The Watchtower, November 15, 1954
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"YOU ARE MY WITNESSES," SAYS JEHOVAH.—Isa. 43:12
The WATCHTOWER
Announcing
JEHOVAH'S
KINGDOM
NOVEMBER 15, 1954
Semimonthly
THE SACREDNESS OF
OUR WARFARE
PRIESTS WITH THE THEOCRATIC ARMY
THE CHRISTIAN WARRIOR
IS WORLD UNITY A DREAM?
WHO ARE BORN AGAIN?
©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
World Peace-by Whom?
Is World Unity a Dream?
Who Are Born Again?
The Sacredness of Our Warfare
Priests with the Theocratic Army
Solving Problems Between Brothers
Immortality of the Soul
The Christian Warrior
Questions from Readers
Announcements
Check Your Memory
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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WORLD PEACE-BY WHOM?
PEACE, world peace, is what most of us talk about and almost all of us desire, but only a very few, comparatively speaking, actually know how, when and by whom it will come.
Down through the ages men have sought peace through various means, through leagues, pacts, conference tables and wars, but all to no avail. And today, despite our strenuous efforts and know-how, world peace appears no nearer solution than it ever has been. Just why is this?
The Bible, God's Word of truth, remarkably tells us why. In fact, it foretells with amazing accuracy the moods and disposition of political ambassadors as they search for peace. For example, at Isaiah 33:7 it says: "The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly." This is because of the failure of their peace efforts, of course. Something further, it tells us that the propaganda in behalf of peace through world organizations and political nations is false. God through his prophet Jeremiah calls this to our attention, saying: "From the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace."—Jer. 6:13, 14.
Has not this been true? Have not both the religious and political prophets built the hopes of the people for peace, so much so that failure to bring it has caused many
to doubt and lose faith? People today are saying the exact words that the prophet Jeremiah said they would: "We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!" Has it not been that way especially since 1914? World Wars I and II were to be wars to end all wars, to make the world safe for democracy and to usher in the "four freedoms." The League of Nations and the United Nations were to maintain the peace and preserve the harmony of the world. But what happened? Mussolini and Hitler changed the world scene shortly after World War I and now the Russian and Chinese rulers are dampening the hopes of the people.—Jer. 8:15.
In view of these facts, no doubt you have wondered why men have been so fruitless in their efforts to bring about world peace. The Bible tells us why. At Revelation 12:12 (NW) it exposes the one responsible for world woes, which exposé shows why men have been helpless to compete with world problems. Note what it says: "Woe for the earth and for the sea [the restless masses of humanity], because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time." There is your answer. Satan the Devil, invisible to and mightier than man, is responsible for world chaos, and not God.
These woes are bound to increase upon mankind until God brings to an end Satan the Devil and all his wicked supporters in the battle of Armageddon.
This he promises he will do shortly. Paul helps us to appreciate this fact by saying: "For his part, the God who gives peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly."—Rom. 16:20, NW.
After this takes place, there will be
world peace; peace among all families of the earth, peace between man and animals, peace between man and God. And for how long? The psalmist answers: "In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth." (Ps. 72:7) So we ask the question again, World peace-by whom? By God, in his way and shortly.
THE stars have it. The planets have it. The moons circling them have it. Jehovah gives it to them. On earth the locusts have it, the colors in nature have it, the sounds in nature have it. Again, it is a gift from God. But man is without it. He used to have it, did not value it, lost it, has suffered without it, now searches for it, but cannot find it.
The vast heavens, with countless galaxies and billions of stars moving at tremendous speeds, have unity. The heavenly bodies stay in their orbits and keep a schedule of split-second timing, operating in accord with the laws established for them by their Creator. Our solar system, with its sun and planets and moons traveling at high speeds, keeps to its course without crash or collision. On earth the locusts, with no visible king, move in bands and maintain a unity of action necessary for survival. And look at the colors in nature, the great
variety in flowers and in the brilliant plumage of birds and in the striking markings of many animals. There is no disharmony or clashing despite the contrasting combinations brought together. Listen to the sounds in nature, the wind in the trees, the water as it gurgles in a brook or thunders over a falls, the cry of birds, the drone of insects, or even the crashings of a storm. There is a harmony in them all, none seeming out of place in its surroundings. Jehovah, the Creator of them all, is a God of harmony and unity, not of disorder, and his works reflect his attributes.-Gen. 1:1; Job 38:31-33; Prov. 30:27; Joel 2:6-8; Rom. 1:20; 1 Cor. 14:33.
When Jehovah God made man and woman they were given this unity and were told how to retain it. But the woman was ambitious. Instead of cherishing unity with God she wanted to compete with him, to become as a god herself. Adam preferred unity with his wife to unity with God, so he rebelled with her.
Yet when Jehovah called upon him to explain the trespass Adam turned against his wife in disunity, blaming her for his sin. Their
offspring were at disunity, Cain murdering his brother Abel. Later the descendants of Adam and Eve tried to hide their disunity with God by setting up false reliunrest even individuals are divided against themselves by neuroses and split personalities.
The irresistible conclusion forced upon us is that there is about as much unity in
If men do not learn to live together they will die together. The need for unity is that pressing. It is not a matter of getting along in a city or even a nation. It is an entire world that must learn to live in unity. Modern transportation and communications have shrunk the earth, brought nations into one another's back yard. World leaders admit the urgency of unity and dream of one world. Can they convert their dream into reality?
gion, calling created things by God's name, but hypocritically so. Men have done the same ever since, pretending through their false religions a unity with Jehovah they do not have.-Gen. 3:4-6,12;4:8,26.
Today the world daydreams about unity while tossing fitfully in a nightmare of disunity. On every front humanity is divided. Look where you will and see disunity on a scale that ranges from disconcerting to alarming. The restless surging seas of humanity are lashed by national barriers, racial discriminations, religious prejudices, language differences, many monetary systems, varying customs and artificial social standards that class some as high caste and others as low caste or no caste or outcaste. Your family background can put you in society's foreground or eliminate you entirely. It can put you in society's blue book or on its black list. If your finances forbid your keeping up with the Joneses, the Joneses will keep down on you. Narrowing our view to the family circle, we find it broken by delinquency and divided by divorce to an extent heretofore unknown. Narrowing our view still
farther, we find that in these days of fear and
this world as there is in a bagful of cats and dogs. However, one unity was cited by the wellknown writer Carl Sandburg, but it is more depressing than
comforting. He wryly observed: "There is one unity which the human family has now which perhaps it never had in such widespread fashion before. That is the unity of being in the wilderness together."
If this world is to make an exodus from this wilderness, if it is ever going to awake from its nightmare of disunity, if it is ever going to transform into reality its daydreams about unity, then it will have to wake up and work and walk in the right direction and get on the right side of the road. If we travel on the wrong side of the road to unity disunity will result. Men have not steered their vehicles of state on the right side yet. For six thousand years they have been traveling on the wrong side of the road and fearful results lie ahead.
The problem is the same now as it was then, but failure to solve it is more disastrous now. In the days of the donkey cart the problem was an infant. In these days of the machine age it has grown to a Frankenstein monster. We travel the same roads as in the past, only we travel them faster. In ancient days if men got their donkey carts on the wrong side of the road
it did not amount to much. In these days if
we get our fast automobiles on the wrong side we do not amount to much.
It is one thing to be sideswiped by an oxcart and quite another to collide with a speeding motorcar. It is one thing for savage tribes to fly at one another's throats swinging sticks and hurling stones, and quite another for armadas of planes to fly at cities spewing rockets and raining bombs.
History repeats itself but men will not listen. They refuse to learn by experience the lessons history repeatedly teaches. History has shown that in unity men survive, in disunity they die, and it is repeating this far more loudly and insistently and disastrously than ever before. The problem of unity has become acute. Either men will solve it or it will dissolve men. While world leaders today try to solve this problem, actually they do not even appreciate its gravest aspect, oblivious to the fact that the most vital unity to be gained is unity with Jehovah God.
PAST EFFORTS TO ATTAIN UNITY
Just as men are trying to solve the problem of unity today,men tried to solve it in the past. The past is filled with their mistakes, and the very same mistakes are filling the present and overflowing into the future. After the Flood ambitious men tried to unite men and hold them together contrary to Jehovah's purpose, which was that men should spread over the earth to populate it. Babel's crowd reasoned: "Come on! Let us build ourselves a city and also a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a celebrated name for ourselves, for fear we may be scattered over all the surface of the earth." (Gen. 11:4, NW) But Jehovah thwarted the effort, confusing their speech so they could not understand one another or continue to work together. The Bible calls the city Babel, meaning confusion. It brought no unity, but increased disunity, bringing in
language barriers. Their dream boomeranged.
In Isaiah's time a political union was formed, not to bring unity with Jehovah but to oppose his people. It failed. Concerning this attempt we read at Isaiah 8:9-13 (AS): "Make an uproar, O ye peoples, and be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us. For Jehovah spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A conspiracy, concerning all whereof this people shall say, A conspiracy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be in dread thereof. Jehovah of hosts, him shall ye sanctify; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread."
Centuries after this Babylon tried to strengthen itself through greater religious unity, endeavoring to bring local gods into the temple at Babylon and combine them all in one worship. This effort at interfaith failed to save Babylon, for shortly thereafter it fell to the Medes and Persians. Pagan Rome strengthened itself by forming a state church to embrace all the varied pagan gods and beliefs, but failed to sweep the Jews into this scheme for religious unity. After Christianity had been established Emperor Diocletian tried to extirpate Christianity from the Roman dominions, using without success violent persecution to wipe out Christians. After him Emperor Constantine by compromise was able to fuse apostate Christianity in with pagan religion, forming a Roman catholic or universal religion. But this failed to save the Roman empire, and even the religion so formed split up into many sects and cults at the time of the Reformation, resulting in the many Protestant sects that exist today.
Now there are efforts to unite religiously through interfaith movements and a World Council of Churches, but these are not endeavors to regain the all-important unity with Jehovah. They are not aiming at doctrinal unity with God's Word, but only a working political unity so they can make their voice felt in world affairs.
Organized religions claim to be the virgin bride of Christ, but when they enter political relations with worldly rulers the Bible views it as spiritual adultery and likens such organizations to a harlotrous woman. (Jas. 4:4) Nevertheless, the clergy of Christendom delve into politics and politicians use religion. When political convention time rolls around candidates are photographed coming out of church doors, though they never attend at other times. Bible texts and God are thrown into their speeches like so many commercials. Apparently politicians have put Bible quoting in the same category as baby kissing. The clergy co-operate fully and pray powerfully at political conventions, but their windy intercessions are obviously tailored for the television audience and designed for human, not divine, ears. The way campaigning politicians and supporting preachers talk you would think that on election day God was going to leave heaven, come down to earth, enter a voting booth and vote for their candidate. Really, it is getting so you do not know whether you are listening to a politician or a preacher—the politician quotes so much Bible and the preacher talks so much politics!
TODAY'S OUTSTANDING EFFORT
Revelation chapter 17 foretells this generation's effort to unify the world through first the League of Nations and thereafter the United Nations, with religion playing its role. The account says: "Come, I will
show you the judgment upon the great harlot that sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication." The harlot here mentioned is not a literal woman, for no woman has committed fornication with all the rulers of the earth. The harlot represents the false religious organizations of this world. They have entered politics and curried the favor of politicians and been used by them for selfish purposes, all of which is an unclean, illicit relationship for any group claiming to be the virgin bride of Christ, espoused to him and hailing him as their King and Ruler.
Next this harlotrous woman is seen "sitting upon a scarlet-colored wild beast that was full of blasphemous names and that had seven heads and ten horns." Frequently the Bible uses a beast to symbolize a government, as in Daniel chapter 7. We do today, as is evident from the Russian bear, the British lion and the American eagle. This scarlet-colored wild beast represents a combination of nations, as the League of Nations was and the United Nations is. It has blasphemous names plastered on it, just as organized religion said the League was the political expression of Christ's kingdom and has similarly extolled the United Nations as man's only hope for peace. False religions mixing in politics have tried to give guidance to the United Nations, just as the harlot atop the wild beast tried to ride it.
The account continues: "The wild beast that you saw was, but is not, and yet is destined to ascend out of the abyss, and it is to go off into destruction." For a time the League of Nations 'was,' then 'was not' during World War II, but ascended out of the abyss of inactivity under a new name, the United Nations. Before it goes into destruction it is shown devastating organized religion: "And the ten horns that you saw, and the wild beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her devastated and naked, and will eat up her fleshy parts and will completely burn her with fire.
For God put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose." Jehovah lets harlotrous religion's political paramours destroy her for her infidelity to him. We can already see radical political elements that are United Nations members turning against religion and casting it off, and this spirit will increase until false religion is devastated.
And what then? These "wild beast" nations "will battle with the Lamb, but, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb will conquer them." This is the climax of Jehovah's war of Armageddon and is when the wild beast will "go off into destruction." At this climactic time Satan and his demons will be put out of existence, and thus will be erased the disunifying forces. Jehovah's promised new world of righteousness will usher in complete unity.—Vss. 1-3,8,16,17,14,NW.
It is only a dream for men to think they will establish a unified world. Regardless of the system of government, the men who run it are imperfect and selfish and frequently corrupt. Men would have to change, and they cannot change themselves. By studying the Bible men can make their minds over, strip off their old personality and don a new one devoted to righteousness and morality. (Rom. 12:2; Col. 3:5-10) But today's world leaders, along with multitudes of persons, think the Bible impractical and shun it. And even if they did conform themselves to the Bible principles unity would not be attained. Why? Because Satan would still be the god of this world. (2 Cor. 4:4) Man cannot crush this invisible tyrant god.
Eleven years ago Winston Churchill took off on a flight of pretentious oratory and said the Allies look ahead to "when we shall have finally beaten down Satan under
our feet." He not only borrowed this from the Bible but edited it, substituting the Allies for God. Only God will crush Satan underfoot. (Rom. 16:20) Ten years later Churchill had not walked all over Satan and was not nearly so confident of handling matters, for he said: "A fearful question confronts us: Have our problems got beyond our control?" They always were and always will be. Satan is the cause of present woes, and only Jehovah can eliminate that cause. We can see Satan's works, just as we can see the devastation wrought by a hurricane or splitting atoms; but we cannot see Satan, any more than we can see the wind or the atoms.
There are things we can do. We can study the Bible, obey it, declare its message to others and sound the warning of Armageddon's impending destruction. By having the truth declared Christ is separating people as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. When that is done Armageddon will strike. Satan will be abyssed. The earth will not be burned up. Just as we would not burn down a barn to kill the rats, Jehovah will not burn up the earth to kill the goats, or Satan. He will destroy this present wicked system and replace it with a righteous system, his new world. Obedient men, at unity with Jehovah, his King, his Word and purposes, will live therein forever. Disunity started when disobedience to God started. It will end when disobedience to God ends. We can end our disobedience now; Jehovah will end Satan's at the close of Christ's thousand-year reign. We should do what we can; Jehovah will do what we cannot. Only in this way can men escape the present nightmare of disunity and attain a new world of unity and everlasting life.
Then, in that new world of Jehovah's building, our unity will match that of the heavens, that of the locusts who do not break rank, that of the many varied colors of nature, that of the countless sounds of different pitch and volume that fill stream and field, woodland and mountain.
Our unity will match theirs because it will come from the same source, from Jehovah the God of unity, the Creator of the righteous
new world of unity, the Inviter of unity lovers to enter it and live eternally. Will you accept his invitation? Will you live in this new world of unity, which men can only dream about, but which only Jehovah can accomplish?
BORN AGAIN?
CHRIST himself introduced the subject of being "born again." It is a subject that, down through
the centuries, has been little understood. Many religious teachers today hold to the view that if one is not "born again" there is no salvation. In other words, being "born again," they say, is the only way to salvation. Supporters of this teaching readily point to Jesus' words, those words he spoke one night to Nicodemus: "Most truly I say to you, Unless anyone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3, NW) Did Jesus here mean that it is necessary for anyone who hopes for life to be "born again"? What really does it mean to be "born again"?
To understand what it means to be "born again" one must know who are "born again." Note carefully that, in discussing this matter, Jesus did not say that all who would gain everlasting life must be "born again." Rather, what he said was that unless one was "born again" he could not see the "kingdom of God." Now the kingdom of God is heavenly. Jehovah has purposed that the Kingdom be the capital or ruling part of his universal organization. Jehovah also purposed that a limited number, taken from among mankind, would reign with Christ Jesus as associate kings.
For this sublime privilege
they must be resurrected and given spirit bodies, since, as the apostle said, "flesh and blood cannot inherit God's kingdom." That the Father has set a limitation on the number of those who will reign with his Son in the heavenly kingdom is manifest from Jesus' words: "Have no fear, little flock, because your Father has approved of giving you the kingdom." The exact number of the "little flock" approved by the Father to be Kingdom heirs was not known until Christ, through an angel, revealed it to be 144,000 "who have been purchased from the earth." This "little flock" of 144,000 Kingdom heirs, then, are those ones from among mankind who are "born again." 1 Cor. 15:50; Luke 12:32; Rev. 14:1-3, NW.
Hence it is a gross twisting of the Scriptures to throw open Jesus' words at John 3:3 to make them embrace all mankind. This is because the vast majority of mankind who receive salvation will not be part of the "kingdom of God" but will live on the earth under the rule of God's kingdom. For in addition to his "little flock" of Kingdom heirs Jesus has his "other sheep, which are not of this fold"; that is, they are not of the little fold.
The number of these "other sheep" is not limited. Today a "great crowd" of these "other sheep" has been gathered into Jehovah's New World society: "A great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues." This "great crowd" of people are not "born again," nor do they need to be "born again," because they gain everlasting life on the earth.—John 10:16; Rev. 7:9, NW.
THE NEED FOR A NEW BIRTH
Why, now, must those of the 144,000 Kingdom heirs be "born again"? Because as human creatures they were begotten by Adam. Adam could not beget anyone to a heavenly inheritance. He had only earthly hopes held out to him. Moreover, when Adam did beget children they were born sinners. So Adam's children inherited sin and death. Thus the 144,000 need to be begotten by a father different from Adam, a heavenly father who can bestow spirit life and a spiritual inheritance. Only Jehovah can do that. Being born from God, the 144,000 Kingdom heirs become spiritual sons of God: "However, as many as did receive him, to them he gave authority to become God's children, because they were exercising faith in his name; and they were born not from blood or from a fleshly will or from man's will, but from God." John 1:12, 13, NW.
Jesus was the first one to be "born again." This was in harmony with God's rule concerning his Son: "That he might become the one who is first in all things." When was Jesus "born again"? At the time of his human birth? No, but rather thirty years later, at the time of his baptism A.D. 29. After Jesus' immersion, an act that symbolized Jesus' dedication to Jehovah, God's spirit came upon him, and
a voice from the heavens said: "This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved." Jesus was now a spirit-begotten son of God; he was "born again." This, of course, was not a begettal in the womb of any human virgin. That was already past and had served its purpose. But now Jehovah begot Jesus by the spirit to become a spiritual son of God with a heavenly glory in view. This was the first time such a thing had ever occurred on earth. Col. 1:18; Matt. 3:17, NW.
So what does it mean to be "born again"? It means receiving from God a birthlike entitling to prospects and hopes for spirit life by resurrection to heaven. How is this brought about? Jesus enlightens us: "Most truly I say to you, Unless anyone is born from water and spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." John 3:5, NW.
"BORN FROM WATER AND SPIRIT"
That phrase is how Jesus described the manner in which one is "born again." It would not be logical to think that the "water" is literal. Then is it referring to water baptism? No. Rather it refers to the truth of God's Word. This water of truth has cleansing power. So Paul at Ephesians 5: 26 (NW) speaks of Christ's cleansing the congregation "with the bath of water by means of the word." Further showing that it is the water of truth in God's Word that aids toward the new birth, James writes: "He brought us forth by the word of truth, for us to be a certain firstfruits of his creatures." Also the apostle Peter shows the part played by the Word of God: "For you have been given a new birth, not by corruptible, but by incorruptible reproductive seed, through the word of the living and enduring God." By having the good news preached to them those who become members of the 144,000 Kingdom heirs get in intelligent touch with God. It is God's Word that sets out the heavenly hope; and only by getting to know his Word could they have such a hope formed in their hearts.
Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23, NW.
The apostle Peter brought the "water" or word of truth to the first Gentile convert, Cornelius. Cornelius, together with those of his household, accepted it. The Bible record says: "While Peter was yet speaking about these matters the holy spirit fell upon all those hearing the word." It was after this that Peter responded: "Can anyone forbid water so that these might not be baptized who have received the holy spirit even as we have?" So in Cornelius' case, unlike that of Jesus', his water baptism came after his being "born again." Hence water baptism, though essential, does not bring about the new birth nor does it necessarily precede a faithful creature's being "born again."—Acts 10:44, 47, NW.
Clearly, then, there are two requisites for being "born again." They are the water of truth and God's spirit. Just the knowledge of God's Word in itself is not enough. Why, during all the time that the disciples were with Jesus, including the forty days after his resurrection, Jesus taught them about God's kingdom. They had the water of truth. But the other requisite was lacking. For they had yet to be 'born from the spirit.' Until their spirit-begettal they were only prospective sons of God. Their spirit-begettal did not take place until Pentecost. But how are we to understand John 20:22 (NW) when Jesus, on his resurrection day, said to his disciples, "Receive holy spirit"? That was only a symbolic action, an advance notice of what was to come. The promised baptism of God's spirit, their begettal as spiritual sons of God,
did not come until the fiftieth day counting from Jesus' resurrection.
But was not Jehovah's spirit poured out upon faithful men long before the day of Pentecost? True, it was Jehovah's spirit that, for example, moved the prophets to write the inspired Hebrew Scriptures. Yet none of those men were engendered thereby to become sons of God or had imparted to them a birthlike entitling to heavenly hope. David had God's spirit upon him. Yet he did not go to heaven. For eleven centuries later Peter said: "David did not ascend to the heavens." Both Elijah and Elisha had Jehovah's spirit, Elisha having a "double portion"; still they did not go to heaven. For 900 years later the One who came down from heaven said: "No man has ascended into heaven but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man." Acts 2:34; John 3:13, NW.
Then what was the hope of those preChristian servants of Jehovah? It was a hope to live on the earth under the rule of the heavenly kingdom. So the term "born again" does not apply to any of the early men of faith, nor does it apply today to the "great crowd" of other sheep, whose hope is to be preserved alive through the coming war of Armageddon to enjoy life on this earth forever. The only ones who are "born again" are the 144,000, together with their Head, Christ Jesus, who make up the Kingdom. Now only a remnant of the spirit-begotten "little flock" of 144,000 are yet on earth. But they, together with their good-will companions, are unitedly proclaiming the good news of God's new world, telling all who hear that "anyone that calls upon the name of Jehovah will be saved."—Acts 2:21, NW. The SACREDNESS of our WARFARE..
"For Jehovah your God is walking about within your camp to deliver you and to abandon your enemies to you, and your camp must prove to be holy, that he may see nothing indecent in you and certainly turn away from accompanying you."—Deut. 23:14, NW.
IF ANYONE is at warfare it is Jehovah's witnesses. (Isa. 43:10-12; 44:8, AS) For the past six thousand years few, if any, have been the centuries that have not been disturbed by warfare between fleshly contenders and reddened by the blood of the slain. But for these witnesses of the Most High God it has been a continual warfare, a lifelong conflict, a daily battle, with no furloughs granted them by the One for whom they have fought, with no truces, no armistice, through all the sixty centuries. With heavenly aid they have been able to endure until now, so that Jehovah's witnesses are still upon the scene of action today, and the fight goes on. They will not abandon it, for theirs is a holy warfare, a sacred conflict, in the midst of an ungodly world.
2 To this day the warfare of this world has been a violent settlement of the disputes of this world with violence and blood. Always men have made the attempt to religionize the wars of this world. Thus they try to justify their course of violence and to make the one taking part in the conflicts feel conscience-free, feel it is his obligation to his god to lend himself to the fight, and feel that his future will be a favored and happy one for his having taken a violent hand in the cruelties of war. Always it has been the human practice to shove the responsibility for the war onto God and declare that it is his will and teach that a warrior is serving God and his cause. Among the nations of this world, war has been made a sacred thing, a holy duty.
Testifying to the fact that war was considered a holy business, in ancient times the nations had their gods of war. The bellicose Greeks had their god A'res and the Romans their god Mars, with temples dedicated to these gods. When the Philistines defeated the Israelites and killed King Saul and three of his sons, "they stripped him, and took his head, and his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry the tidings unto their idols, and to the people. And they put his armor in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the house of Dagon." (1 Chron. 10:9, 10, AS) Not only did the pagan nations ascribe their victories to their gods and take the trophies of war to their temples, but they also consulted their gods or the occult powers for guidance and instruction before a military campaign. Late in the seventh century before Christ the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar found himself faced with a choice. He found himself in Palestine at the fork of a road, one of its branches leading southeast toward the Ammonite city of Rabbah and the other branch leading southwest to Jerusalem.
To determine his choice he appealed to sources higher than human. "For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he shook the arrows to and fro, he consulted the teraphim [images], he looked in the liver. In his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in
shaped symbols, were raised on the end of a staff as standards, and the office of bearing them was looked upon as one of peculiar privilege and honour. Somewhat similar seem to have been the customs of the Assyrians . . . The Persians bore an eagle fixed to the end of a lance, and the sun, as their divinity, was also represented upon their standards which appear to have
the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, to build forts." (Ezek. 21:20-22, AS) Being thus guided to a decision not his own, Nebuchadnezzar moved confidently against Jerusalem, feeling certain that he was carrying out the will of his god Marduk and would meet with success. Jerusalem fell before him in the summer of 607 B.C., not due to Marduk, but really because Jehovah, the God whom the unfaithful city had abandoned, had entered the decree of destruction against it already forty years in advance.
been formed of some kind of textile, and were guarded with the greatest jealousy by the bravest men of the army. . . . The forms of standards in later times were very various; sometimes a cross piece of wood was placed at the end of a spear and surmounted by the figure of a hand in silver, below round or oval discs, with figures of Mars or Minerva, or in later times portraits of emperors or eminent generals. . . . The Roman standards were guarded with religious veneration in the temples at Rome: and the reverence of this people
—Jer. 1:1-3, 13-16.
4 In keeping with the sacred nature of warfare in their eyes, the warriors of the pagan nations were sanctified for their military expeditions. They went forth in the name of their gods, they swore by their gods, they prayed to them for triumph, the ensigns and standards of the army were considered sacred, yes, even reverenced and worshiped.
5 Says the Encyclopaedia Britannica: "It appears that several companies of the Egyptian army had their own particular standards. These were formed of such ob-
for their ensigns was in proportion to their superiority to other nations in all that tends to success in war. It was not unusual for a general to order a standard to be cast into the ranks of the enemy, to add zeal to the onset of his sol-
to the onset of his soldiers by exciting them to recover what to them was perhaps the
jects as, there is reason to believe, were associated in the minds of the men with feelings of awe and devotion. Sacred animals, boats, emblems or figures, a tablet bearing a king's name, fan and feather-
most sacred thing the earth possessed.
The Roman soldier swore by his ensign. [When Jerusalem for the second time was destroyed by the Romans in the summer of A.D. 70, they brought their standards into the court of the temple dedicated to Jehovah God and worshiped their victorycrowned standards as idols.] . . . Early flags were almost purely of a religious character. . . in fact the aid of religion seems ever to have been sought to give sanctity to national flags, and the origin of many can be traced to a sacred banner, as is notably the case with the oriflamme of France and the Dannebrog of Denmark. . . The banner of William the Conqueror was sent to him by the pope."—Volume 10, eleventh edition (1910), pages 454, 455.
6 That such religious feelings carry over even to this late day is borne out by the statement of the Encyclopedia Americana under the subheading "Respect or Reverence for the Flag." The statement reads: "The flag, like the cross, is sacred. Many people employ the words or term 'Etiquette of the Flag.' This expression is too weak, too superficial and smacks of drawing-room politeness. The rules and regulations relative to human attitude toward national standards use strong, expressive words, as, 'Service to the Flag,' 'Respect for the Flag,' 'Reverence for the Flag,' 'Devotion to the Flag,' 'Behavior Towards the Flag.' . . . Pledges of allegiance offered to flags are of antiquity. . . ." (Volume 11, 1942 edition, page 316) Among other reasons, the early Christians refused to join Caesar's army because of the idolatry connected with it.
7 In the face of thus clothing war with a holy appearance the pagan nations literally sanctified this form of violence, and with fitness the Bible uses this expression respecting the preparation of the pagan nations for their wars of aggression. Here are the words of Jehovah's own prophecy against the doomed city of Babylon, where military aggression had originated under Nimrod after the global flood of Noah's day: "Sanctify the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough canker-worm. Sanctify against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors thereof, and all the deputies thereof, and all the land of their dominion. . . . for the purposes of Jehovah against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without an inhabitant." (Jer. 51:27-29, AS, margin) Being sanctified by preliminary religious ceremonial for the war against Babylon, the soldiers were spoken of as being consecrated, hallowed or sanctified ones. Says Jehovah by his prophet Isaiah: "The burden of Babylon, . . . I have commanded my consecrated [Hebrew, sanctified] ones, yea, I have called my mighty men for mine anger, even my proudly exulting ones. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as of a great people! the noise of a tumult of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Jehovah of hosts is mustering the hosts for the battle." (Isa. 13:1-4, AS; Ro) And when challenging all the nations of our own day to come against him and his New World society on earth in the universal war of Armageddon, Jehovah again uses this special word and says: "Proclaim ye this among the nations; sanctify war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up." (Joel 3:9, AS, margin) The sanctifying of the war against Jehovah proceeds according to the "god of this world," the "god of this system of things," who is Satan the Devil.
(2 Cor. 4:4, NW) So it is a sanctifying to a wrong cause. Invoking religion's aid in this unholy, antiJehovah movement will not guarantee its success or crown it with victory.
THE TRUE SANCTITY OF THEOCRATIC WAR
The living and true God, the One alone "whose name is Jehovah," is the only One that can sanctify a course of action and make it a sacred duty and privilege. (Ps. 83:18, AS; Lev. 20:8; 21:8, 15, 23) His merely authorizing the course of action or commanding it makes it something sacred that must not be violated by disobedience to instructions. Does this hold true with regard to warfare? Yes. And King Saul, the first human king of the nation of Israel, soon found out that he was desecrating his holy task when he was commanded by Jehovah God to destroy the enemy Amalekites but he did not fully carry out the divine orders, for his own selfish reasons. His disobedience was in effect rebelliousness and a pushing ahead presumptuously; it was as if he were serving the false gods of this world and sanctifying himself to their service by divination and some uncanny power and teraphim. Said the prophet Samuel to King Saul: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah, he hath also rejected thee from being king." (1 Sam. 15:1-23, AS, margin) Jehovah has never sanctified the war of any worldly nation or Gentile nation that he has not used in the execution of his judgments. Nimrod, the founder of Babylon and the first to be reported as a "mighty hunter" or military campaigner against human prey, is branded in God's
Book as a "mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah"; hence he was never sanctified by Jehovah God for his aggressive military hunts, and neither have any of his imitators been thus sanctified.—Gen. 10: 8-11, NW; Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1, chapter 4, paragraph 2; also the Jerusalem Targum.
9 Jehovah is no pacifist, but according to his own purpose he has righteously resorted to war against the enemies who warred against him and his people. He has never lost a battle, for his warfare is holy and righteous. After his victory over the military hosts of Egypt by engulfing them in the Red Sea he inspired his prophet Moses to sing: "Jehovah is a manly person of war. Jehovah is his name." (Ex. 15:3, NW) He is the universal God-Ruler or Theocrat, and hence his wars or the wars that he authorizes his people to wage are theocratic wars. They are truly sanctified, sacred.
10 Already in Moses' day, in the fifteenth century before Christ, there was in existence what was called "the book of the Wars of Jehovah." (Num. 21:14, NW) This book may have begun with Abraham's war against the four allied invader kings who had captured his nephew Lot together with his family. It is not said that God ordered Abraham to go in pursuit and recover these captives, but Abraham's victory with his 318 slaves and three confederates over the mighty enemy hosts could only have been God-given. Jehovah's royal priest Melchizedek pronounced it such. When blessing Abraham upon his return from the slaughter of those kings, Melchizedek said: "Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, Producer of heaven and earth, and blessed be the Most High God, who has delivered your oppressors into your hand!"
(Gen. 14:17-20, NW; Heb. 7:1-10) The war by Abraham was theocratic; that of the four aggressor kings was not theocratic, even though sanctified by their pagan religious rites. Very appropriately, then, Abraham gave a tenth of all the spoils to Melchizedek as the representative of the Most High God, Jeho-
rael."—Josh. 10:14, 42; 23:3, 10, NW; Ex. 14:14; Deut. 1:30; Neh. 4:20.
12 The Most High God was fully justified in fighting all these battles for his people, for he is righteous in all his activity. His defeating and destroying his enemies and his people's enemies were an execution of judgment upon these death-deserving opposers. He commanded that his people take
vah, who had fought for his friend Abraham.
11 Theocratic warfare specially became prominent in the case of Abraham's greatgrandchildren, the twelve tribes of Israel. To free these descendants of his friend Abraham from the oppressive power of Egypt, Jehovah engaged not only in a war against Pharaoh and his first-class war machine of that day but also in a war of the gods, a war against the demon gods whom the Egyptians worshiped. He said: "On all the gods of Egypt I shall execute judgments. I am Jehovah." After all the
a hand in this destruction of the condemned sinners, and he made their warfare theocratic and used them as his executioners. There was no sin or moral wrong for engaging in such warfare, for it was in obedience to the will and commandment of their God. As in King Saul's case, the sin would lie in not carrying out orders to the pleasing of God; as it is written in Jeremiah 48:10: "Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently; and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood." (AS) Jehovah did not authorize his chosen people to set out on
first-born of the Egyptians who were dedicated to the gods had been slain by Jehovah's destroying angel on the first passover night, 1513 B.C., Pharaoh conceded defeat and the Israelites moved out. Respecting this it is written: "All the while the Egyptians were burying those whom Jehovah had struck among them, that is, all the first-born, and upon their gods Jehovah had executed judgments." (Ex. 12: 12; Num. 33:4, NW) Then throughout the forty-year journey of his chosen people through the wilderness to the Promised Land he fought for them. After he had
a course of world aggression and establish a world power, but he did command them to destroy the immoral, demon-worshiping pagans out of the land that he had promised to give them. Many were the miracles that he performed for them while obediently carrying out these orders of theocratic warfare. He backed them up in the fight.
13 The Israelites suffered physically, religiously, spiritually and nationally from a lack of loving, courageous obedience in pushing this theocratic warfare until the land was completely cleansed of the con-
brought them into the Promised Land, and all during the days of their judges, whom Jehovah raised up as deliverers, and during the kingdom of Israel and of Judah, the only true God fought for his holy nation, so that the classic expression developed. "Jehovah it was who was fighting for Island was completely cleansed of the contaminating demon worshipers and God's will had been done. The Israelite that obediently took part in the fighting was said to fight Jehovah's battles. It was no mere flattering word, but a real truth, when King Saul told David the giant-killer: "Only be thou valiant for me, and fight Jehovah's battles."
(1 Sam. 18:17, AS) It was with good understanding that Abigail, the woman of the city of Carmel, spoke to the same David, saying: "Jehovah will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battles of Jehovah." (1 Sam. 25:28, AS) To be a battler for Jehovah is a high honor and a blessing, and Jehovah is with each theocratic battler. The divine blessing is upon him. Today there are Christian battlers for Jehovah, and in a way they display greater courage than did the Israelite battlers for Jehovah, because these Christian witnesses of Jehovah do not use or resort to carnal death-dealing weapons such as the Israelite warriors did and they will not use or resort to such violent weapons or raise private military squads even at the battle of Armageddon, "the war of the great day of God the Almighty." Why is this so concerning these Christian battlers for Jehovah? We shall see.
SANCTIFIED WARRIORS
14 Theocratic warfare is a sacred thing, and those who are privileged to engage in it are sanctified for it because of its holiness. The warfare must be approached and be engaged in in a sanctified condition as a holy service. This becomes clear from David's conversation with the high priest Ahimelech at the city of Nob, where the sacred ark of Jehovah God had been transferred. King Saul had become jealous of David because Jehovah's blessing rested upon this young man as a battler for Jehovah. Finally David was obliged to flee from Saul's reach in order to escape death. Accompanied by faithful young men for part of the way, he came to Nob, hungry and unarmed. He wanted food for himself
and the young men whom he had left at a certain place. David went on to say to high priest Ahimelech: "Now then, what have you at hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.' And the priest answered David, 'I have no common bread at hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.' And David answered the priest, 'Of a truth women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition; the vessels of the young men are holy, even when it is a common journey; how much more today will their vessels be holy?' So the priest gave him the holy bread; for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the LORD [Jehovah], to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away." 1 Sam. 21:1-6, RS.
15 The Lord Jesus showed that holiness was something to be considered here when he verified this historic occurrence and said: "Have you not read what David did when he and the men with him got hungry? How he entered into the house of God and they ate the loaves of presentation, food it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests only?" (Matt. 12:3, 4, NW) This was the reason why Ahimelech first asked whether David and his young men had been kept from women for at least a day and David replied that they had. But how was holiness here involved? And what was implied by David's answer with reference to a war expedition?
16 Being kept from women meant being kept from sexual intercourse with their wives or concubines. At ordinary times there was nothing wrong or disqualifying with such proper intercourse. But when an occasion or a service called for ceremonial cleanness then such relations between an Israelite and his wife were out of order.
Why? Because after such intercourse both the man and his wife were ceremonially unclean until the following evening. In the theocratic law that was given through Moses to the Israelites it was written: "Now in case a man should have an emission of semen go out from him, then he must bathe all his flesh in water and be unclean until the evening. And any garment and any skin upon which the emission of semen gets to be must be washed with water and be unclean until the evening. As for a woman with whom a man may cohabit with an emission of semen, they must bathe in water and be unclean until the evening." (Lev. 15:16-18, NW) Consequently, sexual intercourse that day would have made David and his men unfit to be given the unused holy showbread to eat. Now David claimed that it was an ordinary mission on which he was in the king's service; yet David said that he and his men were ceremonially clean from sexual contact with their wives and concubines the same as if they were going out on an "expedition," that is, a military expedition. Going out on a military expedition or war called for sanctification by ceremonial cleansing of their "vessels" or physical organisms. The theocratic nature of the warfare called for sanctity of this kind, if the divine blessing was to rest upon the army and victory was to be granted to those battling for Jehovah. It was a sacred service.
17 Cleanness ceremonially, morally and physically was required of the Israelite camp engaged in theocratic warfare. Said Jehovah's law to the Israelites: "In case you should go out into camp against your enemies, then you must keep yourself from
every bad thing. In case there should happen to be in you a man who does not continue clean, because of a pollution that occurs at night, then he must go outside the camp. He may not come into the midst of the camp. And it must occur that at the falling of evening he should wash with water and at the setting of the sun he may come into the midst of the camp. And a private place should be at your service outside the camp, and you must go out there. And a peg should be at your service along with your implements, and it must occur that when you squat outside, then you must dig a hole with it and turn and cover your excrement. For Jehovah your God is walking about within your camp to deliver you and to abandon your enemies to you, and your camp must prove to be holy, that he may see nothing indecent in you and certainly turn away from accompanying you." (Deut. 23:9-14, NW) If the divine presence as represented by the angel of Jehovah was to accompany the army clear to final victory, the camp had to be kept clean according to theocratic standards.
18 The camp of Jehovah's theocratic nation, therefore, differed from that of the pagan armies. The pagans would take women along with them that the warriors might indulge themselves with them, or on capturing a place the soldiers were given free rein to seize the womenfolk and rape them. (Isa. 13:16; Lam. 5:11; Zech. 14:2) There exists something similar to this today, when we read or hear of prostitutes tagging along after the military camps and of military officers deliberately providing places of prostitution in the neighborhood for the sexual satisfaction of their soldiers. In the theocratic camp of Israel this was prohibited because the war on which they were set out was theocratic, therefore sacred, and called for sanctification by the fighters.
Therefore sexual contact with women, even their own wives and concubines, was prohibited to them and they voluntarily abstained from it. This was why Uriah, a Hittite of good will, when called in from the field by King David, did not go at night to his home in Jerusalem to be with his wife. When King David, ignoring the sacred requirements of the military campaign, asked Uriah why he had not gone home that night, that loyal soldier theocratically replied: "The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in booths; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open field; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing." (2 Sam. 11:6-11, AS) Uriah wanted to remain sanctified for the fight. So for the time being he would be as without a wife. It reminds us of what the apostle Paul said to Christians: "Moreover, this I say, brothers, the time left is reduced. Henceforth let those who have wives be as though they had none." (1 Cor. 7:29, NW) At times theocratic duties will call a Christian from his wife's side and he must respond.
19 If the Israelites were commanded to capture a place and kill off the men and the women that were not virgin, they were not free to rape the girls who were preserved alive. That would have been defiling the army, for it would have been committing fornication, immorality. If any Israelite wanted any captive maid he could not have relations with her immediately on capturing her. No, but he must keep himself sanctified for theocratic warfare by following the law that said: "In case you should go out to the battle against your enemies and Jehovah your God has given
them into your hand and you have carried them away captive, and you have seen among the captives a woman beautiful in form and you have gotten attached to her and taken her for your wife, then you must bring her into the midst of your house. She must now shave her head and attend to her nails, and remove the garment of her captivity from off her and dwell in your house and weep for her father and her mother a whole month, and after that you should have relations with her and you must take possession of her as your bride and she must become your wife." (Deut. 21:10-13, NW) Until the military campaign was over and its sanctity had been maintained this sexual contact could not occur with divine approval. If a man called to the army was engaged to a girl, he was relieved of his army obligations for one year that he might go home and take his betrothed one in marriage and have a child by her that he might have an offspring and keep his name alive, that thus he might not be killed in battle childless.—Deut. 20:7; 24:5.
20 The vindication of Jehovah, the God of victory, was at stake. Keeping the camp above reproach in God's sight and worthy of gaining the victory by Jehovah's continued favor was of vaster importance than committing any ceremonial or moral uncleanness and violating the sanctity of the military expedition. This is true also of the sacred warfare of Christian battlers for Jehovah today. Of course, the legal covenant that Jehovah God made with the ancient Israelites through Moses does not apply today to the Christian, and hence the Christian battlers are not required to abstain from intercourse with their wives because they are in a sacred warfare. Nonetheless, their conduct must be clean morally and spiritually. Their keeping themselves from immorality and also from spiritual adultery by being a part of this world must befit the sacredness of this Christian warfare.
(Jas. 4:4) Their part
in the vindication of Jehovah is at stake, and furnishes them a cleansing influence an impulse to purity morally and spiritually.
PRIESTS with the THEOCRATIC ARMY
THE sacredness of theocratic warfare called for a sanctifying of the Israelite men for this service of God as upholders of his universal sovereignty and as executioners of his righteous indignation against the worshipers of false gods. Accordingly it was necessary for priests of the tribe of Levi to accompany the Israelite army. Their presence added sanctity to the army of Jehovah. In the days when his sacred ark of the covenant was sheltered under the tabernacle or tent it was the custom to take the ark into the army camp, as it symbolized the presence of Jehovah God with his fighting forces. (1 Sam. 4:4-6; 14:18, 19; 2 Sam. 11:11) This necessarily required the presence of the Levite priests in the camp, for they were the only ones authorized to carry the ark of Jehovah God. Once a nonpriestly Israelite was killed for touching the ark, thinking to keep it from falling off a cart. Had the Levite priests been carrying the ark, this would not have occurred. (Deut. 31:9; Josh. 3:17; 6:4-11; 1 Sam. 4:4; 2 Sam. 6:6, 7; 1 Chron. 15:2-15, 26) Also when a battle engagement was facing the Israelite army it was customary for a sacrifice to be offered to Jehovah God, and this required the presence of Jehovah's
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