The Watchtower, October 15, 1951
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The WATCHTOWER
Announcing
JEHOVAH'S
KINGDOM
OCTOBER 15, 1951
Semimonthly
MAKING THE MIND OVER FOR
NEW WORLD LIVING
KEEPING THE MIND RENEWED
JEHOVAH'S WAR OF ARMAGEDDON
REPORT ON JAPAN AND KOREA
EDUCATION THAT BRINGS SUCCESS
©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. KNORE, President
GRANT SUITER, Secretary
"They will all be taught by Jehovah."—John 6:45, NW; Isaiah 54:13
CONTENTS
Education That Brings Success 611
Jehovah's War of Armageddon 613
Making the Mind Over for New World Living 617
Keeping the Mind Renewed 624
Report on Japan and Korea 631
Jehovah's Witnesses in Costa Rica 637
Questions from Readers 638
'Condemned Out of Their Own Mouths' 640
Announcements 640
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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EDUCATION THAT BRINGS SUCCESS
A WORLDLY saying of much wisdom relates: "All that glitters is not gold." Sometimes it is interesting to remember this when men give way to much boasting. And have you ever heard of such boasting as is evident in this twentieth-century "brain age"?
Men are highly respected for sake of degrees they hold from great universities. Among nations, scientific achievement, particularly along military lines, rockets those with the greatest "know-how" into positions of leadership.
Yet what can be said for the harvest this age has reaped? Its two world wars do not stand out as great intellectual achievements. It is difficult to see the wisdom in the mass global fear caused by the inventions of modern science. Do the children, as claimed, reap the benefit of the most progressive learning of all time? Juvenile crimes are more outstanding than ever. High school narcotic rings steal the headlines. As the Bible warned, widespread 'disobedience to parents' has paralleled the high tide of youth woes. (2 Tim. 3:2) And what of man's loftiest study, knowledge of his Creator? Godlessness through evolution and communism runs wild. "Trial marriages" are seriously considered and the collapse of family life lurks nearby.
When very similar conditions prevailed in the ancient land of Israel, when it was riddled with 'cursing, lying, murder, theft
and adultery', Jehovah God assigned the cause, declaring: "The LORD has a quarrel with the inhabitants of the land; because there is no fidelity, no kindness, and no knowledge of God in the land." (Hos. 4:1, AT) What would you give as the cause for these same evils in the modern world?
In the first place, just what does this "wise world" accomplish with its much boasted wisdom? True, great nations can store their resources, then conduct global aid programs to less fortunate peoples. With their knowledge of engineering, men can blueprint mighty structures, blast their foundations out of solid rock and scrape the sky with their pinnacles. They can draft large armies and equip them for daring exploits behind skilled commanders. Yes, and they can inherit thrones or be elected into political offices, dwell in palaces and exert much influence. But are all these things so much? If these are the sole measurements of success, then man is still little ahead of the insects and lower animals.—Prov. 30:24-28.
Ironically, this world's learning seems to operate in reverse. A child of four or five asks who made the flowers. Told that God created them, he believes it because he reasons that he cannot duplicate them with his little hands. This and other things he learns. He is taught to respect God's great power, to pray to Him and to feel safe because God is able to defeat all evil. But later on the same child grown older falls into the clutches of college professors who proceed to shred away this simple faith, forcing him to give it up to satisfy the greedy appetite of the evolution theory.
Gone then, too, his sense of security, and the young man becomes part of a sea of humanity living in dread of atomic war or some other form of mass annihilation. After seventeen or eighteen years of "education" he finds he knows less than at the age of four or five!
So some may suggest that parochial education is the answer. But not so. Consider the "church states" prevalent in Latin America and the degrading immorality and mass ignorance marking those poor peoples. Even in the United States, tests indicate that "Sunday school" education has not taught a practical knowledge of God's Word. To the parents of His typical nation, Israel, God commanded:
"These words you must learn by heart, this charge of mine; you must impress them on your children, you must talk about them when you are sitting at home and when you are on the road, when you lie down and when you rise up. You must tie them on your hands as a memento, and wear them on your forehead as a badge; you must inscribe them on the door-posts of your houses and on your gates."—Deut. 6:6-9, Mo.
Similarly, the apostle Paul admonished Christian parents of the first century to 'go on bringing their children up in the discipline and authoritative advice of Jehovah'. (Eph. 6:4, NW) Of course, such training must be accompanied with proper parental examples in Christian teaching and living. The harvest for such course will be another life devoted to learning of God and publicly helping friends and neighbors to do likewise—truly a helpful contribution to the world.
"Is that any way to become successful?" the scoffing world will challenge. Would
the scoffers consider Christ Jesus successful, then? Evidently not, yet his teaching has introduced the only means of salvation to everlasting life in a new world open to mankind. Note what his apostle, Paul, taught: "Did not God make the wisdom of the world foolish? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not get to know God, God saw good through the foolishness of what is preached to save those believing."—1 Cor. 1:20, 21, NW.
And by "the foolishness of what is preached" will those who survive the coming world crisis be preserved for life in God's new world. To help all those who would win this goal of true success, the good news is phrased simply for them, but backed with the power of God's Word. The experience of the apostle Paul proves this wise.—1 Cor. 2:1,4,5.
Certainly it was in God's power that Jesus taught, when he spoke as no man before him had (John 7:46), carrying on Christian education from city to city, village to village, house to house and in public places and wherever a crowd could be gathered. (Luke 8:1; Acts 20:20; Luke 5:1-3; Matt. 5:1,2) Also, he and his followers patiently instructed in private homes and answered Bible questions. (Matt. 9:9,10; Luke 10:38-42) The book of Acts brims with such experiences.
This vital activity of Christianity has not vanished. In the year 1950, Jehovah's witnesses, Christian ministers, spent more than 54,000,000 hours in this same kind of work world-wide. They conducted over eighteen and a half million return visits upon interested parties and held 234,952 home Bible studies. Evidence of their success lies in ever-increasing throngs of new ministers, new hearts made glad, persons with a new world hope of everlasting life. This way of learning for true success yet remains open to encourage still others.
ARMAGEDDON
PEOPLE the world over fear another global war. They fear it because of having already experienced two world wars. They fear it because atomic weapons will be used. They fear it because there seems no way of escaping it. But what the majority of the people do not realize is that something far more terrible than another international war is impending. (2 Pet. 3:7,10) As General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, on September 2, 1945, the day after the surrender of the Japanese, aboard the battleship "Missouri", warned: "Men since the beginning of time have sought peace. . . Military alliances, balance of power, leagues of nations, all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be by way of the crucible of war. We have had our last chance. If we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, our Armageddon will be at our door." No "more equitable system" has been devised. The nations are having their "last chance". Armageddon is at the door!
Now let this fact be fully appreciated by all: Armageddon will be altogether different, separate and distinct from any prospective World War III, touched off and prosecuted by mere men. Armageddon will not be a war between Eastern and Western blocs of nations. It will not be communism against capitalism. It will not be a revolt of the laboring masses against the ruling classes. No, Armageddon will be the battle of God Almighty, the great and
terrible war, when Jehovah completely destroys the nations and kingdoms that oppose and fight against his glorious theocratic rule.—Zeph. 3:8, AS.
Armageddon will not be any local war limited to the literal valley of Megiddo in Palestine. Har-Magedon, or Armageddon, means the "mountain of the assembly of troops", and it refers in a symbolic way to the capital organization of Zion where Jehovah God has enthroned Christ Jesus as earth's rightful ruler. That great historical event took place in the year 1914, conclusive proof concerning this having already appeared in the columns of The Watchtower.—Ps. 45:3-7.
So it is against the established kingdom under Christ that the nations under the control of the Devil and his demons now gather together for an all-out final, but futile, assault. Says the psalmist: "Why do the nations rage, and the peoples meditate a vain thing [conspiring to continue their rule]? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against Jehovah, and against his anointed [King], . . . He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh: the Lord will have them in derision. Then will he speak unto them in his wrath [at Armageddon], and vex them in his sore displeasure: Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion."—Ps. 2:1-6, AS.
THE GATHERING STORM
They do not realize it, but the hurried efforts of the rulers since 1914 in forming leagues of nations, creating confederacies, drawing up hemispheric pacts and international agreements, and pooling their strength in what they call a United Nations—all of such schemes having welded the nations together into a solid bloc in opposition to Christ's kingdom—are in direct fulfillment of divine prophecy long ago recorded.
And just as surely as we have seen the nations form these confederacies, just that surely will we see them dashed to pieces at Armageddon! "Associate yourselves, O ye people," the prophet declared, "and ye shall be broken in pieces." "Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces." "Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought." Isa. 8:9,10.
Have you observed the overwhelming flood of demonic propaganda constantly increasing in volume since World War I, great swelling words booming forth as from the throats of inflated bullfrogs?
As foretold in Bible prophecy, such propaganda is inspired by the demons, the purpose being to line up everyone on the Devil's side for the universal war of Armageddon. "And I saw three unclean inspired expressions that looked like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the wild beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are, in fact, expressions inspired by demons and perform signs, and they go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty. And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon [Armageddon]."—Rev. 16:13, 14, 16, NW.
The greatest battle of all ages is fast approaching and the opposing forces of wickedness have but a short time to prepare for it. Hence Jehovah mockingly tells them: "Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty
men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together. . . Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about." (Joel 3:9-12, AS) They obey. The greatest armaments race in all history is in full swing.
Soon their total regimentation will be complete, and they will feel invincible, secure and peaceably entrenched. But that is where they will make their greatest blunder, as the apostle Paul declares: "Whenever it is that they are saying, 'Peace and security!' then sudden destruction is to be instantly upon them just as the pang of distress upon a pregnant woman, and they will by no means escape." (1 Thess. 5:3, NW) Jehovah, a warrior without a peer, well knows the value of surprise, and He makes full use of it, not in a cowardly sneak-attack, but by first giving complete warning, and then striking the obstinate enemies when and where they least expect it. "Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son [Jehovah's Chief Field Marshal], but only the Father." Matt. 24:36, NW.
Jehovah's "D-day" of Armageddon may be strictly a military secret, but the suddenness and surprise of it will convince even the enemy that this is it. Armageddon will break as suddenly as the flood that deluged the earth in Noah's day; as suddenly as the bolts of fire that came down from heaven and licked up the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Lot's day. (Luke 17:26-30) Satan's forces will be as surprised as when Joshua's army ambushed the cocky inhabitants of Ai; as surprised as the slumbering Midianites when Gideon's little band in the dead of night smashed the pitchers and shouted, "The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon"; as surprised as when David's men circled the Philistines and came upon them from the rear.
(Josh. 8:1-23; Judg. 7:19-22; 2 Sam. 5:22-24, AS) As in these past instances, so also now, Jehovah God is maneuvering the enemy into a position where their destruction will be so sudden and complete Jehovah will be vindicated for all time as the greatest warrior in the universe, supreme in wisdom and almighty in battle. Ex. 15:3; Ps. 24:8,10,AS.
HOW FINAL WAR WILL BE FOUGHT
This old world has had a long time to develop and bring forth good fruits, but all she has produced is wild oats and bitter grapes of wickedness. Now harvesttime has arrived. "Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision." (Joel 3:13,14,AS) It is Christ Jesus and the host of holy angels with him that will trample underfoot and squeeze the very life out of Satan's forces, even as ancient treaders of the winepress made pulp out of grapes. Crowned as Ruler of the new world, with flaming vengeance streaking from his eyes as he rides to victory upon a white war mount, Jehovah's Vindicator will tread "the press of the wine of the anger of the wrath of God the Almighty". (Jer. 25:30,31,AS; Rev. 19:11-16,NW) In this execution work the "King of kings and Lord of lords" will have associated with him myriads upon myriads of holy angels, even all the armies of heaven, numbering no less than 200,000,000.—Ps. 68:17; Rev. 9:16,NW.
What a terrible slaughter that will be! All the angelic host of heaven laying siege
against both the visible and invisible hordes of wicked ones! How such supernatural warfare will be waged we do not know, but the Bible tells something of the horrifying results. "This shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite all the peoples that have warred against [heavenly] Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth."—Ezek. 38:21-23; Zech. 14:12, AS.
It is true that this global sphere will remain forever, yet the cosmic forces deployed against the Devil's organization will rock this earth to its very foundation. (Ps. 46:2,3;104:5;Eccl.1:4) Upheavals of the ocean floor will in turn cause roaring tidal waves to sweep inland with frightful consequences. Raging storms so fierce as to blacken out the light of the sun, while at the same time burning missiles, perhaps showers of molten meteors, and electrical storms will light up the heavens. Whether atomic energy in some form will be released in that battle is not certain, but the Creator of the atom, if He chooses to do so, will certainly convince proud and haughty men of science that their A-bombs and planned H-bombs are mere firecrackers in His sight.Joel 3:15,16; Hab. 3:1-19.
Just think of it, the greatest earthquake of the twentieth century, the one that struck Assam and northern India in 1950, was equivalent to the simultaneous explosion of 1,100,000 atomic bombs, each equal to 20,000 tons of TNT, and yet no one over a few hundred miles away felt the earth tremble beneath their feet. However, at Armageddon, Jehovah declares, he will shake terribly this whole earth. What immeasurable power that will be, changing the very face of the continents!-Isa. 2:19,21.
HISTORICAL PREVIEWS
In addition to these direct prophecies, Jehovah says he will go forth and fight at Armageddon "as when he fought in the day of battle" long ago. Such occasions of the past were typical pictures of the final war. "For Jehovah will rise up as in mount Perazim, he will be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act. Now therefore be ye not scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for a decree of destruction have I heard from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, upon the whole earth."—Isa. 28:21, 22; Zech. 14:3, AS.
As Jehovah washed the wicked system of things in Noah's day right out of existence, so the present system he will destroy. The mighty military forces of the first world power, Egypt, Jehovah trapped and drowned as if they were rats. Again, in a single night, Jehovah slew the so-called invincible forces of Sennacherib the boaster, all 185,000 of them! When Joshua's forces were fighting in behalf of the Gibeonites, Jehovah simply opened the heavens and threw down great hailstones, killing more that way than were slain with the sword. Concerning the rout of Sisera and his heavily mechanized army we read: "They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon." A repeat performance on a global scale is due at Armageddon, "that men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth." Josh. 10:6-14; Judg. 5:20, 21; Ps. 83:9-18; Isa. 37:33-38.
On another occasion Jehovah threw such confusion and terror among the hordes of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir that they rose up and cut each other to pieces until they were all dead men. This too will be
repeated at Armageddon: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from Jehovah shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor." 2 Chron. 20:1-24; Zech. 14:13, AS.
WILL YOU BE AMONG THE SURVIVORS?
In this impending war modern atomic weapons will surely prove disappointing to all who put their trust in them; likewise all human devices for protection. The prophecy says that even if they dig into the earth for concealment, as in bombproof cellars, or try to make a get-away into heavenly heights, as in supersonic jet planes, or attempt to flee under the sea's surface, as in snorkel-equipped submarines, yet they will be overtaken and destroyed. "Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah's wrath."-Amos 9:1-4; Zeph. 1:18, AS.
The carnage and destruction of Armageddon will be so awesome that it will defy human description. Already the carrion birds and wild beasts of the forest and zoos have been invited to banquet upon the many millions of carcasses of men, women and children of the high and mighty as well as of those who slavishly serve them.Jer. 25:33, AS; Ezek. 9:5,6; Rev. 19:17,18,21.
Well, does this mean there is no hope for survival? No, not at all. For Jehovah has faithfully promised to spare alive and protect those who are fully devoted to Him, such as were pictured by Noah, Lot, Rahab, and their households. Instead of trusting in the princes of this world, these seek righteousness and meekness and put full confidence in Jehovah, and to them the promise is made: "It may be ye will be hid in the day of Jehovah's anger." Ps. 146:3; Prov. 3:5, 6; Zeph. 2:3, AS.
"And quit being fashioned after this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over."—Rom. 12:2, NW.
EHOVAH God is away ahead of all modern thought in this world. Modern man is first catching up with the marvelous powers and faculties with which Jehovah endowed lower animal creations and insects, such as flight by birds, jet propulsion by sea animals, wireless telegraphy from insect antennae, blind flying by the radar equipment of bats, heatless internal lighting by certain insects and fishes, and other marvels. But Jehovah's irreducible lead in thought over man is shown, not only in His living earthly creation, but also in his written Word, the Holy Bible. Modern thinkers of the world may disdain the Bible as an old-fashioned book, not suitable or equal to this day of scientific advancement. But just the same it is science and modern thought that are producing further difficulties for man with no solution by man, whereas the Bible is meeting up with no disproof but is being fulfilled as truth. Although it is over eighteen centuries since the last of the Bible's sixty-six books was written, yet it tells us reliably of things yet a thousand years in advance of our day. What it describes for mankind at that distant time is an earth everywhere transformed into a
paradise, with all men and women living on it lifted up to human perfection in body and mind, with all persons dead in the graves rescued from the terrible enemy death, and with the last effort of the foes of universal peace put down by their absolute destruction and with endless peace, health and happiness stretching ahead for loyal mankind under the blessing of Jehovah and his Christ.
2 To predict thus a thousand years in advance is nothing for Jehovah God. To him a thousand years are but as one day, and his purpose never fails. The critical shaping of affairs today was foretold by him nearly six thousand years ago. Certainly his mind outstrips all modern thought of men who today are at their wits' end. Ps. 107:27.
3 Men of this world are gifted with that faculty of consciousness which we call "mind". Evidently they are not using their minds rightly. That must be why nothing they reason out and attempt is succeeding, but everything is breaking down, leaving them wondering, confused and nonplused. The whole system of things which worldly men are trying to bring into line with
How is Jehovah shown ahead of all modern thought in this world?
From the time standpoint, how is predicting not hard for him?
Why is everything men reason out and attempt failing?
modern thought is fashioned according to wrong thinking, and the longer the system goes, the farther it angles away from the absolute truth.
4 That is a sweeping statement. Nevertheless it is correct, for this present worldly system is not according to God's mind. That is why the system must go, and that shortly. It is now on its way out! Almighty God will have all things in the universe according to his way of advanced thinking. To short-sighted, low-minded man he says: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, and giveth seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isa. 55:8-11, AS) It is high time to find out Jehovah's thoughts.
Today we can appreciate more than ever the goodness of Paul's advice to the Christians at Rome: "Quit being fashioned after this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over, that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and complete will of God." (Rom. 12:2, NW) If to prove to ourselves God's will we have to have our minds made over, it is evident that this system of things is not according to God's will. Hence we have to quit being fashioned after this system, in order to prove to ourselves what is God's good, acceptable and complete
will. This system of things may pride itself on being much farther advanced than the ancient world which ended in the flood of Noah's day forty-three centuries ago. Nonetheless it is exactly like it in the same respects for which the Flood came and swept it all away. It may even be worse in these respects, because it is older, that antediluvian world running for only about 1,656 years, whereas this present system of things is 4,319 years old now.
What, then, is the likeness between the two? This: the continual bent of mind toward evil, a continual bent of thinking contrary to the will of the Creator, Jehovah God. As the reason for deluging the ancient world with destruction we have this testimony from the Lord God himself. We read: "When the LORD saw that the wickedness of man on the earth was great, and that the whole bent of his thinking was never anything but evil, the LORD regretted that he had ever made man on the earth." (Gen. 6:5, AT) And after the deluge was over and when Noah was offering his first sacrifice to God on the cleansed earth, God indicated that mankind would fall again to that low mental state. He said: "Never again will I curse the ground, though the bent of man's mind is indeed towards evil from his youth; never again will I destroy every living creature as I have done." (Gen. 8:21, Mo) Our comparison of our day and its system of things with the system of things before the Flood is not overdrawn. Jesus compared the two periods of time, saying: "Just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be."—Matt. 24:37, NW.
7 Before instructing us not to be fashioned after this system of things, the apostle Paul described the low mental, moral
Why must this present worldly system fail, in view of whose success?
Despite modern advancements, what likeness is there between this present system of things and the pre-Flood world?
Why "quit being fashioned after this system of things"?
7-9. With what description did Paul precede his admonition against being fashioned after this system of things? and is his description fitting for our day?
and spiritual state in which it was in his day. Since Paul's day it has had over eighteen centuries to grow worse. As we read his words, let us honestly consider whether this system of things is any better today than back there:
"Although asserting they were wise, they became foolish and turned the glory of the incorruptible God into something like the image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed creatures and creeping things. Therefore God in keeping with the desires of their hearts gave them up to uncleanness, that their bodies might be dishonored among them, even those who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and venerated and rendered sacred service to the creation rather than the One who created, who is blessed forever. Amen.
"That is why God gave them up to disgraceful sexual appetites, for both their females changed the natural use of themselves into one contrary to nature, and likewise even the males left the natural use of the female and became violently inflamed in their lust toward one another, males with males, working what is obscene and receiving in themselves the full recompense which was due for their error. And just as they did not approve of holding God in accurate knowledge, God gave them up to a disapproved mental state, to do the things not fitting, filled as they were with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, injuriousness, being full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malicious disposition, being whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, haughty, selfassuming, inventors of injurious things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, false to agreements, having no natural affection, merciless. Although these know full well the righteous decree of God, that those practicing such things are deserving of death, they not only keep
on doing them but also approve those practicing them."—Rom. 1:22-32, NW.
MAN'S MENTAL BENT
10 When God created the first man Adam and put him in the paradise of Eden, he did not make the bent of man's mind originally toward evil. Mankind's inclination toward evil mentally is because of being born from Adam after he had inclined away from God's will and toward evil. We inherited that leaning from him. And Satan the Devil, who is the "god of this system of things", has bent down ever harder on men to make them lean farther away from God. Today, in this "time of the end", he is exerting greater pressure than ever to put men where they cannot straighten up again.
11 The mind is that part of our make-up from which thought originates. It is that faculty of our consciousness with which we gather information and then reason and reach certain conclusions. It operates according to a certain law or rule of action, so that, if the mind is turned to evil, it follows that rule of operation in the evil direction and moves farther and farther into it. The inclination of the bent of mind grows greater, especially with the pressure from the wicked "god of this system of things", and so there is an advance from bad to worse. God, who endowed man with mind, knows how the mind operates better than the best college psychologist or psychoanalyst of today. God instantly detects the bent of man's mind and he knows what it will lead to. That is why he gives warning to us against the consequences that are sure to follow.
12 For forty years the Israelites were away from contact with idolatrous Egypt, and now they stood with just the Jordan
How did man's mind become bent toward evil?
What is the mind? and who understands it perfectly?
What advance testimony proves Jehovah's foreknowledge of what the bent of mankind's mind leads to?
river between them and the Promised Land. At this point Jehovah God ordered Moses to compose a song of testimony against them for their future reference, to show that he foreknew what their mental disposition would lead them to at last and that he had forewarned them. "For," said he, "I know their imagination which they frame this day, before I have brought them into the land which I sware." (Deut. 31:21, AS) Or, more modernly translated: "I know what their temperament will lead to, even now, before I bring them into the land, which I promised them on oath." （AT）This testimony written in advance served to judge and condemn them when it was fulfilled. That is why God's Word, which foretold thousands of years ago the present moral, mental and religious state of this world, stands as a condemnation of this world and shows that God was justified in declaring so long in advance that it would come to a disgraceful end. It proves that the great Creator knows far in advance what the bent of mankind's mind will certainly lead to. His description of human conditions in these last days is accurate.—2 Tim. 3:1-13, NW.
13 Do you profess to be a Christian? Then you are under every obligation to heed Paul's entreaty not to be fashioned after this system of things, or else prove yourself a hypocrite or an apostate. Suppose you are not a Christian and you find yourself naturally fashioned after this system. Then if you want to escape being destroyed with this system you must heed Paul's entreaty without delay and quit being fashioned after it. Do not be misled by the foolish slogan that has been invented to tickle a self-conceited person's vanity: "You can change the world!" Do not waste your time either with the similar slogan which says: "Change the world before it changes you." Instead of following some man's foolish philosophy, remember God's wise instruction which tells you you cannot change this world. God knows the bent of mind of this system of things and he pronounces it doomed. All the prayers you might offer to him to convert Joseph Stalin, and Mao Tse-tung, and other dictators and political leaders of this world, will go unanswered and the world will get worse. You, with all your praying and moral philosophizing, cannot change this world. The Devil is the "god of this system of things" and has been cast down from heaven and is filled with great anger and is bringing woe on earth and sea. Can you change him? Of course you cannot. This world, which lies under his power, is unchangeable. It must and will be wiped out. (2 Cor. 4:4; Rev. 12:7-12, NW) The way for you not to be changed by this world is, not by religiously trying to change it, but by doing what the inspired apostle says: "Be transformed by making your mind over." This you must do even while you are in the midst of this world and before it ends. You must do this before the world ends, or else you will end with it. So this course is your only safeguard.
HOW?
14 How are you to bring about this transforming, this making of your mind over? You cannot do so by taking up a course in the psychology of this world, for such psychology is all conformed to this doomed world and it has no real mental remedy for you. Since the mind is that faculty of our consciousness with which we gather information and think, then for it to be made over we must gather information other than what this world has brought us up on, thus giving us a certain mental cast
Why are Christians commanded to transform themselves rather than change or convert this world?
14, 15. By what course would we never succeed in making our minds over?
or structure. This world professes to be wise and brainy in this twentieth century, but it is built and operated according to ignorance. This has come largely through willfulness due to selfishness. By this we mean ignorance of God's truth, his will and his purposes. Paul shows this when he gives us another entreaty not to be fashioned after this world and its nations, saying: "That you no longer go on walking just as the nations also walk in the unprofitableness of their minds, while they are in darkness mentally, and alienated from the life that belongs to God, [why?] because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the insensibility of their hearts. Having come to be past all moral sense, they gave themselves over to loose conduct to work uncleanness of every kind with greediness."—Eph. 4:17-19, NW.
15 If we pattern our lives after this system of things and its nations, then, whether willfully or unknowingly, we are patterning ourselves after those who are in mental darkness and alienated from godly living because of the ignorance in them and because of their unfeeling hearts. Is that the kind of people we want to copy? If we do, then our minds will never be made over, for those people have a blinding veil over their eyes and are being misled by the Devil into destruction. As the apostle tells us: "If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, among whom 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. 4:3, 4, NW.
16 What we want is to be transformed with a hope of endless life in happiness in the new world now so close at hand. In
this behalf we need to fill our heads with information from the great Fountain of life, Jehovah God. We need knowledge to replace ignorance. We need light to replace darkness. And such knowledge and light we get by means of God's Word, the Holy Bible. It is this Word which sanctifies us. That is, it separates us from this world and brings us close to God. This was why Jesus prayed for his followers and said: "Sanctify them by means of the truth; your word is truth." (John 17:17, NW) The reason why God's Word sanctifies you or sets you apart from this world is because it is different from what this world thinks, says, writes and teaches.
17 So tear away Satan's blinding veil which he has put over our eyes by means of this world. With unprejudiced eyes and honest hearts come to God's Book and earnestly and prayerfully study it to learn the enlightening truth. Rather than let this world overawe us with its big show of worldly wisdom and the boasted antiquity of its traditions, philosophies and institutions of education and learning; and rather than be influenced by its spirit, we should open our hearts to the influence and workings of God's spirit, his illuminating active force. If we thus turn from this world to Jehovah God, the Source of light, then our minds will be set free from the bedarkening traditions and philosophies of worldly men. This freedom is what we are promised in these words: "When there is a turning to Jehovah, the veil is taken away. Now Jehovah is the spirit; and where the spirit of Jehovah is, there is freedom. And all of us, while we with unveiled faces reflect like mirrors the glory of Jehovah, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, exactly as done by Jehovah the spirit."—2 Cor. 3:16-18, NW.
Why do we need God's Word to make our minds over?
Whose spirit must we resist, and to the influence and workings of whose spirit must we open our hearts?
18 We cannot leave out of consideration the power of God's spirit in this matter of making us new, making us different from what we were when we were part of an ignorant world. The apostle again makes this point strong when he tells us of the change which was brought about in himself and in Titus. He says: "Even we were once senseless, disobedient, being misled, being slaves to various desires and pleasures, carrying on in maliciousness and envy, hateful, hating one another. However, when the kindness and the love for man on the part of our Savior, God, was manifested, owing to no activities in righteousness that we had performed, but according to his mercy he saved us through the bath that brought us to life and through the making of us new by holy spirit. This spirit he poured out richly upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior." (Titus 3:3-6, NW) Telling how that same invisible active force from above worked through him in transforming others into Christians, the apostle points to them as a letter of recommendation of his good work and says: "You are shown to be a letter of Christ written by us as ministers, inscribed not with ink but with spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets, but on fleshly tablets, on hearts." (2 Cor. 3:1-3, NW) It is this spirit that makes the information contained in God's Word understandable to us, since it probes into all its sacred secrets and makes them plain to us. "For it is to us God has revealed them through his spirit, for the spirit searches into all things, even the deep things of God. Now we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been kindly given us by God." (1 Cor. 2:10, 12, NW) So we need God's spirit.
19 But we cannot expect the spirit of God to work upon us automatically to change us mentally and bring about a transformation of our lives. We have to do something about it to show we really want to be different. From the sacred Record we see that God's spirit does not operate apart from his Word. Hence if we want this spirit to work in our lives we must get acquainted with God's Word. This is the only thing that gives us information and instruction different from what this world has to offer. It is only this Word that gives us a vision of the true God and of what his adorable qualities are and what he purposes to do to clear himself of all the false charges laid against him and to change living conditions for the lasting good of mankind. It was when we were in ignorance that we thought and acted like the rest of the world. We did not know any better and we were on the same low mental level as they were.
20 So for the making of our minds over we need first of all God's Word in all its fullness and power, unadulterated by the religious traditions and ignorant philosophies of men. We need to come to the Bible and be taught by God through its pages and with the assistance of his theocratic organization. As we come, we need to pray in David's words: "Make me a clean heart, O God, and put a new, steadfast spirit in me; banish me not from thy presence, deprive me not of thy sacred spirit." Then God will help us by his spirit and his organization to understand his Word.—Ps. 51:10, 11, Mo; AT.
AN ALIVE WORD
21 With something new in our heads we can begin to alter our ways of thinking
Why cannot God's spirit be left out of this matter of making us new?
Why must we get acquainted with God's Word if we want his spirit to work in our lives?
So to make our minds over we need what things working together?
How is the Word of God alive?
and our ways of life. With God's Word in our heads and hearts we really have a new powerful influence at work within us. It is no dead Word that has lost its interest, its truth, its practicalness, its interpretation of the events of our day, and its protective power against the degradation of these immoral times. It has vitality, it carries conviction, it can show what is in us better than any psychologist of this world can. It is no dead letter; its judgment will surely be executed. Just as the apostle Paul warns us: "The word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and their marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart."—Heb. 4:12, NW.
22 With that dynamic Word of God in us we have a new force actuating our minds to correct our thinking and our lives. If we no longer care to be fashioned after this detestable world, but want to be Christlike, real Christians, then we simply must have this new stimulus, which works in the right direction for our betterment, our transformation. To quote the apostle: "You should put away the old personality which conforms to your former course of conduct and which is being corrupted according to his deceptive desires; but . . . you should be made new in the force actuating your mind, and should put on the new personality which was created according to God's will in true righteousness and loving-kindness." (Eph. 4:22-24, NW) You have new knowledge, and this knowledge you got from God's Word with the help of his spirit and his organization.
23 What you will now be transformed into will be in accord with this knowledge, and so it will be a change into what God
wants you to be. "Strip off," says the apostle, "the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality." But what is this new personality going to be like? How is it going to be renewed or made a new personality in actual fact? Continuing, the apostle tells us: "The new personality which THROUGH ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE is being renewed according to the image of the one who created it, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, foreigner, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all things and in all."—Col. 3:9-11, NW.
24 Your being made a new personality which stands out different from this world results from knowledge, accurate knowledge of the great Creator. His Word reveals him to you and shows you how he conducts himself, what he thinks, and what his principles or rules of action are. It is a glorious vision that you get of him by means of his illuminated Word. By looking at him through your accurate knowledge, you can be made new and become an image of him by reflecting what he is, imitating him in conduct and thought, expressing yourself like him, and meeting his requirements of you.
25 Thus you can be changed from one stage of glory of likeness to him to another stage, and his holy spirit will work in you in this behalf. You will no longer resemble inwardly a Greek-speaking Gentile or a Jew. You will no longer pride yourself on being circumcised or feel unclean because of not being circumcised. You will no longer be an out-of-place foreigner to the holy nation of spiritual Israel. No, but to them and among them you will be no longer a nomadic uncivilized, barbaric Scythian or an underprivileged slave or a special-privileged freeman. You may be these things outwardly in the flesh,
What change of personalities is now possible?
23, 24. What is this new personality going to be like? and how is it going to be renewed or made a new personality in actual fact?
In what respect are we no longer worldlike, but godlike?
but in your mind and in your personality you will be a Christian. It is this fact that enables Jehovah's witnesses in their international assemblies and in their international organization to get along together in peace, harmony and brotherly affec-
KEEPING THE MIND RENEWED
WE MAY get new knowledge in our heads and have new ideas, but it is not easy to keep the mind in this new state and to order our lives in harmony with it. Not in this world in which the "god of this system of things" is on the loose together with all his demons. And not now while we are in imperfect flesh with its downward inclinations toward sin, selfishness, forgetfulness and disregard for God. The apostle Paul, even though he was favored with such uplifting visions and revelations, did not find it easy to keep in the new way of living according to the knowledge he had of God's revealed Word. He had a continual battle, and it was not all in the mind, so that we should say, "The battleground is in the mind." He had the bodily imperfections, the passions and the groveling tendencies of his flesh, to contend with the same as we have today. And as he describes the battle he had with
tion. We no longer let national traditions, pride, rivalries, political differences and social standing twist our heads and divide us.In this respect we are no longer worldlike, but godlike, for God shows no partiality.
himself, not to speak of the battle with the Devil's organization on the outside, we can see described our own battle with these bodies of ours which are dying because of inherited sin:
2 "For the good that I wish I do not do, but the bad that I do not wish is what I practice. If, now, what I do not wish is what I do, the one working it out is no longer I, but the sin dwelling in me. I find, then, this law in my case: that when I wish to do what is right, what is bad is present with me. 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. Miserable man that I am! Who will rescue me from the body undergoing this death? Thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So, then, with my mind I myself am a slave to God's law, but with my flesh to sin's law."—Rom. 7:19-25, NW.
Take note of these apostolic expressions, "law of my mind" and "sin's law that is in my members". A law is a rule of action or conduct according to which a person or thing will operate or move. Jehovah God the Creator did not put sin's law in mankind. It was our first human parent Adam under influence of the Devil that put it in human flesh and he passed it on to us as an inheritance. Unless con-
Why is it not easy to keep the mind renewed and live in harmony with it?
How did Paul describe the battle we have with our bodies?
Whence comes "sin's law that is in my members"? and how does the "law of my mind" combat it?
trolled or resisted, that law of sin is bound to rule you and move you. What possible way is there of controlling or resisting it? It is by the 'law of the mind'. Not the old mind, for this is sinful like the world, but the new mind which tends to make you an image of God the Creator of your new personality. This new mind dictates a new rule of action and conduct in your life. But since you have a new mind in an old body with an old brain, there is where the conflict arises. Due to your new process of thinking the ability to wish for better things is present with you, but the ability to do what you wish in a perfect way does not reside in you. This is because you are imperfect and the law of sin wants to have its way in and through your body and mind. Hence you find yourself often serving sin's law with your flesh. But your comfort is that you do not find pleasure in having thus sinned, but your mind clings
to God's law and approves it and is set on doing it.
4 According to the inborn law in our minds, our minds desire or find it easy to gravitate to sin and selfishness. To supplant this with a better law, we have to have our minds made over with new knowledge and with what this knowledge now dictates and advises. It is not enough just to have knowledge in our heads. Many clergymen in Christendom and the members of their religious flocks have knowledge of the Bible, but they do not act according to this knowledge. It is no guiding law in their lives. But after we have gathered knowledge from
God's Word, we must work at our minds which are filled with this divine knowledge. Against the sinful inclinations within us and against the tendency to mental laziness and forgetfulness, we must cultivate proper mental habits. In this way we really develop a 'law of the mind', a certain mental cast or mold, a mental rule of action, and this becomes a controlling force in our lives.
5 With our blessed knowledge from God's Word we must train our minds in right ways of thinking and in right processes and efforts. Otherwise, we can become persons whose minds have gone bad again, "men completely corrupted in mind, disapproved as regards the faith," as Paul speaks of them. (1 Tim. 6:5; 2 Tim. 3:8, NW) Our everlasting existence depends upon our establishing a righteous 'law of the mind'. Our eternal destiny depends upon what we fix our attention on. "For," as we read at Romans 8:5-7 (NW), "those
who are in accord with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those in accord with the spirit on the things of the spirit. For the minding of the flesh means death, but the minding of the spirit means life and peace; because the minding of the flesh means enmity with God, for it is not under subjection to the law of God, nor, in fact, can it
be." If we get our minds off the truth and let them be corrupted again with the things of the Devil's visible organization, it means the finish of us. "Their finish is destruction, and their god is their belly, and their glory consists in their shame, and they
What more is required than knowledge, and why?
Upon what must we set our minds? Failure to do so means what?
have their minds upon things on the earth."—Phil. 3:18, 19, NW.
It is right that we fear lest our minds should be corrupted while we are in this world in which the great Serpent is slyly crawling around and misleading the people. The apostle expressed that fear when he said: "I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent seduced Eve by its craftiness, your minds might be corrupted away from the sincerity and the chastity that are due the Christ." (2 Cor. 11:3,NW) We remember that originally Eve had a healthy mental process or law, according to God's revelations in the garden of Eden. But the Devil, alias the Serpent, came along and tried to put unhealthful ideas into her head. Instead of repelling them, Eve entertained them and this breakdown of the righteous law of her mind led to her being tempted into sin. She thought more on the desirability of eating forbidden fruit than on the truth of God's word and his warning against eating. Following the righteous law in her mental processes, fixing her thoughts on God's word as being the truth even if it made the Serpent a liar, would have spared her from being tempted and being drawn into temptation and sinning.
If we, today, while the same Tempter is still about, establish the righteous 'law of the mind' and resolutely stick to the thinking processes of the new mind, it will keep us from entering into temptation and sinning. Enmity against God starts in the mind. The apostle tells us who have been reconciled to God: "You . . . were once alienated and enemies because your minds were on the works that were wicked." He says that before we gave ourselves in obedience to God "we all at one time conducted ourselves in harmony with the desires of our flesh, doing the things the flesh
and the thoughts willed, and we were naturally children of wrath even as the rest".—Col. 1:21 and Eph. 2:2,3,NW.
8 When we were in that ignorant mental state we did not love God with our minds. The greatest of the commandments that was ever given to men requires us to love God with all our mental powers. Jesus pointed out what this greatest commandment is when he quoted it from God's Law and said: "You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind." (Matt. 22:37, NW; Deut. 6:5, AS; Luke 10:27) What we think on habitually greatly affects and influences us and induces us to take a certain way. To be thinking one way and yet be doing another thing outwardly is hypocrisy. We must think lovingly toward Jehovah God. That means thinking to please him by obeying him and taking faithful care of everything that honors his name and furthers the interests of his kingdom.
We cannot wholeheartedly serve God with a double mind. The psalmist rightly expressed it: "I hate them that are of a double mind; but thy law do I love." (Ps. 119:113, AS) "I hate men who are half and half, I love thy law." (Mo) Jesus hates them, too, and says to the many modern Laodiceans: "So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth." (Rev. 3:16, NW) If you are of a double mind, dividing your attentions between this world and God and not making your mind over wholly to the image which God approves, it will in course of time betray itself without fail. That will mean your rejection. You will become corrupted mentally with infection from this world and you will enter into temptation. That is the very thing that has happened to Christen-
Remembering what warning example, why fear corruption of mind?
How must we think in order to obey the greatest commandment?
Where does enmity against God start?
What judgment comes against double-minded ones?
dom. Your love of God with all your thinking processes is what you owe Him. He commands it. It is your safeguard.
PROGRESSIVE THINKING
10 The whole world is sick mentally, and public and charitable institutions caring for mental cases are crowded. It is because they do not have the sound, healthful doctrine of God's Word, and the clergy are physicians and psychologists of no value and are miserable comforters. (Job 13:4; 16:2) It is hard to keep well mentally in a world which today is suffering a breakdown in every way. Many who have accepted the truth of God's Word are having difficulty, particularly because it is hard for them to break off former mental habits. Their minds are continually turned inward upon themselves, introverted, as they say. They have a great inferiority complex, and they are keenly aware of their mistakes. They are painfully conscious of their foolish actions before others, their errors of speech and conversation, their embarrassments, their display of weakness, the criticisms others make of them, the rebukes others give them, the offenses others commit against them. They take these matters to God in prayer, but then they draw no mental relief from this. Why? Because they do not cast their burdens upon Jehovah God and leave them there with him, but carry them away with them and keep them saddled on their backs.
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