to which he had assigned them. They were created holy spirit creatures, perfect and glorious; they had the opportunity for eternal life in heaven before them. That was their beginning, their original or first estate. They were not amphibious creatures, meant

• 13. (a) Why are angels subject to falling? (b) What is their habitation? to live partly in heaven as spirits and partly upon earth as humans. The invisible heavens were their home, their habitation, where they should live righteous lives in God’s service in full harmony with their holy beginning.

• ¹⁴ How did angels with such a favorable start come into their present “everlasting chains to be kept in darkness for the judgment of the great Day”? As in the case of other creatures since, they did not choose to continue in the righteousness of their original estate. They yielded to Satan the Devil after he rebelled against Jehovah God and brought sin into this world. In the ancient world before the Flood, and particularly during the six hundred years of Noah’s life before that catastrophe, they decided to mix in directly with the wickedness of mankind. Says Genesis 6:4: “There were giants in the earth in those days.” Such giants were those fallen angels, in the Devil’s service.* They did not keep their position of responsibility to God but went over to the service of His enemy. In pursuance of this, they left heaven, which is the home of spirit creatures, and transferred their home to this earth. They did so by materializing in visible human flesh as “giants”, to domineer over wicked humankind. They wanted close fleshly associations.

• ¹⁵ For joining Satan’s rebellion, God sentenced them to destruction with Satan. The Flood did not destroy them with mankind, for then they merely dematerialized their giant fleshly bodies and returned to their proper home or habitation in the spirit world. But they did not return to their original estate of righteousness inside God’s universal organization, with responsibilities laid upon them by Him and enjoying the light of His approval and counsel. No, but God has restrained them with chains that have held them since he sentenced them until now, “everlasting chains”. These are not chains such as we humans know, but are God’s powers of restraint by which he has kept them “in darkness” respecting his arrangements and purposes. In this restrained condition and under sentence of destruction they are kept in reserve until Almighty God executes his judgment against all of Satan’s organization in this great day. Then their sentence of destruction will be executed. (Rev. 20:1,2; Mark 1:23-27) So angels fell to destruction. We could yet do so.

• ¹⁶ The Lord God is decidedly against fornication and sodomy, and on this account fiery destruction poured down upon Sodom and Gomorrah, more than 450 years after the Flood. Two angels of God materialized in flesh and went to Sodom, a city in which there were not even ten righteous persons, but only

• • See the 64-page booklet entitled “Angels”.

• 14. Why did they leave their first estate and their habitation? IS. In what are they restrained, and reserved to what?

16. Particularly for what sin were Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed? Lot, who had moved in with his wife and two daughters. The angels went to Sodom, not to indulge the passions of the flesh with the wicked population, but to inspect the city’s moral conditions and to rescue Lot from the destruction overhanging the place. By close personal observation these angels found that the Sodomites had “given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh”. The men not only delivered themselves to fornication with women but also went after relations with flesh other than female flesh, namely, the flesh of men, besides, no doubt, the flesh of brute beasts. (Lev. 18:22-25) The two angels turned in for the night at Lot’s house, and then, the record says: “They had not lain down to rest before all the townsmen, the inhabitants of Sodom, beset the house, young and old from every quarter, shouting to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to visit you to-night! Bring them out to us that we may rape them.’” They lusted more hotly for male flesh than for female, for they refused Lot’s offer of his own daughters for the purpose of intercourse in order to protect the two angels appearing as men. (Gen. 19:4-9, Moffatt) That capped the climax, and the next morning, at sunrise, fire and sulphur rained down upon Sodom, Gomorrah and near-by cities. Lot and his daughters escaped to Zoar just in time.—Gen. 19:10-30.

• ¹⁷ Like the angels that left their proper habitation in the invisible heavens, the inhabitants of all those burned-up cities went after the satisfaction of the flesh. It brought sudden destruction upon them by means like fire bombs dropped from airplanes in World War H. They suffered the punishment of 17. How is the fire with which they were punished eternal?

“eternal fire”. Its being called “eternal” does not mean the sulphurous fire still burns at those city sites today. In fact, the charred ruins of those cities lie under water, according to the latest maps of Palestine, which represent Sodom, Gomorrah and Zoar as lying beneath the waters of the southern end of the Salt (Dead) sea, just below the peninsula that juts into the sea.* So the meaning is that the fire resulted in eternal destruction to those cities. That is the meaning of the “lake of fire burning with brimstone” described in Revelation 19: 20; 20:10,14,15; 21: 8. The Sodomites, etc., were not tormented eternally in that fire. They are “set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire”.—Jude 7; Am. Stan. Ver.

• ¹⁸ For whom are they an example of warning? Peter answers: “Unto those that after should live ungodly.” (2 Pet. 2: 6) Let those who sneak in and try to defile God’s holy organization beware. Those Sodomites were destroyed for burning with desire to defile the flesh of Jehovah’s holy angels. So these impious, ungodly persons are under doom to eternal destruction just as complete as if accomplished by fire and brimstone. May all of God’s sincere people take warning and not consider even momentarily the enticements of such doomed persons who sneak in with devilish cunning. In the hope of eternal salvation to be realized in the new world may we all resist such persons and so avoid their fate, by defending and contending earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to God’s saints.

• • See The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible, 1945 edition, page 62, Plate X.

• 18. Who should take warning, and what course should they follow?

POLITICS AND DEMONISM

POLITICIANS have always required worldly religion and used it as their handmaid. From the time of ancient Babylon and ancient Egypt on down to this very hour the visible ruling factors of all worldly nations have had their “wise men”, astrologers, soothsayers and other demon-controlled religionists at hand for counsel and advice. Such rulers have always called for “more religion”, whether it was a so-called “state religion” or an ecclesiastical religion. To this very day the rulers in the Occident continue advocating more religion, saying that ‘the religion of your individual choice is all that is necessary, whether that religion be Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or Mohammedan. Any one of these meets the requirements, just so you have religion.’ Even in the United States where separation of church and state is constitutionally required the president and the governors of the forty-eight states say: ‘We must have more religion; otherwise the government of the United States cannot stand.’

Without an exception, however, the religionists of Christendom have always opposed the real and true servants of Jehovah God and Christ Jesus. Their opposition shows that the religion they have proceeds from the same source as Babylon’s religion of old time, namely, from Satan the Devil, “the prince of the demons,” who is the chief adversary of God and Christ and all who follow Christ. Note, now, some of the Scriptural proof upon this point.

Nimrod was the founder of Babel or Babylon, and, as its dictatorial ruler, he made religion the leading factor of his government, in opposition to Jehovah God. The brief account at Genesis 10: 8-10 reveals that fact. As to ancient Egypt, the king Pharaoh set himself up as a mighty one and was worshiped as a god by his servile subjects. When the Israelites were held slaves in Egypt, Pharaoh set himself in full opposition to the servants of Almighty God. Moses and Aaron appeared before this political ruler and delivered the message of Jehovah God to him, and to back up the message they performed certain miracles. But the account at Exodus 7:11, 12 tells us: “Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like maimer with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods/’ Those magicians and sorcerers were the visible representatives and mediums of Satan’s demons, influencing and inducing the king Pharaoh to put himself in direct antagonism to the Almighty God. Each time Jehovah’s appointed servant appeared before Pharaoh he called upon the sorcerers, magicians, and representatives of the practice of demon religion, to appear before him and perform their powers, until they at last had to admit they were outdone. —Ex. 8:7, 18, 19; 9:11.

Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king who destroyed Jerusalem in 607 B.C., had his demon mediums or representatives always on hand to give advice, whether out on military expeditions or at court. (See Ezekiel 21:21-23; Daniel 1:20; 2:2.) Those demon representatives were in complete opposition to Jehovah God and his servants. This is proved by the fact that God gave to his servant Daniel wisdom and power to tell the king’s dream and to explain to Nebuchadnezzar its meaning, but those practitioners of demon religion were unable. “Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; but there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; as for thee, 0 king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.” (Dan. 2:27-30; 4:7) With such words Daniel exposed the demons as false gods whom the astrologers, magicians and soothsayers worshiped, but proved that Jehovah is the true, living God.

The Israelites, of whom Daniel was one, would have gotten protection from the influence and power of the demons had they obeyed God’s commandments and kept their covenant with him and avoided demon religion. Instead, they as a nation demanded a king, and God let them have a king, Saul. This man, their first king, quickly embraced devil religion. Being influenced by it, he violated God’s commandment and rebelled against His sovereignty. Then Samuel, the prophet and visible representative of Jehovah, delivered to king Saul this message from the Most High: “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” (1 Sam. 15:22, 23) Thereafter Saul, who continued to hold the office of king, made himself a further abomination before Almighty God by seeking advice from a demon medium, the witch of Endor, who lied to Saul and led him further into the Devil’s snare.—1 Sam. 28: 7, 8.

Saul, under the influence of demons, fell to persecuting David the true servant of Jehovah. This persecution Saul carried on for about thirteen years while at the same time he kept up an appearance of godliness. Thus Saul the politician had an outward form of godliness, but denied the supreme power of Almighty God, just as the political religionists do in this present day. Because Saul embraced the demon religion he went into darkness concerning God’s purpose and continued ever afterward in darkness, and had no truth or revelation from Almighty God. (Contrast Exodus 22:18 and 1 Samuel 28: 6-18.) This action of Saul was in direct violation of God’s law governing demon religion and its practice. It violated Leviticus 19: 26, 31, which reads: “Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.”

Saul’s death was because he rebelled against Jehovah God in a manner similar to that rebellion of the Devil against God at the beginning. Naturally, then, Saul sought advice of a woman who was a demon medium. “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it; and enquired not of the Lord: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.” (1 Chron. 10:13,14) This ought to be a warning to all the religious clergy and the principal ones of their flock, namely, the politicians, judges and commercial men, who do not, however, appear to heed it but continue to say to the people: “What we need is more religion.” And they try to legislate accordingly.

MODERN COUNTERPARTS

In this time of Christendom’s distress it is appropriate to compare the course of King Saul and the cause of his death, with that of the religious leaders or clergymen. Saul, at first placed in a position of favor by Jehovah God, went over to demonism, and in this he foreshadowed or typified the clergymen of Christendom and their course of action, leading to a like disastrous end. Concerning those who claim to serve God and who act as clergymen and religious leaders of so-called “Christians” but who really practice demon religion, it is written, at Isaiah 9:16: “For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.” Such religious leaders, who assume to teach the people God’s Word but who yield to the doctrines of demon religion, become blind to the truth and lead others into blindness. Concerning religious leaders like these Jesus Christ said: “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”—Matt. 15:14.

In their desperation the Roman Catholic Hierarchy are taking more and more of the lead among all the religionists on earth in an attempt to guide and teach the people in political affairs of the nations, and particularly in the United States, and not only in political affairs but also in social, economic, military and educational matters. That religious organization participates in the politics of every nation on earth. The members of the Hierarchy cause the people to err, and the Protestant clergy are not far behind, and all of them are headed for destruction. All people who give heed to such religious teachers and blindly follow them are therefore held under the influence and control of the demons. They are all in line for the same end, unless the individuals awaken to the great danger and turn quickly to Jehovah God and fully trust in him.

The politicians and commercial leaders are induced to believe that the religious clergy are clothed with some invisible power. Because of this such politicians and commercial men fear their religious leaders and are thereby led into the snare of demon religion and entrapped by these malignant invisible powers. Politicians and commercial men seek the advice of clergymen, and, most notoriously, the advice of the ruler of Vatican City, and the clergymen can only give bad advice because they are under the influence of demonism and not strict adherents to the Bible. It reminds us of the days of King Ahab, ruler of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel with capital at Samaria. Ahab had gathered to himself some 400 false prophets, who were nothing other than practitioners of the Devil religion, and they gave Ahab bad military advice regarding a campaign for the recapture of Ramoth-gilead. We read: “Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.”—1 Ki. 22: 6.

Now Micaiah was the true prophet of Almighty God. At the insistence of King Jehoshaphat, the ally of Ahab, Micaiah was called before King Ahab, who demanded that Micaiah should give his piece of advice. Micaiah gave good advice, but because it was unfavorable Ahab caused him to be imprisoned, no doubt on the charge that he was interfering with the successful prosecution of the war. Heedless of Micaiah but yielding to the subtle advice of the false prophets, King Ahab went to battle and was slain. Thus was illustrated long ago how the religious leaders of this day give advice out of harmony with God’s Word to the politicians. The result is certain to be disastrous to the foolish political rulers. Like advice was given by false prophets and diviners to the political rulers of Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s time, with similar bad results to the politicians and all the people for not heeding Jeremiah’s warning against them. There are many other Biblical accounts of advice given to rulers by unfaithful religious leaders and which resulted bad to them.—Gen. 41:1-24; Dan. 2:1-13; Ex. 7:11 to 8:19; 9:11.

The Scriptures refer to the present time as “the last days”. In this same connection it is written respecting the present-day clergymen, who give advice to the politicians: “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: ... ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2 Tim. 3:5-7) In this twentieth century the religious leaders claim to be learned and ever learning, but they, by their course of action, disclose that they have neither knowledge nor appreciation of the truth of God's Word. This is due to the fact that they have fallen under the power of the demons and teach their doctrines. They are therefore in darkness concerning Jehovah’s purpose and have no .revelation whatever from Him of his purpose. Being blind to the Kingdom truth, they lead their blinded parishioners and congregations down into the ditch of destruction at Armageddon. They attempt to be spiritual advisers of the political and commercial men and at the same time they openly oppose Jehovah’s witnesses who proclaim God’s pure Word of truth to the people. Let it be admitted, to be generous toward them, that their opposition to Jehovah’s Theocratic Government is due to ignorance. That only further supports the conclusion that they are under the influence and power of the demons because of spiritual blindness. When telling of their “form of godliness” the scripture tells why these religious men are of Satan’s organization and therefore sightless; it says: “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, 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. 3:8, 9.

The Bible likens our modern-day religious leaders and spiritual advisers of Christendom to the false prophets among the Israelites. They are like the prophet Balaam who claimed to serve Jehovah God, but who was a soothsayer, hence under the influence and power of the demons, and who sold himself to try to curse the children of Israel before they got into the Promised Land. Thus he hired himself out to the politically minded King Balak of Moab and tried to use religion against the chosen people of God, but his efforts were in vain and his intended curse was turned into a blessing.—Josh. 13:22; Num. 22:1-41; 23:1-30.

One more example of a false spiritual adviser in the pay of a politician, namely, Elymas, of Cyprus. This magus or sorcerer counseled the Roman governor against the Christian apostle, Paul, but that advice was prompted by the demons and resulted only in hurt for magician Elymas himself. (Acts 13:6-12) Today the clergymen as leaders in the practice of Christendom's religions proffer advice to the politicians and commercial strong men. Their advice leads the men advised by them right into the snare of the Devil. So the religious leaders enter into a conspiracy with one another and with the political, judicial and commercial men, and together they work in an effort to injure and suppress the faithful witnesses of Jehovah God and to oppose the Theocratic Government which is due to rule all the earth. In doing this, those conspirators are, as the Scriptures make plain, influenced by the demons and acting accordingly. Referring to their efforts at world domination to the exclusion of the heavenly kingdom of God, Isaiah’s prophecy says, in the language of the Roman Catholic Bible, the Douay Version: “Say ye not: A conspiracy: for all that this people speaketh, is a conspiracy: neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself: and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.” “And when they shall say to you: Seek of them that have pythonical spirits [prophetic inspiration by demons], and to diviners, that mutter in their enchantments: should not the people seek unto their God, and not for the living to the dead? To the law rather, and to the testimony. And if they speak not according to this word, they shall not have the morning light.”—Isa. 8:12, 13, 19, 20.

The religionists have fully approved the conspiracy formed among the politicians to rule the world by human political systems and unions and alliances, instead of having it ruled from heaven by Jehovah’s great Theocracy under Christ Jesus. The religion practiced by such religious clergy is therefore not Christianity, for true Christianity upholds God’s kingdom and absolutely washes its hands clean of all co-operation and fraternization with the politicians of this world. The collaboration of the rulers in Christendom is therefore a working together of polities with demon religion and has God’s disapproval. It shall be broken up and destroyed at Armageddon.

DIVINE FOREKNOWLEDGE AND HUMAN DESTINY

OFTENTIMES in Bible discussions the question comes up as to whether Almighty God foreknew that rebellion would break out in the garden of Eden, and did he, despite this foreknowledge, put the perfect man there and also install the covering cherub, Lucifer, over him. Did he foreknow the destiny of Adam, and does he likewise foreknow the destiny of each of Adam’s descendants? Some, in reply, claim that God did not choose to know the outcome of matters in Eden in advance, but laid his plans in the alternative against any possible deflection of Adam. Others, in arguing for God’s foreknowledge of each one’s destiny, point to the apostle Peter, and cite how Jesus foretold he would deny his Master three times that very night.

In reply, we say there was no need for the omnipotent God to form a plan in the alternative to provide against any unforeseen emergency. He is so mighty and so wise that, without delving into matters in advance, he would be equal to any emergency that would suddenly arise and he could instantly form his purpose as to how to deal with it and dispose of it to his own glory and vindication. So there is no necessity for him to exercise his powers to peer in advance into the destiny of each of his creatures, to forearm himself for coming developments. Nothing can overtake him and get the better of him.

Persons who argue for divine foreknowledge of each creature’s destiny and who call to their support the case of Peter might have further referred to Christ’s predictions respecting him. They could have cited Jesus’ words to Peter after His resurrection, that when Peter got old he would stretch forth his hands and another would gird him and carry him whither he did not want to go; to which prediction Jesus also added that the apostle John would tarry until He came.—John 21:17-23.

That there would be an unfaithful apostle among the twelve original apostles, the Holy Scriptures foretold, and Judas Iscariot proved to be that one. (Ps. 41:9; John 13 -. 18) Divine prophecy had also declared that Jesus the Good Shepherd would be smitten by the enemy and that his sheep would be scattered at that time. Therefore when Peter bragged greatly after the last supper about his flawless devotion to Jesus, our Lord Jesus knew that Peter was talking contrary to what the prophecies said about the sheep. Hence Jesus foretold Peter’s three denials of him. In order that the prediction might be fulfilled, Almighty God maneuvered the course of developments about Peter that night so as to bring Jesus’ prediction to pass and also to show Peter his weakness on three counts. But Jesus also said for the overconfident man’s comfort that afterward Peter would become strengthened and then with his strength he should comfort his brethren. Hence, after the resurrection, because the risen Jesus now had confidence in Peter’s unswerving course henceforth, he told Peter just how he was going to die and also how the apostle John would survive until a certain late event. In fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy concerning the two apostles, God could maneuver the affairs of Peter and John, to work out for the vindication of His name and word.—Zech. 13: 7; Mark 14: 26-31; John 13:18, 38; 21:18-22.

However, Peter and John were representative men, of the band of twelve apostles and also foundations of the Christian church. Therefore special predictions would properly be made concerning them by the Lord Jesus. So it was not in the ordinary course of things that God would foretell by Christ Jesus how he would deal with Peter and John for their continued faithfulness to him. But their cases are not to be taken as proofs that God foreknows the destiny of each human individual.

All righteous things are possible with God. He can accordingly withhold knowledge from himself, and this he does with regard to the destiny of individuals. In this way he allows the individual to determine his own destiny by the course of action he takes in the light- of certain knowledge or under certain circumstances. For God to exercise himself to foreknow our destinies would mean for him to make predeterminations and prejudgments concerning us. This would, in effect, be a personal predestination of us, and would make our cases either hopeless or foolproof from the start of our lives. He would have to see that everything concerning us individually would have to be maneuvered by himself so as not to prove his foreknowledge to be false and unreliable.

If God foreknew our destiny, why, for instance, should he let any of us come to a knowledge of the truth and then beget us by his spirit and call us to the heavenly kingdom, when he already foreknew that we would fail? "Why, then, should it be allowed that “many are called, but few are chosen”? Why not, at the outset, limit the calling only to the few that would make good, and not waste time with the many who are foreknown to prove failures? Wasting time with them is not economical, and God does not waste time and effort. For God to foreknow our destiny as a failure but to give us still an opportunity would be nothing less than a deception-of us, a mocking of us; raising our hopes when he already knew we would not make good. Why not be frank with us, and inform us at the start that we are not worth wasting time and attention upon, because in the end we will fail anyhow? Since it is not a matter of divine justice to let any creatures gain the heavenly kingdom, but since it is of God’s mercy toward sinners, the requirement of justice to give all an equal opportunity does not figure in here. It would be no counterbalance to his foreknowledge of our individual destiny.

Carefully studied, the foreknowledge of each person’s destiny by God cannot be harmonized with the Scriptures and all the various situations that they describe, such as that of Lucifer and Adam in Eden, etc. The outcome of God’s testing our personal integrity toward him is not a foregone conclusion with him, already foreknown to him and unable to turn out otherwise contrary to his foreknowledge. He is just and fair with us, with no prejudice; and he lets it all depend upon us as to whether we win or fail. He supplies all the help we need to win. He could hardly be expected to do this-if he had determined upon our destiny by his foreknowledge. What point would he prove to the Devil by helping us when He had prior knowledge that we would lose out? The only thing proved would be the accuracy of his foreknowledge.

It was first when God brought Satan the Serpent and Adam and Eve to judgment there in the garden of Eden that God foreknew the end from the beginning, and he disclosed this by what he told all three of them. It is as regards God’s own purposes and works that he foreknows and fore-

tells the end from the .start. (Isa. 14: 24-27 and 46: 9-11) It is only regarding His works that we read: “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” (Acts 15:18) But this is not said regarding our personal works as his creatures. Almighty God lets us determine these for ourselves, without his foreknowledge. If we know his foretold purposes and works, then we have the privilege of co-operating with him and having a part in the fulfillment of divine prophecy. By proving our integrity to him down to the end of our test, then we may be sure we shall have a blessed destiny according to what he promises and according to what he has in .reservation for all those who love him.

JOTHAM BECOMES POWERFUL

YOUNG Prince Jotham of-Judah admired his father’s constant efforts to obey Jehovah God’s law. As far back as he could remember, his father King Uzziah and his mother Jerusha had taught him concerning Jehovah, his mighty acts on behalf of his name-people, and his law. (2 Ki. 15: 33; 2 Chron. 27:1) Jotham was fully determined to set his course in harmony with God’s will that he might do what was right in the eyes of Jehovah, as his father was doing. (2 Ki. 15: 34; 2 Chron. 27: 6) That is why Jotham was greatly surprised one day when he saw his father enter the temple of Jehovah with a censer in his hand. The sight caused to flash through his mind the incident of non-priestly Korah and his 250 non-priestly followers whom Jehovah consumed with fire for attempting to usurp the priestly prerogative of offering incense before Jehovah. His own parents had told him about it when he was a child. It seemed but yesterday that his father had read to him from God’s law: “No stranger, that is not of the seed of Aaron, [shall] come near to burn ineense before Jehovah; that he be not as Korah, and as his company.” (Num. 16:1-40, Am. Stan. Ver.) As these thoughts were running through Jotham’s mind he saw Azariah the chief priest and dozens of other priests rush into the temple after his father. Then he saw his father with his clothes rent run out of the temple and past him, crying out, “Unclean, unclean!”

Immediately Jotham knew. His father had not been consumed by fire, but Jehovah had smitten him with leprosy; for he knew that God’s law commanded: “The leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.” (Lev. 13:45, 46; 2 Chron. 26:1620) Though his father had not been consumed instantly, he realized that leprosy would eventually lead to his death. After that his father lived in an isolated house outside Jerusalem and never again came near the temple of Jehovah.

Jotham was appointed regent. (2 Ki. 15:5; 2 Chron. 26: 21) Now he was more determined than ever to adhere to the course marked out in God’s Word for his true worshipers. (2 Chron. 27:2) He remembered the kingdom covenant Jehovah had made with his ancestor David and expressed to him through His prophet Nathan: “Jehovah will make thee a house. When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, that shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son: if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put way before thee. And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.”—2 Sam. 7:11-16, Am. Stan. Ver.

Shortly thereafter when Jotham heard that the Assyrian emperor Pul¹ was marching south from northern Syria toward Israel, he felt secure in Judah, because he knew that his God Jehovah was all-powerful and able to protect him from the might of Assyria. Knowing that King Menahem of Israel to the north was following a wicked course in spite of Jehovah’s admonition through his prophet Hosea, Jotham was not surprised to learn next that Menahem had bought off Pul with a large amount of silver.—Hos. 1:1; 2 Ki. 15:19, 20.

The twenty-first year (779 B.C.) of Jotham’s life was an eventful one. Not only did the Israelite king Menahem die, but Jotham’s son Ahaz was born. Jotham could now look forward to bringing him up in the admonition of Jehovah.

The following year (778 B.C.) Judah was prosperous and peaceful, as usual; but conditions in the northern kingdom of Israel were such that Menahem’s son Pekahiah was unable to ascend the throne. Wicked Pekahiah did not become king until the year after that, in 777 B.C.—2 Ki. 15:23, 24.

Two years later, 775 B.C., Jotham learned that Pekahiah had been murdered by his successor, Pekah. But other news interested him more; a young man named Isaiah was proclaiming to the people a message from Jehovah: “Keep on hearing, but understand not; and keep on seeing, but know not!” Wanting to know more, Jotham found out that in a vision given him by God Isaiah “saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; his trailing robes spread over the temple-floor, and seraphs hovered round him, each with six wings—two covering the face, two covering the body, and two to fly with. They kept calling to one another, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is [Jehovah] of hosts, his majestic splendour fills the whole earth!”’ (Isa. 6:1-3, Moffatt) At the sound of those who called, the foundations of the thresholds shook, and the temple began to fill with smoke. Then Isaiah said to himself, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.” (Isa. 6:4, 5, Am. Stan. Ver.) But one of the seraphs flew toward Isaiah with a live coal in his hand, which he had lifted with tongs from the altar, and touched his mouth with it, saying: “See! this has touched your lips; so your guilt is removed, and your sin forgiven.” Then he heard the Lord’s voice saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah answered, “Here am I! send me.” Then he said, “Go and say to this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but understand not; and keep on seeing, but know not!’ Make the mind of this people gross, dull their ears, and besmear their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and have a mind to understand, and turn, and be healed.” (Isa. 6:6-10, An Amer. Trans.) Jotham was glad that now there was a prophet in Judah, but the realization that his people were acting corruptly and transgressing God’s law grieved him. He deplored the fact that the people were still sacrificing and burning incense in the high places. —2 Chron. 27:2; 2 Ki. 15:35.

That same year (775 B.C.) Jotham’s father, King Uzziah, died and was buried with his fathers. The next year (774 B.C.) Jotham continued to rule, but no longer as regent; now he was king. (2 Chron. 26:23; 2 Ki. 15: 7, 32) He set about to build up the higher gate of Jehovah’s temple, the gate on the north of the temple area at the upper end of the little valley that led down and around to the Kidron valley. He also built extensively on the wall of Ophel, to the south of the temple area and overlooking the Kidron valley.—2 Ki. 15: 35; 2 Chron. 27: 3.

Though the Ammonites had paid tribute to his father Uzziah, it became necessary for Jotham to fight against them and conquer them. Then they paid their yearly tribute of forty-one thousand two hundred and fifty pounds in silver, a hundred thousand bushels of wheat, and a hundred thousand bushels of barley. (2 Chron. 26: 8; 27:5, Moffatt) The Gadites, who lived between the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Ammon “were enrolled in the genealogical records in the days of Jotham, king of Judah”.—1 Chron. 5:17, An Amer. Trans.

So much did Jehovah prosper Judah during Jotham’s reign that Jotham “built cities in the highlands of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers”. (2 Chron. 27: 4, An Amer. Trans.) Elath on the Red sea to the south continued under Judah’s control, being ruled by a governor to whom Jotham entrusted one of his own signet seal rings. Jotham was interested in that port because by sea and land were brought to it gold and silks and the spices and incense which Jehovah’s duly appointed priests burned before Him in the temple at Jerusalem.

Though the people of Judah perversely continued to go wrong, Jotham tried to do what was right in the eyes of Jehovah. He was grateful to God that in addition to Isaiah He had also raised up Micah as a prophet to admonish his people. (2 Ki. 15: 34; Mic. 1:1) Jotham “became powerful, because he established his ways in the sight of [Jehovah] his God”. (2 Chron. 27: 2, 6, Moffatt and An Amer. Trans.) Following the example of his ancestors Jotham associated his son Ahaz on the throne with him in the sixteenth year of his reign, which proved to be his last. (2 Ki. 15:33; 2 Chron. 27:1, 8) He had set his people a good example, but they had continued in their evil ways.

Toward the end of his reign Jotham learned that King Pekah of Israel and King Rezin of Damascene Syria were plotting against Judah and its king. Though the two conspiring countries together were larger than Judah, Jotham knew they could never defeat Judah as long as it had Jehovah’s protection. He knew that the demon gods Israel worshiped under the guise of golden calves and Baals (Hos. 2:8), and Damascus under the name Rimmon, or Hadad, could never prevail against Jehovah. (2 Ki. 5:18) He knew that Jehovah had inspired his ancestor David to say: “Give ear, 0 Jehovah, unto my prayer; and hearken unto the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee; for thou wilt answer me. There is none like unto thee among the gods, 0 Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.... For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. Teach me thy way, 0 Jehovah; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, 0 Lord my God, with my whole heart; and I will glorify thy name for evermore.”—Ps. 86: 6-12, Am. Stan. Ver.

Just as Jotham “was strengthened, because he had his way directed before the Lord his God” (2 Chron. 27:6, Douay), so likewise all the true worshipers of Jehovah God, including those on earth today, are strengthened because they have their way directed before Jehovah their God; therefore, they pray unto Jehovah: “Show me thy ways, 0 Jehovah; teach me thy paths. Guide me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art the God of my salvation; for thee do I wait all the day.”—Ps. 25:4, 5, Am. Stan. Ver.

A LETTER

IN RE THE 144,000 SINGERS

June 6, 1948 Dear Brother:

With reference to your inquiry concerning Revelation 14:3:

The Luther translation "without the hundred and forty and four thousand” is forced. The Greek expression is the one regularly used to mean “except”.

This verse does not mention the words of the “new song”, but Revelation 5:8-10 does mention them. There we read that the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders offered up the prayers of the saints, symbolized as incense, and sang this “new song”: “Worthy art thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth.”—Am. Stan. Ver.

Only the 144,000 can take up the words of that new song and sing: You purchased or redeemed us with your blood out of all earthly tribes, tongues, people, and nations, and made us to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and we shall reign over the earth.’ You will notice that Revelation 14:3 emphasized that the 144,000 were purchased or redeemed out of the earth, in harmony with the terms of the new song. Hence they go to heaven to reign with Christ.

Hence the great multitude of good-will today who expect to be under the Kingdom rule and to remain on earth forever as a part of perfected mankind could never sing that song, because it does not apply to them. They hear the small remnant yet on earth of the 144,000 singing that new song, and they get familiar with it and can tell the contents of it to more people than the remnant can, but they can never sing it as belonging to them and as expressing their hope according to the Scriptures.

Faithfully yours in Kingdom service,

Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society

¹

Pul is also called Tiglath-pileser.