The Watchtower, May 15, 1954
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"YOU ARE MY WITNESSES," SAYS JEHOVAH.—Isa. 43:12
The WATCHTOWER
Announcing
JEHOVAH'S
KINGDOM
MAY 15, 1954
Semimonthly
MAINTAINING SANCTIFICATION
ALL, "STAND FIRM"
FREE WILL
A CHANGE OF HEART NEEDED
SPREADING THEOCRATIC CHEER
THROUGH ARGENTINA
©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".
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
Choosing Your Own Food
Spreading Theocratic Cheer Through Argentina
Relic Finds Uphold Bible's Authenticity
Free Will
“And Walk Humbly with Thy God”
A Change of Heart Needed
Maintaining Sanctification
Making a Wise Choice
All,“Stand Firm”
Questions from Readers
False Shepherds versus the True
Announcements
Check Your Memory
Abbreviations used in “The Watchtower” for the following Bible versions
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American Standard Version
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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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CHOOSING YOUR OWN FOOD
WHEN you go to the corner grocer, who selects your food? Do you tell the grocer you want a bag of groceries and let him give you whatever he wants to? Or do you have a list of just what you want in the way of staples, fruits and vegetables, etc.? Of course you pick your groceries yourself, for you know just what you need in the way of starches, proteins, vitamins and minerals and fats to keep you healthy.
Now Jesus said that "man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah's mouth." (Matt. 4:4, NW) Yes, we do need spiritual food. And since the right kind of spiritual food is just as necessary for our spiritual health as the right kind of material food is for our bodily health, we should be just as careful in seeing that we get a rounded-out supply of spiritual food as we are to get such for our bodies. In fact, we should be even more selective since physical health merely means freedom from pain for the proverbial threescore years and ten, whereas spiritual health means everlasting life in happiness.
Most persons, however, go to their spiritual groceryman, the clergyman, priest, rabbi or minister, and let him choose for them whatever he wishes without ever giving it a thought whether they are getting a rounded-out spiritual diet or not.
Such a course is not wise. You may not be getting just what you really need.
For example, do you ever wonder why an almighty, wise, just and loving God has permitted so much suffering and wickedness? Or why your sincere prayers have gone unanswered, especially in time of war or illness? Are you in a quandary as to whether to believe what God's Word states regarding creation or to accept the theories of most scientists? Have you wondered about the kingdom Jesus told us to pray for? When it will come and how? Or whether it has been on earth since the time of Jesus or not?
If you have such questions as these in your mind, then it is apparent that you are among those hungering and thirsting for righteousness; you are among those conscious of their spiritual need; among those sighing and crying for the abominations you see being done in the land. (Matt. 5:6, 3, NW; Ezek. 9:4) And it also is apparent that in spite of the help of your spiritual groceryman, your clergyman, you are not getting a well-balanced supply of spiritual food from the spiritual grocery store, the Bible. So why not go directly to the Bible yourself? for it contains answers to all these questions and many more. To help you to do this is the purpose of this magazine.
THEOCRATIC CHEER THROUG Argentina
WHILE the Watch Tower Society's president, N. H. Knorr, was visiting the brothers in Mendoza, Argentina, on Saturday, December 19, his secretary, M. G. Henschel, was traveling from Asunción, Paraguay, to Buenos Aires, en route to Neuquén, in the southern part of the Argentine republic. One of the graduates of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead, Brother Hughes, met him at the airport near Buenos Aires, and took him to the headquarters of Jehovah's witnesses for Argentina in Buenos Aires, where they spent about six hours and got some rest. Before dawn they returned to the airport and took an Argentine Airlines plane for their journey of over 1,000 kilometers to Neuquén, in the prospering Rio Negro fruit-growing district, situated below the 38th parallel. It is the irrigation from the river that makes a desertlike part of Argentina produce some of the most delicious fruits in the world. Among those participating in the raising of fruits are some of Jehovah's witnesses, and it was at the quinta, or farm, of one of the brothers that 115 brothers and many of their children, from four congregations of Jehovah's witnesses in various towns of the zone, awaited the sight of the cloud of dust rising above the unpaved road that would signal the approach of the car coming from the airport.
On entering the quinta, which was surrounded by high poplar trees that bound together the small dikes carrying lifegiving waters to the fertile land, the visiting brothers saw a rapid concentration of brothers running from all directions to
surround the auto and stretch out the hand of welcome. Quickly they gathered together boxes and tree stumps and planks and made a small auditorium in the shade of the poplar trees next to a grape arbor. A pleasant breeze cooled the listeners. Brother Henschel delivered three talks and Brother Hughes one. An assembly of three and a half hours with 115 members of the New World society might not seem to be so much, but for these brothers it was the greatest event in the history of the local congregations. Their appreciation of this assembly was seen in their complete silence during the talks and how carefully they noted down all the Bible texts referred to and points of special interest.
The first congregation in this part of the country was formed in Neuquén in 1945 around an isolated publisher who is employed by the railways and whose work was favorable for extending the message of the Kingdom to many towns during his trips. His work and the help of some pioneers, plus constant visits from circuit servants, caused the congregation to grow and the isolated interest to develop. Now there are four congregations in the area and the brothers are happy that one in their midst has been able to enter the pioneer service and is putting forth an effort to learn English so that he can have the privilege of going to Gilead and entering the missionary service thereafter.
Almost directly east of Neuquén on the coast is the important city of Bahía Blanca, a distance of 587 kilometers. Because the train of the Ferrocarril General Roca must stop at every town along the way, with long stops at many stations, the trip would consume an entire day.
But the long stops did provide an opportunity for the brothers along the way, who had taken so much joy out of the assembly the day before, to spend a little time with the traveling brothers, and so at the start of the trip some brothers waited at nearly every station. And the brother who is employed by the railways was working that day, so he was able to see the brothers from time to time during the first eight hours of the journey. It is the rivers that make this part of Argentina produce fruit, and the train follows the Rio Negro for a time, then crosses the arid land to the edge of the Rio Colorado, which was in flood stage. A few cities were passed on the way where there are no congregations of Jehovah's witnesses, so it is evident there is more room for expansion in Argentina and more pioneers can well be used.
It was past midnight when the train pulled into the station at Bahía Blanca, but two brothers were waiting with a car to take the visitors to their rooms. In this city the one congregation had recently been divided into two units and all the brothers were embracing their new responsibilities with great enthusiasm and joy, making it possible for one of the brothers
who met the train, a special pioneer, to be given a new assignment in a nearby city where many interested persons were asking for assistance. In this connection the major problem facing the special pioneers in Argentina when they go to new assignments is finding a place to live, and this was a problem that had confronted the special pioneer brother in Bahia Blanca, who was making arrangements to go to his new
territory. But the brothers in Bahia Blanca demonstrated their appreciation for the services of love shown them by the special pioneer and provided him with a prefabricated house and obtained the piece of land on which to erect it in the new city.
The visit to Bahía Blanca was very short. Brother Henschel addressed two groups of brothers, a total of 50, registered with the police as required of all tourists who enter the country, and then had lunch. One of the publishers in the congregation owned a car that he offered for the service of Jehovah, and so he very kindly began his work of chauffeur for a trip of 1,245 kilometers. The first leg of the trip was 490 kilometers, and the destination was the famous seaside resort, Mar del Plata. But the departure from Bahía Blanca was over an hour late, according to the information on the itinerary provided by the Society's branch office, and, as it turned out, it was impossible to recover this lost time even though the roads to be used in this part of the country are paved. The trip was pleasant, through a verdant farming country teeming with cattle and horses, but the big question was whether the brothers waiting in Mar del Plata would wait long enough. It was dark before the group arrived in the city, but the brothers kept waiting until after 10 p.m. and in the end were not disappointed. They had carried on with a service meeting of an improvised kind during their waiting period. These 25 publishers had lots of work to do, for Mar del Plata is a city of some 150,000 in normal times, but in the summer the inhabitants increase to 500,000. But their life is not a dull one, for among the visitors to
these beaches are a number of brothers who join in worship of Jehovah during their brief vacation visits to the city.
But they are not enough to deal with the augmented population.
It would have been pleasant to spend a little time in Mar del Plata seeing the fine city and the beaches, but there was no opportunity for that. At dawn it was time to move on to the city of Balcárce, an hour-and-a-half trip from the coast. There, in a farmhouse close to the city, 22 brothers were found waiting to spend an hour with the traveling brothers. Notable in this congregation is the fact that the majority of the brothers are from Spain.
Next on the route was Tandil, a city visited often by tourists who enjoy the good air of the nearby hills. Here there are four pioneers who are rejoicing in the increase of the work and who beamed at seeing 33 publishers assembled in a small house toward the edge of town. It is notable that this congregation had been formed through the work of one pioneer during his travels. This original pioneer is still working diligently in the city to spread the good news of the Kingdom, while he also works eight hours a day to maintain himself and his wife in the pioneer work. The pioneers are looking forward to the day when they will be able to leave behind in this city of their birth a strong congregation of Kingdom publishers and take new assignments in isolated territories. And looking even farther ahead, they are studying English in the hope of qualifying for an invitation to attend the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead and entering missionary service.
Tandil has a very Catholic population and the extremely active group of Jehovah's witnesses has made the clergy uncomfortable. In various ways the clergy warn their parishes not to take the literature of "those Protestants." Often mention
is made in their publications about the work of Jehovah's witnesses and at times they solicit the co-operation of the authorities among the local police, saying "they should take action against those Protestants." On the walls in the city signs have been seen bearing the following inscription: "Burn the magazine, The Watchtower, in your furnace." With it all, the brothers have not been molested, except for a few warning words from some policemen, and they continue working regularly from house to house.
Buenos Aires was the next stop. The road was dirt part of the way and its roughness shook loose part of the exhaust pipe. There was a brief stop for repairs, and the result was that night fell long before Buenos Aires was reached. The driver felt the need of rest, so Brothers Hughes and Henschel took a train for the remaining 80 kilometers to the federal city.
The next day, December 24, the schedule called for a visit to Eva Peron, formerly La Plata, capital of the province of Buenos Aires. Groups of 20 and 30 were visited. Then on to nearby Berisso, where 22 were gathered. Next was Ensenada, a congregation that is growing fast, where there are now three groups. The attendances were 34, 32 and 26. The chauffeur, who had joined the visitors again at Eva Peron, served well in a territory strange to him, about 50 kilometers from Buenos Aires city. For some years the brothers in this area had traveled all the way to Buenos Aires to attend the meetings, but now they were found to be well established, representing the New World society in the area with 144 publishers in the various groups.
Later, on the way back to Buenos Aires a visit was made to a group at Bernal. Some brothers from another community were there, too, making up a total of 43 Here the congregation is formed of a mixed group, many being immigrants from Europe, but all active and full of joy,and the numbers are increasing.
December 25 was a day of great celebration for forms of religion in Buenos Aires and other parts of the world. Buenos Aires had been lavishly decorated for the holiday, with many signs, plaster figures and decorated trees. But since the day is not a real Christian time of celebration, Jehovah's witnesses went about their business as usual. It rained hard all day and, since no meetings had been scheduled, the time was devoted by Brother Knorr, who had now rejoined Brother Henschel, to activities in the branch office. It was a pleasure to be with brothers who had served in Argentina from the very time that the work began there. And in the evening all the graduates of Gilead in Buenos Aires met at the missionary home to have dinner and a discussion.
Although the weather in Buenos Aires is usually stiflingly hot in the summer, it was unusually cool for this week of meetings, and that was especially fine in the city, for most of the meetings during this visit of the Watch Tower representatives were held in apartments or small rooms or garages next to the homes of brothers, and practically every place was quite comfortable, enabling the listeners to pay good attention.
Saturday, December 26, was the start of three big days of touring through Buenos Aires and talking to the brothers. A look at the Yearbook showed the day's text to be Ezekiel 9:4, and one could not help but think it appropriate for the day in Argentina. The first meeting was scheduled for nine o'clock in the morning. Brother Knorr spoke first for about forty minutes. As soon as he concluded his talk he introduced Brother Henschel, who read a forty-minute talk in Spanish, and he was followed by Brother Hughes, who gave a discourse in Spanish on the theocratic organization and
how it leads to life, a talk that had been given by the president in a number of other countries. This gave all of the brothers a full two-hour program and it ran as smoothly as clockwork. A very accurate schedule had been made out, and when the speakers walked into an apartment or patio everyone was seated waiting. Each meeting was opened with prayer. So throughout the whole day this continued until nine congregations had been served. Sometimes they met in a patio or in a third-floor apartment or in someone's kitchen or out in a little house on the edge of the city. Wherever one went there were smiling faces and eyes filled with anticipation, and a great desire to applaud was seen everywhere, but the brothers dared not attract attention to their place of meeting. At the close of every talk that Brother Knorr gave every group asked to have their love and greetings sent on to the others in the city and to other parts of the world. Surely here was the spirit of unity.
The speakers got home at midnight, tired, but filled with joy at seeing so many radiant faces and knowing they belonged to brothers who wanted to push on in this grand witness work. The speakers had given something to the audience, but the audience had helped the speakers to avoid thinking about being tired, by the appreciation and enthusiasm for the work which they displayed, Audience, car drivers and speakers all co-operated together completely to produce a memorable day for the Kingdom service in Argentina.
Sunday's program was even heavier. All the car drivers and speakers were up at 6 a.m. and left for the first stop at 7:30 Eleven groups were visited on Sunday, so each speaker delivered eleven talks, but somehow the speakers had as much strength on the eleventh talk as on the first. Certainly the spirit of Jehovah furnished the strength to keep up this pace.
There was not much time to eat, and even this was scheduled. The brothers would get into a home, sit down and eat, and as soon as the work time arrived they began to talk to a group assembled nearby. Every meeting began punctually. Amazing as it may seem, very rarely was there a latecomer. This was a special event! A big assembly was on and all wanted to hear what the Society, through its representatives, had to tell them.
Monday, December 28, brought the close of the tour, with four more groups to visit in the afternoon. When the last lecture was given, Brother Knorr had talked to 43 groups in Argentina and the persons addressed totaled 2,053. Brother Henschel had talked to all those in Buenos Aires too, and to 13 other congregations outside to the south and west of Buenos Aires, an additional 452 persons, bringing the grand total spoken to during this trip in Argentina to 2,505. It was a source of great satisfaction and joy, this accomplishment, and
all gave thanks to Jehovah for the way he used his people and organized them and brought them together in such a splendid way—no difficulties, no mishaps, and everyone extremely grateful to Jehovah.
There were many things to do at the branch office on Tuesday the 29th, and then in the afternoon it was a pleasure for Brothers Knorr and Henschel to spend a few minutes with the missionary graduates of Gilead and some of the other brothers at the airport. They were all satisfied that a visit so profitable had had a successful conclusion and that a few difficulties concerning holding meetings had not been sufficient to prevent the servants of Jehovah God in Argentina from having their own form of New World Society Assembly, with up into the hundreds together in the country and groups of 19 to 49 in the capital. By the end of December a new peak in number of publishers of the Kingdom was reached. Now 2,794 ministers are blessing Jehovah every day.
Relic Finds Uphold Bible's Authenticity
In the New York Times of December 22,1953, appeared this arresting item: "The Smithsonian Institution is about to open to public view a collection of rare archaeological finds tracing the history of mankind through 500 centuries. The exhibit provides material support for disputed stories in the Bible. The ancient treasures—weapons, manuscripts, statuary, mosaics and religious relics—will be on display at the museum Jan. 10 through Jan. 27. Most of the items have been unearthed in the last two decades—a period that has revolutionized archaeological understanding of the Biblical era. Included in the exhibit will be a bit of copper from King Solomon's mines, a slingshot from the time of David's battle with Goliath, and the jawbone of an ass similar to the one Samson reputedly used to slay the Philistines.
"At a preview today, William F. Albright, Johns Hopkins University archaeologist, said the relics 'revolutionize our understanding of the Bible.' Mr. Albright said he suspected that the newly discovered treasures, as their mysteries were unraveled, would add fresh conflict to the old controversy of science vs. religion. The new data, he suggested, will give strong support to so-called fundamentalist interpretations of Biblical stories. For example, he said, some of the latest finds prove Solomon was even more fabulously wealthy than he was depicted in Biblical history. On exhibit, too, will be the oldest known Biblical manuscript, the 'Dead Sea' scrolls of Isaiah discovered in a forgotten cave by a Bedouin shepherd in 1947. The exhibition of 1,500 items was assembled by the American Fund for Israel Institutions from museums and private collections all over the world."
I AM in disagreement with articles published in The Watchtower dated June 1, 1953. There is no such thing as a "free" will; and the only freedom human beings can ever experience is that which is conveyed upon them when they give their hearts to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and are born of the spirit.-J.H.N., England.
The above-mentioned articles in The Watchtower discussed the subject of predestination as taught by the religious systems of Christendom and showed the falsity of their teaching, setting forth, instead, from the Holy Scriptures, that all men are allowed the free exercise of their will to choose the destiny of life and salvation or the destiny of death and abandonment to destruction.—Rev. 22:17.
God does not force an individual to accept either destiny, and in that sense he allows to every intelligent creature the exercise of free will. Here on earth the opportunity is granted by God to all creatures to choose either destiny; and this would not be the case if they did not have the freedom of choice or the power and opportunity of free will. All descendants of Adam are in the fallen, sin-degraded state, and it is to these that the offer of salvation, through God's way and for his purpose, is made. (Rom. 8:28) If for one to be an imperfect sinful member of Adam's family meant the loss of free will, then it would be foolish for God to give a single human creature the opportunity to choose everlasting life in God's new world, for then
the sin-dominated creature would have no powers of free will to make a choice for something better from God's hand
but would be held hopelessly enslaved by sin and the Devil. And if any would then gain salvation through God's way, it would have to be because he forced them contrary to their degraded wills to accept his way of salvation.—John 10:14-16;2 Pet.3:13.
Serving sin by obeying it and serving the Devil by obeying his world or system of things, men are not free but are slaves. They think of themselves as free, but in fact they are not free, just as your letter says. But even a slave may have free will, and slaves have been known to rebel and break away and even make a successful escape. So even the slaves of sin and Satan the Devil have free will, and God appeals to their exercise of this free will by having the message of salvation and deliverance presented to them through Christ. (2 Cor. 5:18-20) If this were not the case it would be very unfair for God to present to humans something that he would have to admit they were not free to accept. On the other hand, it is the Devil and his organization (invisible and visible) that try to wash the peoples' brains, that try to deprive humans of free will, and try to terrorize them against using the God-given freedom of will. Some humans, too, so degrade themselves in sin and corruption (and that out of their own free will or choice) that they have very little strength of will left to incline them toward good and its continuous acceptance.—Rom. 1:20-32.
You mention the scribes and Pharisees and that Jesus condemned them, as a class, and asked how they could escape the judgment of Gehenna, or annihilation. Yet the Scriptures declare that many of the scribes and Pharisees and Jewish priests accepted the Christian message, which fact proves that the individual members of that class had the power, right, opportunity and call to exercise free will by the preaching of Jesus and his disciples.
If some had the free will to choose to accept the message of salvation, then all the others of this class had the power to do so, but those others used their free will to choose the traditions of the adulterated Jewish religion and hence deliberately chose destruction in the Gehenna of annihilation. So your argument fails—that, so far from having "free" will, man born in sin is utterly helpless except to follow the devices and desires of his own heart.—Rom. 12:1, 2.
Pharaoh of Egypt, Hitler of Germany and Napoleon of France, whom you cite as men "incapable of doing right," all had free will to follow the course they pursued. Pharaoh was not, as you say, "powerless to avert his doom," for in ten cases he showed he had the power to relent or repent. Each time he did relent Jehovah God lifted the plague off Pharaoh and Egypt. He was free to choose to remain in his repentant condition, but chose, instead, not to do so. After the tenth plague on Egypt he did let the Israelites under Moses leave the land of their enslavement; Pharaoh literally hurried them out of Egypt and asked them for their blessing. Had he continued in this repentant, tenderhearted condition he would have been spared destruction with his military hosts in the Red Sea. But as in the previous nine cases, he let his selfishness and pride get the better of him, and he exercised his free will to harden his heart and to take advantage of the seemingly helpless position of the Israelites at the edge of the Red Sea. So without any pressure from Jehovah God, but brushing aside all the lessons that he should have learned in his preceding arrogant defiances of Almighty God, Pharaoh freely willed or chose to go
after the escaped Israelites to drag them back to slavery in Egypt. Yes, as you say, "free will implies moral responsibility," and Pharaoh was morally responsible to Almighty God for his own destruction at the Red Sea as well as for all the ten plagues that he and his people had previously suffered.
True, too, as you add, today the world's state "would seem to indicate the impossibility of its redemption." But, as in Noah's day, so today there is a "small minority of the world's inhabitants" that will "escape the final destruction," because they have come out from this world as to their being a part of it. How was this possible? Because of their possession of free will, in spite of their being once sinfully a part of this corrupt world, and because of their exercising free will in response to God's message of warning and of invitation to salvation. On the other hand, the vast majority of today's generation (to use Jesus' own term at Matthew 24:32-39 and Luke 21:29-32) will perish with this world or system of things (upon this planet) that now has fully run its God-tolerated course not because such victims have no free will but because, out of their own choice, they are preferrers, lovers, of this world and they choose and prefer to remain with it; and they submit to their worldly rulers who incessantly strive to deprive them of the exercise of their free will.
Therefore we must distinguish between free will and Christian freedom. The only freedom is, as you yourself aptly emphasize, the Christian freedom. Jesus in support said: "If you remain in my word, you are really my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." "Every doer of sin is a slave of sin. Therefore if the Son [of God, i.e., Christ Jesus] sets you free, you will be actually free." (John 8:31, 32, 34, 36, NW) It is because of the possession and exercise of free will that many slaves of sin and the Devil come into the Christian freedom, through yielding themselves to the force of the truth and, under its transforming power, becoming doers of Almighty God's word of command and counsel, not hearers only—not mere absorbers of that word for relaxing or diversionary purposes of their own and without a due and wholesome regard for the great Giver's purpose.
(John 15:8) Such doers of Almighty God's word choose to obey other thought forces (Ps. 118:17; 139:17, 18; Isa. 55:8, 9) than those of their former worldly slave masters.—John 13:17.
Frankly, it is because of your difficulty in discerning that the free will of humans, even now in their sinful state, is a fact demonstrated by the hundreds of thousands who have come into God's way of truth since Jesus' day, that you feel the need to cast about for something outside the Bible. That is your difficulty—your not accepting fully what, and all that, the Bible says; but, instead, seriously entertaining preconceived ideas of other humans and your own. For instance, you refer us to Jonathan Edwards of the 18th century, who, as you remark, "except for illustrations, made no appeal to Scriptural authority." Why, therefore, should God-fearing persons seriously choose to read this American philosopher's products in hope of acquiring sound enlightenment when such God-fearing persons, even as we, firmly believe in "Scriptural authority" (John 14:10-17) and gratefully and constantly appeal to it as the only guide to true understanding—choosing of our own free will to "let God be found true, though every man be found a liar"? (Rom. 3:4, NW; Luke 24:25-27, 32) Feeling for a way out of your perplexity and difficulty, you write: "We could reasonably suppose, without offending any earnest theologian, that
there might possibly be some omissions from the Bible, which has passed through the distortion of translation many times, and that after death the period of probation may be extended to the eternal spiritual world, and that poor suffering human beings, with their frailties and longings for happiness and peace, may be free to expurgate more completely the sin which besets them, and that He who 'came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,' may have other places of refuge for the lost, not recorded in the Scriptures."
Here, again, in a procedure wholly unlike that of Christ Jesus himself (Luke 24:25-27,32), your desperate appeal is outside the Holy Scriptures. Today we do not have to be content with, nor rely upon, distorted translations of Almighty God's sacred Record. We have the original texts of the Bible available for us to consult—the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek; and the Watchtower-published New World Translation has been painstakingly provided for willing users, to give them as faithful a rendering of these original texts as possible, so readers may come to an accurate knowledge of the truth. There are no "omissions" that allow for such a thing as you wishfully suggest. Indeed there could not be such omissions, because the things you suggest as possible omissions are contrary to the teachings of the Scriptures that we actually have on record in black and white. And the accumulated findings, to date, of palaeographers prove beyond controversy or reason to doubt that we have received the original Scriptural records substantially unchanged, practically as from the hands of the original writers.
It is unscriptural and unreasonable to hope for a spiritual future world for sinful but honest humans where such may hope to expurgate their besetting sin and have an extended period of probation there.
That is akin to the Roman Catholic teaching of "purgatory," an intermediate spirit place between heaven and earth, but for which there is not a shred of evidence or proof in the written Word of God. When human creatures die, they die and they do not enter the spirit realm. (See Ezekiel 18:4, 20; John 11:14.) Only the 144,000 members of God's congregation under their Head Christ Jesus will gain life in the spirit realm; and this is by God's special arrangement through Christ and by a marvelous resurrection from the dead when only such persons experience a change from their original human existence and, by Almighty God's power, are raised to life as immortal, spirit creatures, to everlasting life and activity in the invisible heavenly realm with their Bridgegroom Christ Jesus—this at his second coming and the establishment, earth-wide, of God's kingdom under him, for which kingdom he taught his disciples to pray.—Matt. 6:9-13; John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 4:15-18; Rev. 14:1-5.
Others of mankind, who choose willingly to obey Almighty God's perfect, righteous requirements, may soberly entertain no other hope of life but that of life on this planet earth in human perfection—in God's new world with its paradise earth. Never fear or entertain the "horror of the thought of the creation of sentient beings, foreknown to be doomed to an eternity of pain" to quote you. Jesus Christ, at Matthew 25:41-46, did not refer to such an "eternity of pain," but to an eternity of absolute destruction, annihilation of the "goats" that he described there. The everlasting fire reserved for the Devil and his angels is the everlasting destruction that awaits them and all who use their free will to follow such demonic adversaries of Almighty God. In this teaching, Jesus was in harmony with the God of the old Hebrew
Scriptures, "whose name alone is JEHOVAH." (Ps. 83:18, King James Version) Jesus' own name, as translated out of the basic original text, means "Jehovah is salvation." Jesus did not reveal a Supreme Being different from the One described in the Hebrew Scriptures. (See, again, Luke 24:25-27, 32; also Isaiah 53 and Acts 8:26-39.) No, Jesus did not reveal a different, a "better" God; indeed Jesus could not, his own heavenly Father, Jehovah, being in fact the only living and true God, even as Peter was reminded by Jesus.—Matt. 16:13-17; John 20:17.
In the ancient Hebrew Scriptures (now commonly though inaccurately designated "Old Testament" of the Bible) are preserved Jehovah's declarations of his judgments against the wicked. Jesus was in complete harmony with those declared judgments of his everliving Father, Jehovah; and Jesus referred with approval to those written judgments and added his own authoritative warning, in referring as Jesus did to the flood of Noah's day, to the fiery destruction by Jehovah of Sodom and Gomorrah, to the first destruction of Jerusalem, which also foreshadowed that city's second destruction in A.D. 70, etc. (Luke 17:20-32; 21:20-22) Jesus' apostles and other faithful disciples of his also were in complete accord with those declared judgments which subsequently, in ancient time, were executed by the everliving God, Jehovah; and those faithful followers of Jesus repeatedly referred to those remarkable ancient occurrences by way of warning to sin-inclined persons living upon earth during this Christian era.—See 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10; 2 Peter 2:4-22; Jude 5-16.
Those typically executed judgments will be realistically and fully performed, earthwide, in Jehovah's anciently foretold, and now impending, battle at Armageddon: Revelation 16:13-16.
After that battle comes God's permanent new world under Christ Jesus. (2 Pet. 3:13) That unprecedented battle (also anciently foretold in Jeremiah 25:32-38, in Daniel 12:1, and other prophecies Jesus quoted) a minority of men of free will now living upon earth shall survive, according to God's promise. (Zeph. 2:1-3; Luke 21:28) Then Christ Jesus will reign for a thousand years. He will utter his voice, and there will be a resurrection of the dead, not from the Gehenna of annihilation into which many humans will already have gone, but from the memorial tombs, mankind's common grave, the Bible "hell" or She'ol or Hades. (John 5:28, 29; Rev. 20:11-15) This resurrection, or restanding to life upon this planet earth, will include also the many unjust, unrighteous, of many past ages, who still are susceptible to the appeal of Jehovah's goodness. From the state of the dead they will come forth as human creatures, having undergone no change in personality during their period of sleeplike unconsciousness and total inactivity in the memorial tombs.—Eccl. 9:5-10; Acts 24:15.
Then the heavenly government of Jehovah under Christ Jesus, anciently foretold at Isaiah 9:6,7, will busy itself with helping earth's inhabitants to get completely out of and away from their sin-ridden condition. Then there will be at large neither Devil nor any angels of his to hinder and thwart the well-aimed efforts of earth's inhabitants to respond to the uplifting influences and perfect ministrations of Jehovah's kingdom under Christ Jesus, for all those incorrigible adversaries of the Most High God and his permanent government for the entire earth will have been silenced; yes, bound for the thousand-year term of Christ's unhindered reign. Earth's inhabitants will be at liberty to use their free will to respond—to conform themselves
merrily and gratefully to Jehovah's perfect requirements. Such as do thus respond then will be blessed and enriched with ultimate uplift to perfection as humans. Any, on the other hand, who then choose to use their free will to rebel against the sole earth-wide government of the Most High God and who then prefer to turn to the ways of the old destroyed world (or system of things) will then themselves share in the Gehenna of everlasting annihilation which Jesus authoritatively said his Father, Jehovah, had "prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matt. 25:41) Those joyfully obedient humans who, on earth, then live on and on to the very end of Christ's thousand-year reign will have been uplifted to human perfection.
There, then, at the end of that millennial reign will be applied a great, final test of the free will of each and every surviving human then inhabiting the paradise earth. Satan and his demons then will be loosed from their abyssed state of deathlike inactivity, but for only a brief period. Thus loosed, those chronic rebels again will range forth in their wicked deceitfulness and craftiness to mislead and bring about the destruction of mankind. Those who then exert their free will in loyalty to Almighty God to resist these wicked hordes will be preserved by God and justified for everlastingly living in the unending paradise earth. Those others, though, who after all the enlightenment and uplift that they have had choose under that final test to yield to selfishness and then of their own free will follow Satan and his demons will be destroyed by God's casting them into the Gehenna of irreversible destruction, "the second death." About this read in Revelation, chapter twenty.
The above is the Bible portrayal of man's situation and prospects. It all agrees with what was presented in The Watchtower, that men have free will now.
They are morally responsible, therefore, to use it according to their opportunities by God's undeserved kindness. Happy now are those who, being conscious of their spiritual need,
exercise their free will to come into the Christian freedom in the present-day New World society.
Cordially,
WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY
"AND WALK HUMBLY WITH THY GOD"
MANY people turn a deaf ear to the good news of God's kingdom because of prejudice, others, because of selfishness, being unable to see wherein they will be immediately benefited by it. Again, others because of lack of faith are completely indifferent, and many reject it because of pride. It seems that this latter reason accounts for the comparatively little progress that has been made in the praise to Jehovah in the land of India. Emphasizing this point is the following report from that vast land.
While most people know that India is the land of Hinduism, few in the West have much idea of what Hinduism really is, or what the mentality of the average Hindu is like and especially what his reaction is to the Bible. The average Hindu is an exceedingly proud man; proud of his religious philosophies. The Bible says: "God opposes the haughty ones, but he gives undeserved kindness to the humble ones"; and that is as true in India as in any other land.
It might seem strange to some that a people so stricken with poverty and so backward in their domestic and social services should be proud; but it is so. The average Hindu is so proud of his religion that he believes he knows all there is to be known about the mysteries of life. He is completely disdainful of the thought that the Almighty God would reveal his purposes to man through a book, and one that he thinks began to be written only 1900 years ago by Jesus Christ. Oh no, God has used only the holy men of Hinduism to teach the world about the origin of life and the ultimate destiny of man. To him the
Bible is merely a third-rate effort of some Christian upstarts to foist Western civilization upon an ancient and cultured people. They ridicule the idea that salvation can be gained only through Jesus Christ, and it is a very common experience in India to have the Hindus listen with joy to the good news about the new world and then turn away in disgust as Bible texts are produced showing that this new world will come by means of Christ Jesus.
However, there are some exceptions to this rule, some who are not too proud to accept the truth that all things are of God but by Christ Jesus. For example, there is the recent case of a young man of the Sikh religion who began reading the Bible study aid "Let God Be True" and studying the Bible with the Watch Tower missionaries. In the Sikh religion all the men let their hair grow long and they never shave. They coil their long hair, of which they are very proud, into a ball on top of their heads and cover it with a turban. So, imagine the surprise of the Watch Tower missionaries when one day this Sikh gentleman walked into their Kingdom Hall in Bombay with his hair cut and brushed in the Western style and his chin shaved clean.
Clearly he was humble enough to be taught and he was not afraid to follow the path of truth when once he saw it. He dedicated himself to Jehovah God and now regularly associates with Jehovah's witnesses in all features of the preaching work. "What doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Mic. 6:8, AS.
A Change of Heart Needed
HOW long will the struggle between tyranny and freedom go on? Answering that question the secretary general of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold, said: "As long as human beings are human beings." And why did Mr. Hammarskjold take such a pessimistic view of the struggle? Because, according to him, "this is basically not a struggle between political systems and ideologies, but a struggle within and for the hearts of men, including our own." "Even in a restricted political sense of the word democracy," further observed Mr. Hammarskjold, "we are still far from the goal."—New York Times, February 14, 1954.
Here, then, is the explanation why there is war today in Indo-China, a stalemate in Korea, a South African race question, strained relations between India and Pakistan and between the Arab nations and Israel, and why the cold war between the East and the West, with its atomic- and hydrogen-bomb race, is worsening. The United Nations organization may be an imposing structure, but what can be expected from it when the materials going into it have no tensile strength, no soundness of heart, and when there is no cohesiveness between them, no altruism, no love of neighbor?
The Bible, God's Word, rightly stresses the importance of the heart. "Guard your heart with all vigilance, for thence are the well-springs of life," it tells us. And by means of it God says to us, "My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways." Since "God is love," for us to give him our hearts and observe his ways is to wean them away from a selfish course
to one of unselfishness.Prov. 4:23, AT; 23:26, RS;1 John 4:8.
This can be done and is being done, and the fruits from this course of action bear out that Mr. Hammarskjold is correct in stressing the heart as the key to the problem. Objective observers attending the national assembly of Jehovah's witnesses in Northern Rhodesia in 1953 marveled at what they saw: thousands upon thousands of representatives from many different warlike African tribes meeting together in peace, unity and love. What is the explanation? It is an understanding and appreciation of the truth of God's Word that gives them the desire and the ability to make their minds over, to put off their old pagan warlike personality with its voodooism, polygamy and like tribal customs, and to put on the clean, peaceful and unselfish Christian personality. And the truth regarding Jehovah God and his purposes is accomplishing this remarkable change of heart not only in Northern Rhodesia but in 142 other lands as well.
True, these cannot make an end to the struggle between freedom and tyranny in the world, but by making over their personalities, by changing their hearts, they are demonstrating themselves as being worthy of living in the new world that Jehovah will create by making an end of all tyrants, which he will do at Armageddon. Living together in peace, love and unity now, and having the hope of God's new world of righteousness in which the righteous will inhabit the land forever, these are now the happiest people on the face of the earth. Ps. 72:4; Isa. 14:4-7; Ps. 37:29.
Maintaining Sanctification
EHOVAH'S Word comes down to us in the book we call the Bible, composed of many smaller
"For this is what God wills, the sanctifying of you, . . . that each one of you should know how to get possession of his own vessel in sanctification and honor." 1 Thess. 4:3, 4, NW.
books, all inspired by the great Author who used faithful human writers thus to disclose his mind upon the matters with which the Bible deals. That Word of God is tried and tested and it is pure. (Prov. 30:5) Throughout the centuries it has been preserved to stand bright and clean now in the midst of a corrupt and decayed system of things. Its great Source being complete, righteous and holy, this Word is sufficient and is not subject to addition or reduction. (Deut. 4:2; Rev. 22:18, 19, NW) No question about it, persons who love righteousness and all that it implies must turn to this holy Word of God because therein alone lies guidance in uprightness. So pure, holy and precious is it, and so beautiful its component parts, that the seasonable word is compared to golden apples in silver settings. "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." "Like apples of gold in a setting of carved silver is a word that is aptly spoken." "Golden fruit in figured silver baskets is a word spoken on fitting occasion."—Prov. 25:11, AV; AT; Ro.
the Word of God's truth. Within the beautiful and vital contents of the Bible is the truth concerning sanctification, and, yet, what understanding and appreciation of sanctification do the people of even the so-called "Christian" world have today? Sanctimoniousness they know in all of its odious meaning. Sanctimoniousness, hypocrisy, spreads a cheap veneer over the entire old-world structure in a vain attempt to hide the corruption underneath every part of the old system of things. Because of their unrelenting effort to justify their ungodly course of action by the misapplication of scriptures, leaders of public thought, and especially the religious teachers of all Christendom, have robbed the people of appreciation of genuine sanctification as it is presented in God's Word. Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and other ministers of religion in general cater to the masses in their self-indulgence, and they themselves go along with God-dishonoring practices, resulting in the warping of the sense of values of mankind to such an extent that the person who sincerely regrets those things that are an abomination to God is truly an exception. (Ezek. 9:4) And yet there are many such exceptions, honesthearted persons who do love righteousness. These may know with assurance that in spite of hypocritical sanctimoniousness practiced in the name of God, true sanctification, now as always, is the wise course for Christians to pursue. Let them look to the holiness of the great Author, the holi-
2 Though a treasured ornament or vessel may be of pure gold or silver, if seized by unclean or careless hands it can be grossly misused, turned upside down and emptied of its precious contents. Such has been done by ungodly men in their mishandling of ness of his Word of truth and the sacredness of its incorruptible doctrines.
It was probably about A.D. 49 or 50 when the apostle Paul, while on his second preaching tour, founded the Christian congregation at Thessalonica. Those Christians from the beginning underwent severe religious persecution because of their faith. Their endurance was a joy to their older brother, Paul, and in writing to them he commended them because of their faith and encouraged them with great emphasis to maintain their sanctification, continuing in the course of righteousness in which they had set their feet. It was good that Paul wrote them as he did in First Thessalonians, and if Christians today will but allow them to, the same words of Paul can aid those who love Jehovah God now to maintain their sanctification.
4 Sanctification of the Christian congregation did not originate with the apostle Paul. Its Author and Provider is Jehovah
God himself. Through his Son, Christ Jesus, this relationship to God was opened up and made available, and Jesus himself made references to sanctification. Paul shows that sanctification was Jehovah's will for the members of the body of Christ, the anointed Christian congregation, of which the Christians in Thessalonica were a part.
5 In the text first above cited, Paul points out "this is what God wills, the sanctifying of you." (1 Thess. 4:3, NW) Showing further that sanctification is Jehovah's will for Christians, Paul expressed himself similarly at the tenth chapter of Hebrews, in discussing the office of Christ Jesus and his
priestly work on behalf of his body, his spiritual congregation. To Christ Jesus Paul applies the prophecy of Psalm 40:8 which says: "I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea thy law is within my heart." (AS) Paul puts it this way: "Hence when he comes into the world he says: . . . 'Look! I am come (in the roll of the book it is written about me) to do your will, O God.'" By the said 'will' we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time." (Heb. 10:5, 7, 10, NW) So as surely as it was Jehovah God's will that Jesus performed, it is His will that Christians be sanctified, whatever sanctification is.
6 When we speak of maintaining sanctification we imply that it is something that is not retained automatically but must be continually pursued. And such is the case. What encouragement in this regard it must have been to the Thessalonian Christians to receive Paul's letter! Determination to
continue in the way in which they had started, faithful to their God, must have increased in them when they read: "Finally, brothers, we request you and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, just as you received the instruction from us on how you ought to walk and please God, just
as you are in fact walking, that you would keep on doing it more fully. . . For this is what God wills, the sanctifying of you, that you abstain from fornication; that each one of you should know how to get possession of his own vessel in sanctification and honor." (1 Thess. 4:1-4, NW) In order for us to maintain sanctification, we, of course, need to know what it is, how it is received and how it can be maintained.
WHAT IS SANCTIFICATION?
Sanctification means to be in accord with Jehovah God, who never steps down from his holiness and righteousness, never changing. The righteousness of Jehovah is complete justification for his creatures to devote themselves to him. In fact, sanctification is preceded by the personal dedication to do God's will, and this step by the individual, as well as his subsequent course of action consistent therewith, is because of his worship of Jehovah God. This certainly does emphasize the extreme contrast between Jehovah's morality in every respect and the present-day civilization's immorality in every respect. This holiness of God prompts his acts and impels the righteous acts of his creatures in obedience to him and in worship of him; and therefore appropriate are his words to Israel already in a law covenant with him: "I am Jehovah your God: sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves . . . For I am Jehovah that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy."—Lev. 11:44, 45, AS.
This sanctification because of Jehovah's holiness did not end with the nation of Israel. Rather, it extended in principle to the Christian congregation of anointed followers of Christ Jesus with more impelling force so that the apostle Peter both practiced and preached it. In doing so Peter pointed out to other Christians the necessity of their maintaining their sanctification, saying: "Brace up your minds for activity, keep completely balanced and set your hope upon the undeserved kindness that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, quit being fashioned according to the desires you formerly had in your ignorance, but, in accord with the holy one who called you, do you also become holy yourselves in all your conduct, because it is written: 'You must be holy, because I am holy.'" 1 Pet. 1:13-16, NW.
9 Israel as a nation failed to maintain its sanctification, and therefore lost God's approval and blessing. Christians are to take warning therefrom.—1 Cor. 10:6-11.
10 The word "sanctify" means to make sacred or holy, to set apart to a sacred office. That is a generally recognized definition of this English word, which comes from the Latin and has also the significance of making free from sin, cleansing from moral corruption. It certainly is a forceful expression and embodies much in its significance.
IS IT REAL? POSSIBLE?
11 What shall we say? Is sanctification for Christian men and women now upon the earth real, or is it just a phrase that religious organizations incorporate in their doctrines and teachings that has no reality and no practical application? Sanctification is real, even as Jehovah God himself is a reality and is holy. If we believe the plain statement of God's Word before quoted, we know that Jehovah's holiness is a real thing, with nothing make-believe about it. The Son of God, Christ Jesus, was not misrepresenting things when in prayer to his heavenly Father shortly before his death he said: "I have made your name manifest to the men you gave me out of the world. . . I make request concerning them; I make request, not concerning the world, but concerning those you have given me, . . Holy Father, watch over them out of respect for your own name which you have given me, in order that they may be one just as we are.
I have given your word to them, but the world has hated them because they are no part of the world just as I am no part of the world. Sanctify them by means of the truth; your word is truth. And I am sanctifying myself in their behalf, that they also may be sanctified by means of truth."—John 17:6-19, NW.
12 How shabby the false religious veneer of sanctimoniousness alongside the sound words of the Master spoken from the fullness of the heart of one facing death upon a torture stake! As surely as Jesus lived and died because of his worship of Jehovah God, just that certain is the reality of his own sanctification of which he here spoke, and also of the sanctification of his associates, or body members, to which he here also made reference.
13 It was real for the Thessalonians, according to Paul, because to them he said, "Just as you are in fact walking, that you would keep on doing it more fully." (1 Thess. 4:1, NW) And Peter, in giving us his foregoing exhortation to holiness, was not misleading us on the reality of sanctification. So the point here is that sanctification is genuine, not an empty phrase to be merely spoken, but is a practical Christian way of life, God's will for his people and a reality.
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