The Watchtower, May 15, 1951
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"YOU ARE MY WITNESSES," SAYS JEHOVAH.—Isa. 43:12
The WATCHTOWER
Announcing
JEHOVAH'S
KINGDOM
MAY 15, 1951
Semimonthly
HEALING FOR LIFE
IN THE NEW WORLD
THE MORE IMPORTANT HEALING
LEAVES OF HEALING
TRAVELING INCREASES THE WITNESS
RECEIVING MERCY BY SHOWING MERCY
©WTB&TS
“YOU ARE MY WITNESSES,” SAYS JEHOVAH.—Isa. 43:12 THE PURPOSE OF "THE WATCHTOWER"
Literal towers in Bible times were elevated vantage points from which watchmen could observe happenings, warn of danger, or announce good news. Our magazine figuratively occupies such a vantage point, for it is founded on the very pinnacle of wisdom, God's Word. That elevates it above racial, national and political propagandas and prejudices, frees it from selfish bias. It is not bound by any traditional creed, but its message advances as the light on God's purposes and works increases.-Habakkuk 2:1-3.
It sees things Scripturally. When it observes this generation afflicted with greed, delinquency, hypocrisy, atheism, war, famine, pestilence, perplexity and fear, and persecution of unpopular minorities, it does not parrot the old fable about history repeating itself. Informed by Bible prophecy, it sees in these things the sign of the world's time of the end. But with bright hope it also sees opening up for us just beyond these woes the portals of a new world.
Thus viewed, "The Watchtower" stands as a watchman atop a tower, alert to what is going on, awake to note signs of danger, faithful to point out the way of escape. It announces Jehovah's kingdom established by Christ's enthronement in heaven, feeds his kingdom joint-heirs with spiritual food, cheers men of good will with glorious prospects of eternal life in a paradise earth, comforts us with the resurrection promise for the dead.
It is not dogmatic, but has a confident ring in its voice, because it is based on God's Word. It does not privately interpret prophecy, but calls attention to physical facts, sets them alongside prophecy, and you see for yourself how well the two match, how accurately Jehovah interprets his own prophecy. In the interests of our salvation, it keeps sharp and faithful focus on Bible truth, and views religious news generally.
'Be watchful in these perilous times,' God admonishes. So keep on the watch by regularly reading "The Watchtower".
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PUBLISHED BY THE WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY
117 Adams Street
Brooklyn 1, N. Y., U. S. A.
N. H. KNORR, President
GRANT SUITER, Secretary
"They will all be taught by Jehovah."—John 6:45, NW; Isaiah 54:13
CONTENTS
Receiving Mercy by Showing Mercy
Healing for Life in the New World
The More Important Healing
Leaves of Healing
Pastor Says Church Fails in Duty
Traveling Increases the Witness
Isle of Martinique
Questions from Readers
Announcements
Abbreviations used in "The Watchtower" for the following Bible versions
AS - American Standard Version LXX- The Septuagint Version
AT - An American Translation Mo - James Moffatt's version
Da - J. N. Darby's version NW - New World Translation
Dy - Catholic Douay version Ro - J. B. Rotherham's version
ED - The Emphatic Diaglott RS - Revised Standard Version
Le - Isaac Leeser's version Yg - Robert Young's version
Unless otherwise indicated, the Bible used is the King James Version
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RECEIVING MERCY BY SHOWING MERCY
MEN are merciful toward themselves. They want mercy from others for themselves. All men need mercy, for all have weaknesses and shortcomings that put them in need of forgiveness from others. But what is oftentimes the case? Why, the very ones that need mercy shown to them withhold it from others. Oh yes, they show a selfish kind of mercy by being very lenient and understanding toward those who have weaknesses similar to their own, but on points wherein they are strong and need little forgiveness they tend to be harsh judges. A man may not be tempted by alcohol and be very intolerant of those who are, while at the same time he falls short in sexual morality and craves great mercy for himself and others with this weakness. The gossip may condemn the covetous, the covetous wags a finger at the hot-tempered, who in turn rails against the drunk, who scorns the idolater that frowns on the fornicator, and each one all the while is as easy on his own weakness as he is harsh on the weaknesses of others.
Sin is sin, whether of one kind or another. If we offend in one point of God's law, we have broken his law. The gossip commits trespass just as surely as does the fornicator, and God classifies both offenders as sinners, and both need his mercy and forgiveness. "For whoever observes all the Law but makes a false step in one point, he has become an offender against them all."—Jas. 2:10, NW.
Three verses later the disciple James adds
this important reminder: "The one that does not practice mercy will have his judgment without mercy. Mercy exults triumphantly over judgment." If we were judged strictly on the basis of right and wrong, none of us could stand; but God's mercy enters in on our behalf to triumph over judgment and see us through. However, to receive this mercy from God we must practice it toward others, and not just in cases involving weaknesses we share in and hence understand so well, but also in cases involving sins to which we never succumb and which leave us at a loss to understand why others commit them. Christians seeking divine mercy cannot afford to forget Jesus' words: "If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; whereas if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."—Matt. 6:14, 15, NW.
Frequently a person is heard condemning faithful Bible characters. One may point with indignation at King David because of his immorality on one occasion, another berates Noah as a drunkard. It is true that David committed adultery with Bath-sheba, and Noah drank too much wine on one occasion. (Gen. 9:21; 2 Sam. 11:4) Moreover, Moses the meekest of men was provoked to unwise words that kept him from entering the Promised Land; Elijah fled in fear from his service as a prophet; Jonah headed in the opposite direction because he did not like his territory assignment; Jeremiah determined to quit preaching because it made him the object of reproach and derision; Peter denied Jesus, and on another occasion compromised on a point of doctrine because of fear.
(Num. 12:3; 20:10-13; 1 Ki. 19:1-18; Jer. 20:7-9; Jon. 1:1-3; Matt. 26:69-75; Gal. 2:11-14) But what does this prove? That they were hardened sinners and grossly wicked? No; it merely shows that they were imperfect and in need of God's mercy. They took any rebuke the Lord administered, recovered from their temporary lapse into sin, and pressed on faithfully.
What their self-righteous critics fail to appreciate is that these men did not abuse God's show of mercy by settling themselves into habitual sinning to the indulgence of fleshly weaknesses. They responded to God's rebukes and showed his mercy was not wasted on them, but that it worked toward their recovery for righteousness. Busily picking at these men and posing as upholders of standards higher than God's, these critics fail to discern how such cases magnify God's mercy, as Paul said: "Where sin abounded, undeserved kindness abounded still more." (Rom. 5:20, NW) Nor do they appreciate Jesus' words: "Stop judging, and you will by no means be judged; and stop condemning, and you will by no means be condemned." (Luke 6:37; Rom. 14:4, NW) Undoubtedly these arrogant critics need mercy more than did the ones they criticize, and if their sins were written down for the world to read they would perhaps be exposed as guilty of the same sins plus many more. They remind of the self-righteous Pharisees who swelled with pride that they were not like others, yet concerning whom Jesus said harlots would enter the Kingdom before them.—Matt. 18:23-35; 21:31; Luke 18:11.
But none should hastily conclude from this that one may give up and let sins and lusts of the flesh have their way with
us, and bank on God's mercy to see us through and into the new world. Those who would be righteous are not perfect; they fall, but they must recover and stand erect again. (Prov. 24:16) Prior to coming to a knowledge of Jehovah's requirements persons may have been drunkards, idolaters, thieves, fornicators, and so forth; but when they set themselves to follow in Jesus' footsteps they shun the old pathways of a sordid past. (1 Cor. 6:9-11) They must wage warfare against the weak flesh, in order to walk according to God's spirit.
The apostle Paul pointed out this conflict between flesh and spirit, saying: "In me, that is, in my flesh, there resides nothing good; for ability to wish is present with me, but ability to work out what is right is not present. For the good that I wish I do not do, but the bad that I do not wish is what I practice. I really delight in the law of God according to the man I am within, but I behold in my members another law warring against the law of my mind and leading me captive to sin's law that is in my members." (Rom. 7:18, 19, 22, 23, NW) He continues his argument to show victory comes from God through Christ for those "who walk, not in accord with the flesh, but in accord with the spirit".—Rom. 8:1-8.
So all of us are imperfect sinners, in need of mercy. Mercy that works toward our salvation comes from Jehovah: "To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses." (Dan. 9:9) It is administered to us through Christ Jesus, "by means of whom we have our release by ransom, the forgiveness of our sins." (Col. 1:14, NW) Finally, we must show it toward others, if we are to get it for ourselves: "Continue putting up with one another and forgiving one another freely if anyone has a cause for complaint against another. Even as Jehovah freely forgave you, so do you also. Happy are the merciful, since they will be shown mercy."—Col. 3:13; Matt. 5:7, NW.
HEALING FOR LIFE in the NEW WORLD
"And the leaves of the trees were for the curing of the nations."—Rev. 22:2, NW.
EHOVAH God has been carrying forward an unusual health program for the past nineteen hundred years. Now he is about to engage in a healing work that will cure all humans that live in the everlasting new world. The coming health program will enable all men and women who follow the divine prescription to live evermore in perfect physical and mental wellbeing on an earth free from all traces of disease and senility.
2 The wonders that will be accomplished in recovering mankind to perfect health were foreshadowed in the astounding cures and healings that Jesus Christ and his apostles accomplished at the beginning of the health program which has been in progress for the last nineteen centuries. As for this present program, it has aimed particularly at preparing certain ones, a limited group from among mankind, for eternal life in the spirit realm. That is, it has been carried on for the particular benefit of the Christian congregation of 144,000 faithful overcomers of this world, who are to be united with Jesus Christ in his heavenly kingdom. But that kingdom itself will be a healing agency. Through it all the families of the earth will be blessed with perfect life and happiness.
3 As explained in the last previous issue
of The Watchtower, the current health program for the Christian congregation was highlighted at its start nineteen centuries ago with miraculous physical cures. At the word or touch of Jesus Christ blind eyes were opened, deaf ears unstopped, dumb mouths filled with articulate speech; the lame walked without a limp or a crutch, the bedridden got up instantaneously well, the unfortunates crippled with leprosy were cleansed of all its ravages, the dead rose from their funeral bier or memorial tomb. Luke, who himself was a physician, nicely wrote of this manifestation of divine therapy to say: "And Jehovah's power was there for him to do healing." (Luke 5:17,NW) Not by any mysterious course in metaphysics, mesmerism, or other hypnotic power, but by direct grant, Jesus conferred on his specially chosen disciples the authority to perform physical cures. With the express command that they were to do these without financial charge! Then he died a martyr's death, this man of whom it had been prophesied: "Yet surely our sicknesses he carried, and as for our pains he bare the burden of them, . . . the chastisement for our wellbeing was upon him, and by his stripes there is healing for us."—Isa. 53:4,5, Ro; 1 Pet. 2:24.
4 Did the divine health program abruptly cease for all time at Jesus' death? No;
1, 2. What future health program is Jehovah about to engage in, and what is the main objective of the present health program?
At its start how was the current health program highlighted?
Why did not the health program cease at Jesus' death?
Jehovah God saved it from collapse by raising him from the dead to take his seat at God's right hand in heaven and there exercise all authority for God in heaven and on earth. Ten days after ascending and returning to heaven, that is, on the day of Pentecost, this glorified Jesus poured out holy spirit upon his faithful disciples on earth, and with it he conferred upon many of them the gift of miraculous physical healing power. Thus the health program from heaven went on among mankind.
As also explained in the previous issue of The Watchtower, the miraculous healings and cures of human bodies continued on till the last of the apostles and their Christian associates died. By those miracles the Christian congregation had been established in its faith and had also been definitely identified as being the true "Israel of God", taking the place of the natural house of Israel which had rejected Jesus as Messiah or Christ. In due time the Christian congregation passed out of its babyhood. Today, after a career of nineteen centuries, it is at its maturity or full growth of Christian manhood. God has put away from it a number of things peculiar to its babyhood, such as the gift of the spirit for performing instantaneous cures on the human body and mind. So the remnant of this Christian congregation who are yet on earth do not exercise such a gift of the spirit. They have no Scriptural reason to expect from any source or by any channel a miracle of divine healing in their case. But this results in no real loss or embarrassment to them, because their hope and eternal destiny is spiritual, heavenly, and not physical, earthly.
faithful of the Christians were subject to physical illness and maladies common to all the rest of mankind, and died of them. Not all died a martyr's violent death or lived to the extreme old age of the apostle John, who received the Revelation and who may have died from the decay and collapse due to great age. Christians who were gifted with the authority to heal were not authorized to use the power upon themselves or have their similarly gifted brothers use it upon them for the comfort, ease and convenience of the Christians. Nor did they pray for such miraculous healing of their physical organisms. They used reliable remedies or the services of the practicing physicians. So today, long after the passing of the spirit's gift of physical healing, faithful Christians get sick or fall victim to the major diseases of these times. They, too, seek relief in sensible ways.
Even in the first century during the operation of miraculous healing the most
Sometimes surgical operations are submitted to as a last resort. The life of the patient hangs by a slender thread. Recovery seems very unlikely. There is almost every reason to despair for his life. But then there is a turn, and the sick one or the subject of the surgical operation recovers and resumes his former activities. Because it is so marvelous should we view it as a case of divine healing in this twentieth century? The recovered one may feel that way about it. He will use expressions of gratitude to God and describe it in terms that make it a case of divine healing. He will say God was merciful to him and spared his life especially for the further work which God has purposed for him.
8 But if God accomplished the cure, that is, if it were a case of divine healing, why then, did this Christian have to resort to doctors and their prescribed medicines? Or why did he have to agree to an opera-
Why is there no divine physical healing now, and does this represent a real loss for us?
Have Christians been and are they subject to illness? How do they seek relief?
Are unusual recoveries today to be viewed as healing divine?
What are the sensible arguments against such a view?
tion and maybe violate God's law and take a blood transfusion or an injection of blood plasma? Were such things the preliminaries of divine healing in apostolic times when this was an operation of God's spirit? Not at all. Back there God's miracles were direct and instantaneous, without aid of human physicians and medical remedies, and where these had failed. But this is not so today. Hence where a Christian experiences an unusual recovery and survival, he should not persuade himself that this was by special intervention from heaven. Persons outside the Christian congregation have unexpected, extraordinary recoveries, too. Besides, while one Christian may have staged a baffling comeback from the jaws of death, another Christian or many other Christians under similar circumstances have not been so successful but have succumbed to the great physical distress. So what? Did divine favor smile on the one who had the revival of his physical forces and who came back to normal health and activity? But did it frown on those who had no physical improvement and who lingered, grew worse and finally died from their affliction or operation? That would not be fair to say, especially where those who succumbed were just as faithful and devoted to God as was the one that had an unusual recovery.
9 Remember that shortly after God appeared to Jacob and pronounced his name as henceforth "Israel", his beloved wife Rachel had hard labor in bringing her second son Benjamin to birth and died. Not as any sign of divine displeasure, we may be sure. (Gen. 35:9-20) At the age of 147 years Jacob himself fell sick and died of his illness. But not because of being out of God's favor, for he continued as God's prophet down till the last. Jacob was embalmed by the physicians of Egypt. (Gen.
47:28 to 48:1; 49:33 to 50:3) Elisha, too, fell sick of a sickness from which he died, but he prophesied even on his deathbed as one of Jehovah's witnesses. (2 Ki.13:1-20) It is possible, also, that Timothy's cases of stomach trouble and his frequent spells of sickness continued with him till his death, and that the wine which Paul advised him to take served only to give him some relief. (1 Tim. 5:23) So one's succumbing to an operation or a sickness is no evidence of God's displeasure or lack of interest and attention. No more so than a phenomenal recovery is to be interpreted as his special intervention and favor. We must be reasonable and balanced in mind. Bear in mind that there are many bodily factors and accompanying circumstances which work for pulling some through an operation or siege of serious illness, but which are not present for those who succumb.
10 This does not mean we are not to be grateful to God and to voice gratitude to him if we convalesce. Nor does this mean we may not take the matter to Him in prayer when we are sick or our beloved fellow Christians are sick. Every circumstance and affair in our lives is a matter which we can take to him in prayer. Still, we may not ask for divine healing and expect it, even if we use as a basis Jesus' words: "If you remain in union with me and my sayings remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will take place for you." (John 15:7, NW) We know what the sayings of Jesus are regarding his followers for this day, and they do not tell of miracles on the physical organisms of his followers at this time.
11 The proper thing we can ask is for our heavenly Father to help us to endure in Christian fortitude during illness or phys-
What further shows that failure to recover is no sign of divine displeasure or lack of attention?
Is sickness a proper matter for prayer? With what limitation?
During sickness what can we properly ask for? And if we die, whose are we still?
ical impairment. We can ask him to help us to act as faithful witnesses through it all, not to lose faith in him, to suffer no spiritual injury because of it. We can pray that we may be guided in the use of proper remedies which are available or the proper medical services. Even amid sickness we can let our light shine. Our obligation is to "preach the word, be at it urgently in favorable season, in troublesome season".
(2 Tim. 4:2, NW) There have been cases where the physically infirm have been improved bodily by proving their zeal for his Kingdom in getting out actively into the field service, although poor health appeared to dictate against it. Let us remember that, to quote the
apostle, "both if we live, we live to Jehovah, and if we die, we die to Jehovah. Therefore both if we live and if we die, we belong to Jehovah. For to this end Christ died and came to life again, that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living." (Rom. 14:8,9, NW) So the faithful Christian who fails to recover and dies still belongs to the Lord Jesus.
house upon them to their death. In addition to this that wicked one struck Job with a frightful disease which covered him from head to toe with corroding, itching boils.
13 But Job's case does not provide us the rule by which we are to measure all cases of sickness and accident. Job was made a special test case. First, Jehovah called Job's integrity to Satan's attention, and
BLAMING IT ON THE DEVIL
12 Some will now propound the question, Is not Satan the Devil the one who causes us to fall sick and so puts us out of commission? Is he not the one who causes fatal accidents to Jehovah's faithful or accidents that cripple their further usefulness in his service? For support of an affirmative answer they will refer to Job's case. There Satan caused fire to fall from heaven and consume Job's great herds of sheep and their keepers, and also a violent storm to strike the house where his ten children were feasting and to collapse the
then the adversary accused Job of serving God for his selfish benefit, because God had hedged him and all his good things about with divine protection, so that it was prosperous for Job to serve God. But now let God lift this protection and let Satan touch him in the matter of these selfish benefits, and Job would renounce God, cursing him to his face. When Job refused to be pressured into this unfaithfulness by loss of property and children, then Satan obtained permission to touch Job's skin and flesh and threaten his life with an incurable disease. Added to this, Job's own wife turned against him and three of his prominent friends condemned him as a hypocrite afflicted by the just hand of Jehovah God. But these keen tests from the Devil failed to move Job from his integrity. Satan's challenge to God concerning this godly man was thus defeated, and Almighty God miraculously healed Job and more than made up for all that Job had formerly lost during the crucial test. 14 True, we Christians are each under a
14 True, we Christians are each under a test of our integrity in the midst of this hostile world. But no one is to think he is of such importance that he is singled out and made a special test case such as Job was made. If such were the case, then we would have to carry the picture of Job all the way through in its application to each individual Christian.
In that case each Christian would in this life have to have restored to him twice as much as he lost by accidents engineered by Satan. He would have to experience miraculous divine healing and afterward live a long life of good health, to correspond with Job's 140 years after he got well.-Job, chapters 1,2,42.
15 Moreover, the test on Job was permitted by God and was written down to serve as a prophecy. It foreshadowed how the Job class, beginning with Jesus himself (who never got sick), would be exposed to the testing of their integrity toward God by Satan. However, this test was not to be by literal accidents, loss and terrible diseases due to Satan. No; but by persecutions and opposition from this world which would bring loss of close associates, and bring us a disgraceful, misrepresented appearance in the eyes of the world, making us look loathsome to them, so that they would accuse us of being religious hypocrites and under God's curse. For instance, when orthodox religious systems of Christendom accuse us of being blasphemers, haters of everybody, and Nazis, Fascists and imperialists here and Communists there. Job's miraculous restoration, therefore, foreshadowed, not the divine healing of our physical ailments and our being made immune against further accidents, but how Almighty God would restore the faithful remnant of his anointed witnesses to his favor and would counteract all the false accusations and misrepresentations of his servants before all the people of good will.
16 So let us take the sane view of sickness and accident. There are many things
besides sickness and accident which Satan can use to put our integrity to the test. True, Jesus did say of the woman who was bent over double and whom he cured: "Was it not due, then, for this woman who is a daughter of Abraham, and whom Satan held bound, look! eighteen years, to be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" But we note that the record says the woman had a "spirit of weakness" and was evidently under the power of a demon who would not let her straighten herself up. (Luke 13:10-16,NW) True, also, Paul spoke of his "thorn in the flesh" as an "angel of Satan, to keep striking me"; but this was not a sickness or accident, as we explained in our previous issue of The Watchtower. Whatever the thorn was, it was something that Satan the adversary worked on in order to make matters hard for Paul and to worry him. So it may be with ailments and accidents in our case. While Satan may not be blamed for them, yet he can use them after they have befallen us to worry us, weaken our faith in God, break down our zeal in God's service, make us lose God's spirit and quit.
17 Sickness, diseases and accidents have their normal causes. These causes produce the same results in the lives of devoted Christians as in the lives of unconsecrated worldlings. At Lystra, in Asia Minor, when the pagans wanted to worship the miracleworking Paul and Barnabas as gods, they leaped out into the crowd and objected: "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are human creatures having the same infirmities as you do." (Acts 14:8-15, NW) And we can all agree with the psalmist David when he said: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Ps. 51:5, AS) So just because a person believes the good news of God's kingdom and devotes him-
Whom did Job picture, and hence what did his test foreshadow?
Why do the cases of the woman with the spirit of infirmity and Paul's thorn in the flesh not argue for Satan's hand in all sickness?
Do normal causes produce the same ill effects in Christians as in others? Does turning Christian change their bodies any?
self to follow in Jesus' footsteps, God does not work a miracle and change his bodily organism any. Oh, he might be able to prolong his life by better living henceforth as a Christian, both morally and physically, because he learns more and more of the truth and gives his body decent treatment and does not abuse it as those in the world do with their bodies. Unselfish activity in God's service does one good in both mind and body. Study of God's Word and applying it in word, thought and deed has a salubrious effect upon one in every way. To quote Solomon: "Fear Jehovah, and depart from evil: it will be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones."—Prov. 3:7,8,AS.
18 All the sickness that has entered the earth resulted from the original violation of God's law. Likewise today, sickness and disease are due to some violation of God's laws concerning physical well-being. They are not due to the direct touch of Satan. Various ones of us may inherit tendencies to certain bodily ailments, and these may appear after certain causes lead them to develop and break out. Say a plague is sweeping the land. A worldling with a healthy constitution may go through it unaffected, whereas a faithful Christian may be laid low with it and die or have a hard time recovering. The reason for this may lie entirely in the weaker physical frame and in not knowing what precautions to take against becoming infected. So these are natural, physical processes which may operate in any and all persons regardless of one's faith. It would be unreasonable to blame the Devil directly.
19 The same with accidents: These are generally due to carelessness. Under those same circumstances carelessness by anyone will result in the same accident. A bus
loaded with conventioners is returning them to their homes and the driver falls asleep at the wheel. The bus crashes, many are killed and almost all others are wounded. Aha, the Devil is to blame! No; rather the carelessness and thoughtlessness of the driver. Again, a carload of witnesses who have been out in the field service spreading the Kingdom news drives off for a little outing and parks at a curve in the road. Another car rounds the curve and, for momentum, makes too sweeping a turn and crashes into the parked car and kills all the occupants. The work of the Devil? No! Lack of thought and caution at a curve.
20 A Christian steps on a loose rug on an oiled floor, skids, falls and breaks his hip. Blame the Devil? No; anybody else stepping in haste on that rug on the slippery floor would have had the same experience, even the Devil's favorite. Two Christians get married and want to stay childless for freer action without worries and burdens. Suddenly, to their dismay and despite all their carefulness, along comes an unwanted baby! They claim the Lord was the one who led them to meet each other and get married, but as for this baby, why, that was where the Devil took advantage of them to interfere with their service of God. But if they did not want to have children, why did they get married in the first place? Is not the primary function of marriage the bringing of children into this earth? By getting married, they endangered their freedom for service and exposed themselves to the burdens and responsibilities of children. No, Satan did not implant the power of reproduction in men and women. He did not start that baby's life, a life which Christian parents are to view as "holy" in God's sight. (1 Cor. 7:14) No, that baby was no "accident". Do not fool yourself about the operation of natural law which God the Creator fixed unalterably in the human system.
That law operates where all your carefulness may not be smart enough to block its operation.
21 So sickness, malignant maladies, accidents, and old age may be expected to take their usual course among devoted Christians the same as among the rest of mankind. When the body gets old and no longer has youth's power to repair itself or to build up new tissues, it can be expected to break down, Christian or no Christian. Isaac, the son of Abraham, turned blind in his old age and was sightless for about 50 years, although he was a type of Jesus Christ. (Gen. 27:1, 21-23; 35:28, 29) We may try to patch up the worn-out body, but if medicines, a specialist's treatment, or a surgical operation fails to add a cubit to the old Christian's life span, that is not directly his fault. Yet, when such measures fail, he is not then to look or pray for divine healing. Christians have long since had this operation of the holy spirit suspended toward them. You may recall how God turned back the time dial fifteen years for King Hezekiah, and the prophet Isaiah put a fig plaster on Hezekiah's malignant boil as a symbol of God's power to heal. (Isa. 38:1-22) But we are no longer living in the days of prophets and apostles gifted with the power of supernatural healing. So the extraordinary is not to be expected or prayed for just because we are faithful Christians.
22 When the oncoming battle of Armageddon strikes in its fury and with its desolations, many devoted Christians will be in their old age or in an infirm condition. Hence it may be that during the progress of that battle with all the conditions which it will produce on and around the earth,
many Christian aged, weak in constitution, or with poor hearts, may die from sheer natural causes. When we read the prophetic accounts of that battle, for instance, Psalm 46, telling how the earth will be moved, the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, the waters roaring and showing great agitation so that even the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, we can see it will be a time that will be hard on the hearts and physical constitutions of even the hardiest of persons. We may have to undergo many privations in common with the people of the world, including food reductions, exposure to the heartless elements, etc., so that it will be a strenuous time, taxing our physical powers. Some, because of physical condition, age, or other circumstances, may prove no more able to endure the hardships of Armageddon than others.
23 But the death of faithful witnesses of Jehovah then simply because their bodies cannot take it will not be a judgment against them, betokening an execution of them by Jehovah's heavenly hosts. They will give way to death in their faithfulness, in vindication of God, and their death will not mean their extinction forever, but it will allow for a resurrection in the new world that follows Armageddon. But if it pleases God, he can strengthen even the weakest of his faithful people in an abnormal way to undergo all the hardships of that time of unparalleled trouble and survive. The surviving of any of his people will be because he has preserved them amid the destruction which he executes against all his enemies.
24 While we are active in God's service we should try to take the best care of our health and physical vitality and to guard against overindulgence, hazards and accidents as far as possible. The same as when
Are Christians to expect certain common physical conditions to result differently in their case from that of others? Why your reply?
22, 23. May some succumb to death at Armageddon for natural causes? And would this indicate judgment executed against them?
What, then, should be our course as to health and security?
we lock the doors, shut and bolt the windows, fasten the cellar door, and do other things, to safeguard our homes against entry by thieves. And then we may trust our heavenly Father and Caretaker for the rest. If, though, we come into dangers because of faithfulness in his service, we must accept whatever he lets come according to his will, and we may thank him for
his deliverance of us from recognized dangers. Take no needless chances. Do not put Jehovah to the test in an unwarranted way. "Therefore, whether you are eating or drinking or doing anything else, do all things for God's glory." "Whatever you are doing, work at it whole-souled as to Jehovah, and not to men."—1 Cor. 10:31 and Col. 3:23,NW.
EHOVAH God and Christ Jesus are still active as the great Healers. But how is that if the day of bestowing the gift of the spirit for curing the sick in body is about nineteen centuries in the past? How, too, has his health program for his Christian witnesses continued till this day? In what way is he accomplishing cures and healings now? The Scriptures answer that he is performing such marvels now in a greater way than in a physical or bodily way, namely, in a spiritual way.
2 Religionists who make miracles on the human body their outstanding tenet and their chief claim to being God's people lay the main stress on what is physical or natural. They overlook God's greater miracles which are accomplished in a spiritual way. The physical miracles in the apostolic days so long ago were merely secondary to the more wonderful and more important spiritual miracles. The physical healings passed away in due time as was foretold,
but the works of spiritual transformation have continued on through the centuries down till now. Natural-minded people of this world will not be able to appreciate these greater and more vital wonders, and they will not care for them or attach any value to them or believe them real. On this the apostle says: "But a physical man does not receive the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are examined spiritually."—1 Cor. 2:14,NW.
But today hundreds of thousands of persons of good will are beginning to appreciate these wonder works which are more important for everlasting life in the new world than temporary physical cures in this world could ever be. The good effects physically on those who received miraculous bodily cures in apostolic times ended with their death. The good effects on those who have believed and experienced God's power through Christ in a
How are God and Christ still active as Healers?
In this respect what do advocates of divine healing overlook today? And why do not natural-minded people appreciate it?
How are the spiritual miracles more important and durable in effect?
spiritual way continue, in that they will be with them when they are resurrected to life in the promised new world. So let us not claim to be Christians and yet be merely 'physical men who do not receive the things of the spirit of God nor understand them'.
4 Jesus and his gifted disciples gave vision to the blind to see the natural world about them. There is, though, a deadly spiritual blindness, for which Satan the Devil is indeed responsible. "The god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through." (2 Cor. 4:4, NW) Eyes of the mind or of understanding need to be opened to see the light of life, otherwise we shall stumble into destruction. The blind religious guides led the blind Jewish people to the pit where both tumbled in together to destruction. (Matt. 15:14, NW) So, which is it more vital
to remove, the physical or the mental blindness? Which miracle is the greater, the physical or the spiritual?
their mouths to declare his fame, to preach his Word and to witness to his kingdom. Those who were limping along uncertainly according to human moral standards and traditional self-righteousness and worldly respectability gained strength to walk unfalteringly in the path of God's righteousness through Christ, uncompromisingly holding to the narrow path that leads to eternal life. Those who were infected with the leprosy of sin accepted true cleansing from the loathsome state of transgressors of God's law, being washed in Jesus' blood.
glory with Jesus Christ in his heaventhe deaf to hear, the dumb to talk, the lame to walk, the lepers to be clean enough to enter into the temple with other worshipers of God. But those physical miracles do not compare with the spiritual miracles which cause people formerly deaf to God's Word to hear it now with understanding. By spiritual miracles those whose tongues were dumb as far as praising God opened
6 Jesus and his apostles raised the dead: Jairus' daughter, the son of the widow of Nain, Lazarus, Dorcas, Eutychus. But these resuscitations of the physically dead only to die again in the flesh, were these miracles greater than raising people who were dead toward God in their sinful, alienated condition to live, act and serve Jehovah God? For the anointed Christians this means immortal life in the new world,
5 Also, Jesus and his disciples with the gift of healing made
ly kingdom. To those having this spiritual resurrection during this world it is written: "Furthermore, it is you
God made alive though you were dead in your trespasses
and sins, . . . God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with the Christ, even when we were dead in trespasses by undeserved kindness you have been saved—and he raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenly places in union with Christ Jesus."—Eph. 2:1-6, NW.
7 When Jesus at Nazareth announced his
Which cure of blindness was more important, the natural or spiritual?
5, 6. How did the physical miracles compare with the spiritual miracles of a corresponding kind?
What prophecles did Jesus quote referring to miracles of healing? And to what kind of healing?
commission as God's Sent One, the Messiah, to those Jews in the synagogue he referred to the miracles of spiritual healing which he was to accomplish, saying: "Jehovah's spirit is upon me, because he anointed me to declare good news to the poor, he sent me forth to preach a release to the captives and a recovery of sight to the blind, to send the crushed ones away with a release, to preach Jehovah's acceptable year." (Luke 4:16-19, NW) The need of spiritual cure as being foremost Jesus stressed again when he once more quoted from the prophecy of Isaiah, to explain why he was preaching to the people in parables: "This is why I speak to them by the use of illustrations, because, looking, they look in vain, and hearing, they hear in vain, neither do they get the sense of it; and toward them the prophecy of Isaiah is having fulfillment which says: 'By hearing, you will hear but by no means get the sense of it; and, looking, you will look but by no means see. For the heart of this people has grown thick, and with their ears they have heard with annoyance, and they have shut their eyes; that they might never see with their eyes and hear with their ears and get the sense of it with their hearts and turn back, and I heal them.'"—Matt. 13:13-15, NW.
What was necessary for those religious Jews was to have the spiritual miracles, to open their mental eyes, to unstop their ears of understanding, to remove the fatty encasement of selfishness from about their heart. Then first could they see through what God was doing and could identify the Messiah whom he had sent and turn back from their self-righteous worldly course and get spiritual healing from Jehovah God. With all the miracles that Jesus performed upon human bodies the majority of the Jews never did turn to him and his
apostles and have their eyes, ears and hearts repaired spiritually and get the cure from sin and its consequences and be raised to life as the spiritual Israel of God. For this reason the nation of natural Israel, who would not believe without signs and wonders, were rejected by God. Their holy city and temple were destroyed, their nation was broken up and its members were scattered to the four winds as a people despised and cursed.
RESTORATIVE REMEDY
People who are fascinated by the thought of divine healing with physical miracles today are blind to the fact that Jehovah's great health program is operating mightily today, that he is performing marvelous miracles of spiritual healing for us to live in that glorious new world which stands immediately before us. The outstanding miracle is the one he has wrought upon the remnant of his faithful witnesses who make up his visible theocratic organization. He foretold this miracle twenty-five centuries ago at the time that ancient Jerusalem was menaced with destruction by the Chaldean armies under Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. We read:
10 "For thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a defence against the mounds and against the sword; while men come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city: Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them; and I will reveal unto them abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return,
What miracles were necessary for those religious Jews? Why?
9,10. On whom in this century has God wrought an outstanding miracle, and how did he foretell it by Jeremiah?
and will build them, as at the first. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned against me, and whereby they have transgressed against me. And this city shall be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them, and shall fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I procure unto it."—Jer. 33:1-9, AS.
11 During the years of the first world war, 1914 to 1918, the remnant of spiritual Israel came under Jehovah's displeasure. His kingdom by his Christ had been born in the heavens in 1914, at the end of the "appointed times of the nations" that year; but, under the great stress of persecution, oppression and international opposition during those war years reaching a climax in 1918, God's anointed witnesses failed and their organization experienced a breakup and they came under captivity to the world system of modern Babylon. But from 1919 on they came to a realization of their spiritual condition. They appealed for some divine restorative remedy. Their appeal was well worded by Jeremiah who foretold the captivity of spiritual Israel: "Heal me, O Jehovah, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise. Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of Jehovah? let it come now. As for me, I have not hastened from being a shepherd after thee." (Jer. 17:14-16, AS) The hearts of the remnant were broken because of God's apparent disfavor and because, through fear and improper understanding, they had been forced out of his service.
brokenhearted remnant. He regathered them, repaired the breaches of their organization and reorganized them for more effective service than ever. He built them up on earth as the visible theocratic organization to represent his heavenly Jerusalem which was now radiant with Kingdom glory. Here, not physical cure of fleshly organisms, but spiritual cure of the remnant of his witnesses was needed, to recover them from unclean fear and from religious foolishness. "He sendeth his word, and healeth them, and delivereth them from their destructions." (Ps. 107: 17-20, AS) He opened their eyes and ears more fully to get Scriptural understanding. For a time they had been lying as dead under the world's repressive laws and measures, but now they were revived by God's spirit. Up they stood and engaged in free and fearless activity as his witnesses to tell all the nations the good news of His kingdom. A spiritual resurrection indeed! (Rev. 11:7-12) So they were delivered from their captivity and were assembled into an unbreakable unity of faith and action. By all this Scriptural understanding and these joyful service privileges they were greatly comforted. Their tongues were loosed to sing: "Praise ye Jehovah; for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is comely. Jehovah doth build up Jerusalem; he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds."—Ps. 147:1-3, AS.
12 God heard the prayer of his repentant,
13 In this way, by means of this restorative work of mercy to his anointed remnant, the great heavenly Physician performed a modern miracle of spiritual healing. It has astounded Christendom, but has also chagrined her. The restored organization of Jehovah's people abounds
How did the remnant come into a condition needing healing?
How did he heal and revitalize the remnant? With what response?
So how has Jehovah's city or organization become a joy, praise and glory before all nations, and with what illumination?
with the peace, truth and spiritual prosperity with which he has filled it. By activating them in his witness work in all quarters of the earth He has made their organization become a praise and glory for him before all the nations, and the name of "Jehovah's witnesses" has become a joy to numberless multitudes. For his visible theocratic organization this is a day of brightness amid the thickening gloom and darkness of the worldly nations. They have heavenly light day and night; and the light increases to the illumination of perfect day, the brightness of a week of days all concentrated into one. As it was predicted: "Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah bindeth up the hurt of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound."—Isa. 30:26, AS.
14 God's restoration of his witnesses to his theocratic organization, his entrusting them with the ambassadorship of his kingdom to the people of all nations, fulfills Bible prophecy. It is a convincing evidence to his witnesses that the promised kingdom has been established in the heavens. Jehovah now reigns over the earth by his Christ whom he has enthroned as King of the new world. Just as long ago Job was restored from his captivity in Satan's power and was healed of his deadly disease and was vindicated, so God's faithful remnant have experienced restoration, pardon from sins, and spiritual healing. And just as the beggar Lazarus died to his diseased, hungry state at the rich man's gate where the despised curs licked his ulcers, so the remnant of Jehovah's witnesses have experienced a change of condition since 1918. Like Lazarus, they now find themselves in the bosom of favor of the greater Abraham, Jehovah God. (Luke 16:19-25) They
no longer feel sick spiritually. They are in His theocratic organization, a city of radiant spiritual health. Once lamed by the enemy world, now they seize the prey from this world, the people of good will. Why is this so now? The prophetic answer comes: "For Jehovah is our judge, Jehovah, our lawgiver, Jehovah, our king: he will save us. . . then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity."—Isa. 33:22-24, Da.
15 Pitted against the remnant of Jehovah's witnesses today is the great organization of Christendom, which boasts of an antiquity all the way back to the apostle Peter. After her centuries of existence, at least sixteen centuries since Emperor Constantine's day, is she a picture of health physically, spiritually? Medical science within her has made great strides forward, but what has this accomplished for her? Persons who practice Christian Science or Jewish Science of faith healing, and those who advocate direct divine healing by prayer and laying on of hands, how much have all these accomplished for Christendom's relief? Not even the elimination of the common cold, not to speak of those great killers: heart disease, cancer, arthritis, tuberculosis, pneumonia, kidney and liver diseases, peptic ulcers, etc.
16 But aside from that, look at Christendom's worse condition socially, politically, economically, judicially, morally, and religiously. Her condition is well described by Isaiah when telling of her ancient prototype, Israel: "Ah! sinful nation, guiltladen people; brood of evildoers, children who deal corruptly; who have forsaken the
How does this healing prove Jehovah's kingdom has been set up?
What have Christendom's healers accomplished for her physical health?
What is her condition otherwise, and which healing does she need more?
LORD, and spurned the Holy One of Israel, and gone back in estrangement from him! Where will you still be smitten, that you continue in your defection? The whole head is ailing, and the whole heart sick; from the sole of the foot to the head there is no health in it—nought but blows and bruises and bleeding wounds, that have not been pressed nor bound up nor softened with oil." Which, then, is it that Christendom needs more, the healing of her people's physical organisms or their spiritual healing?
17 Admittedly there is serious need of physical healing. Yet this physical well-being would never spare her from the woes and destruction of the impending war of Armageddon. It is the spiritual healing that is the more urgent, the more important, the really vital healing. For it is only those who seek and gain the spiritual recovery who will survive the terrible desolations and destructions of the "war of the great day of God the Almighty" and enter the healthy new world. Putting the spiritual therapy in the first place, the prophet Isaiah prescribed the course for Christendom to take and described the certain results: "'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the LORD: 'If your sins be like scarlet, can they become white as snow? If they be red like crimson, can they become as wool? If you prove willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall taste the sword'; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."—Isa. 1:4-6, 18-20, AT.
18 But Christendom is like Asa king of ancient Jerusalem at the time of his serious disease. Of him it is written: "Yet in his disease he sought not to Jehovah, but to the physicians." (2 Chron. 16:12, AS) Today Christendom turns her back on the
real remedy which Jehovah prescribes in his Word and summons her religious medics to the side of her deathbed. These, with their pagan philosophies, traditions of men, empty rites, ceremonies and holy years, and worldly-mindedness, turn out to be what Job said of his false friends, "forgers of lies" and "physicians of no value".—Job 13:4.
19 With Jeremiah we can fitly raise the question: "Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" (Jer. 8:22) The clergy physicians are quacks as far as the spiritual well-being of the people, the laity, is concerned. With two world wars already to their account and a third one menacing Christendom and, worst of all, Armageddon unavoidably threatening her, the clergy have matched Jeremiah's description of the religious leaders who failed to avert Jerusalem's destruction: "From the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace." (Jer. 6:13,14) The prophet Ezekiel (34:4) testifies that they have neglected the eternal spiritual interests of God's sheep: "The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them." Hence God's Word cries out woe to them, and their woe will come upon them in full at Armageddon to their destruction.
Why is this the more important healing? How does Isaiah prescribe it?
What do the physicians Christendom consults prove to be?
How have these clergy physicians matched Jeremiah's and Ezekiel's descriptions of priests, prophets, and shepherds?
CHRISTENDOM'S clergy claim to have as their divine commission the converting of the world to Christ. But after all these sixteen centuries they are farther than ever from it. God foreknew how they would turn out in this day. So he has not sent them out nor depended upon them to accomplish the spiritual healing of his "sheep" on earth. He has raised up a loyal remnant of imitators of the Right Shepherd Jesus Christ, who appreciate that the spiritual need of the people is more important than their physical well-being. Just after the first world war the remnant themselves required the great Physician's attention, and he healed them spiritually. In fact, for the sake of these elect or chosen ones Jehovah cut short the days of the great tribulation upon Satan's world, that the remnant might be relieved of what ailed them spiritually and might be saved to heavenly life in the new world. He healed the waters of doctrine that they were drinking, to immunize them against infection by this sinful world. (Matt. 24:21, 22; Ezek. 47:8, 9; Ex. 15:23-26) The truth is, he caused a continually deepening and expanding river of Kingdom truth to flow forth to them. Its waters have been lifegiving to them. Spiritually, the result of the divine health program to them has been miraculous, fulfilling the prophecy: "Your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert."—Isa. 35:4-6.
2 This spiritual remnant with a heavenly destiny were not the only ones to be healed as to their relations with God through Christ. A great crowd of others with an earthly destiny also needed the benefit of the heavenly Physician's health work. They needed to be invited to the waters of Kingdom truth. They needed to have applied to them things with curative powers. So God commanded that his healed remnant should themselves go forth on a healing mission in these ominous days preceding Armageddon. For it is only the spiritually healed one who will get through Armageddon and emerge into the hale new world. So he has made his faithful remnant of Kingdom heirs to grow up like sturdy trees of righteousness on the banks of the river of truth. The situation is beautifully pictured for us at Revelation 22:1-3: "And he showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of its broad way. And on this side of the river and on that side there were trees of life producing twelve crops of fruit, yielding their fruits each month. And the leaves of the trees were for the
For what healing did Jehovah cut short the days of tribulation, and with what miracles resulting?
What others needed healing? And so on what mission did Jehovah send out his remnant?
curing of the nations. And no more will there be any curse."—NW.
The standing of those rows of trees of righteousness there is a sure sign that water of life is there. The trees' abundance of leaves invites the sunstricken, parched seekers of life to cooling shade beneath their foliage. The fruits of the Kingdom, that is to say, the Kingdom message and the active service in spreading it, they hold forth for the great crowd of people of good will to eat and to pass on to other famished ones. Being trees of righteousness, they are good trees. Their leaves are the faithful outward professions of what they believe and teach, without hypocrisy, and accompanied by Kingdom fruits every month and season of the year. And so these symbolic leaves, when applied to the people of good will everywhere, are healthgiving, curative, acting like medicine. As Ezekiel stated in a corresponding vision: "Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for healing." (Ezek. 47:12, AT) Hundreds of thousands have already come to these trees by the riverside, have eaten the Kingdom fruits offered and have applied to themselves the curative leaves by accepting the educational services of Jehovah's anointed remnant of witnesses. They have experienced healing mentally, morally, and in their relations with God. So now they are in line for eternal life in the new world.
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