The Watchtower, May 15, 1942
Download: PDF — The Watchtower, May 15, 1942
“WILLING VOLUNTEERS” TESTIMONY PERIOD
During the month of June all those willing volunteers who delight to do Jehovah’s will and who have made a covenant with the Lord will go forward in the proclamation of the Kingdom message. The “Willing Volunteers” Testimony Period will be devoted to the distribution of the book Children and seven booklets on the contribution of 35c. All servants of the Lord going forward during this campaign will have a good supply of this literature on hand as they go from place to place, visiting the people of good-will, those who love righteousness. This literature will afford many the opportunity of getting a clearer knowledge of the truth, and they should be given this opportunity during the “Willing Volunteers” Testimony Period. The usual field-service reports will be made to the company servant if the publisher is associated with a company; the pioneers, direct to the office; and those readers of The Watchtower who have as yet not been in the field-service work, namely, going from door to door with the Kingdom message, may inquire of the Watchtower the address of their nearest company. You will enjoy being associated with them.
"CHILDREN STUDY QUESTIONS”
The Society has released a new booklet, entitled “ ‘Children’ Study Questions”, which will be a great aid to all publishers of the Kingdom in the conducting of Children studies in the various homes throughout the country. You can get your copy now on contribution of 5c for publication of more of these. Send remittances to 117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, New York. This “Children" Study Questions booklet will help individual readers in their personal study in their own homes. Get a copy now.
“WATCHTOWER” QUESTIONS
Repeated requests are received from individuals that The Watchtower publish questions on the leading article of each issue for use of study classes. Such questions were published over a period of years, but were discontinued with the beginning of 1939 because not conducing to the best results, particularly on the part of study conductors. December 1, 1938, The Watchtower gave instructions on the best method of studying the magazine. The study conductor is responsible to carefully study the lesson before the meeting. However, all attendants at the study should likewise study the lesson in advance, and they have the privilege to submit questions in writing on the study paragraphs to the study conductor sufficiently in advance for him to compile these and frame the final set of questions on the lesson. There should be but one question on each paragraph, even if the points of the paragraph require that the question be a compound one, that is, of several parts. At the study meeting the conductor should have one to read the questions on the paragraphs in their order, and another who reads well to read the paragraphs. Those desiring to answer the question as read should so indicate by raising the hand. It is not necessary for the conductor to offer his own comment on each paragraph, if the answers given cover the substance thereof At the close of the discussion the paragraph should be read as the sum-up. Then the next paragraph should be taken up; and so on to the end of the study hour. The conductor should control the comments so that the meeting will be an hour in length.
“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES
Week of June 21: “Micah” (Part 9), 1-18 inclusive, The Watchtower May 15, 1942.
Week of June 28: “Micah” (Part 9), 19-35 inclusive, The Watchtower May 15, 1942.
No. LXIII May 15, 1942 No 10
MICAH
PART 9
“He hath shewed, thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"—Mic. 6:8.
JEHOVAH is the great and perfect Teacher. His I instruction is always good and beneficial; for he is goodness, and to know him is of the greatest benefit. His perfect justice does not require him to provide rescue for the condemned, but in his mercy, which is his loving-kindness toward such, he gives timely and sufficient warning against the impending world disaster. He plainly points out the reason therefor, and to those who would escape he shows what is good in his sight and what he requires to win his approval and merciful protection and his deliverance from destruction with the doomed world. The creature that desires life and who enters into a covenant or agreement to do Jehovah's will binds himself to fulfill God’s requirements. Jehovah God is no respecter of persons. Every creature on earth that desires to get into the way of life must expect to face the same requirements and to follow the same rule of action. Willing obedience and faithfulness are required in doing the will of the great Lifegiver. The creature must deal with justice and in the love of mercy toward others, especially those in the way of life with him. He must walk obedient to God’s expressed will and not abandon God’s side for the world’s. Thus he maintains his relationship with God. The joyful fulfilling of God’s requirements leads to endless life amid blessings unspeakable. The refusal or failure to carry out his requirements leads to death and loss of everything.
2 Religion has substituted for God’s requirements the rule and moral standards of men who depart from and ignore God’s law. Religion has therefore blinded men to God’s requirements. Look at the religious world today, particularly the “civilized” part thereof called “Christendom”. Then answer as to what religion has done for humankind. “Christendom” has taken the name of God and of his Christ and lays claim to his promised blessings. She thereby puts herself in an implied covenant and, in consequence, makes herself responsible to God’s requirements of one that bears his name. The course of those unfaithful to the covenant with God, and the condition that results from their going over to religion, are the same in this modern world just as in the ancient world before Christ. Why? Because religion is demonism and the demons use like methods with like results always, and those demons are most active now, as they were in the days of Noah before the world disaster. Jehovah foreknew exactly the present-day state of “Christendom”. She has gone the same way as the two capital cities of the divided Jewish nation, Jerusalem and Samaria. Jehovah God has preserved a faithful record in detail of the conditions that doomed both cities, and by this means he has foretold the conditions existing within “Christendom” at the end of the world, where we now are. That record was preserved for our admonition and profit. A close study thereof shows the wisdom of now keeping the divine requirements. The Bible record is not mere dry ancient history, but bears importantly on us today.
3 “The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.” So reads the record at Micah 6: 9. In Micah’s day the “city” was Jerusalem, and possibly also Samaria, the rival capital; but Jerusalem remained the last to be dealt with. As capitals these two cities represented the entire nation, the twelve tribes of Israel. That they had gone religious and despised the Lord’s requirements note God’s description of them by his prophet. The religionists heard Micah prophesying, but it was not a man’s voice, not Micah’s voice, that they heard. It was Jehovah’s voice crying, because it was his inspired message. Now in this day of crisis upon “Christendom” Jehovah’s voice again cries to that “city” or religious organization which claims the name of Christ. Again it is not the “voice” of creatures, not the voicing of human opinions by Jehovah’s witnesses, that “Christendom” hears, but these cry out to her what the voice of the Lord has said in his Word. “Christendom” is now on judgment, because the Lord has come to his temple and is present as Judge, as symbolized by the “ark of his testament [covenant]”. He makes his voice or message to lie heard, as symbolically foretold at Revelation 11:19: “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices [judgment messages], and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.” Never in history was there such a loud and widespread cry of His voice. This cry was made through his faithful witnesses and their devoted companions. These published Jehovah’s name and advertised his Kingdom under Christ and declared his righteous judgments and requirements, and this by the greatest publicity campaign by means of hundreds of millions of copies of Kingdom publications, by radio, by sound-amplification machines and recorded speeches, by public addresses and conventions, by petitions for free speech and worship circulated among and signed by millions of good-will persons, by house-to-house visitation of the people and by conducting Bible studies in their homes; and by all other possible means approved by the Lord God.
4 As one of many instances: On Sunday, March 25, 1934, Jehovah's witnesses arranged to broadcast over a chain of 151 radio stations the vital speech “World Control”, from the convention auditorium at Los Angeles, California. Immediately thereafter the same speaker delivered the further speech on “Requirements”, the same being carried over 55 of those stations and heard by simultaneous gatherings of God's people from coast to coast. Then the speech “Requirements” was recorded on sound-records for reproducing by transcription machines and was repeatedly played the world over both on regular radio programs and in the meeting-places of God's people. More recently, in August. 1941, at the Theocratic Assembly in St. Louis, Missouri, the topmost attendance at which was over 115,000, mainly persons of good-will, the most vital speech on the Lord’s requirements was delivered, to wit, on the subject “Integrity”. This speech was instantaneously recorded as the speaker talked and is now being daily reproduced on phonographs run in the private homes and public halls throughout the land. You may read that speech “Integrity” in the August 15, 1941, issue of The Watchtower, which issue was circulated by the hundreds of thousands of copies in many languages.
5 “And the man of wisdom shall see thy name.” The better rendering of this according to the original text is: ‘The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city, with that which is essential for him who sees thy name.’ (See Rotherham translation.) In 1931 the Lord God revealed to his covenant people the “new name” which his own mouth had called upon them, to wit, "Jehovah’s witnesses.” (Isa. 62:2; 43:10,12; Rev. 2:17) Their consistent course of action and their message prove they are just that, witnesses to Jehovah’s name. As a result the eyes of many honest ones hitherto blinded by religion see Jehovah's name and that it stands for his righteous purpose toward creatures. They see that his name has been made despicable and reproached by religion, not alone by the Jews’ religion but even more so by "Christian religion”, so called; which proves that religion is not Christian, for Christ Jesus upheld the honor of his Father Jehovah’s name. They see that His purpose is to make a glorious name for himself by the destruction of all those that bring reproach upon his name by their religion, including “Christendom” and also the Devil himself. By this destruction at the battle of Armageddon God shall completely clear or vindicate his name and settle the outstanding issue of universal domination to the everlasting glory of his holy name.
6 Seeing these things concerning Jehovah’s name makes it clear that what is most essential for the person of good-will who gets sight of this in God’s Word is to devote himself to Jehovah God through Christ Jesus, the Vindicator of Jehovah’s name, and then to take Jehovah’s side in the great issue. There he must abide in integrity or blamelessness by faithfully witnessing to God's name and purpose unto the end and never compromising with religion, which is on the opposing side of the issue. Thus such favored ones get the wisdom, understanding, counsel, comfort and support which is “essential” to meet the Lord’s requirements and hold fast their integrity toward him, and this also shall be with safety to them at the battle of Armageddon. The faithful remnant of Jehovah’s covenant people were, by his grace, first to see Jehovah’s name, especially from 1925 on. Shortly thereafter this magazine, in its issue of January 1,1926, came forth with the principal article on ‘Who Will Honor Jehovah?” making prominent God's purpose from of old to make a name for himself at Armageddon. Thereafter with greater zeal and effort the remnant went up and down all the nations of earth declaring his name, thereby proving themselves Jehovah’s witnesses. The meek or teachable ones saw that name and hailed it in hope of deliverance. “Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near [to be seen], thy wondrous works declare.” (Ps. 75:1) Those who hold onto religion never “see”, or “regard”, that name until it is vindicated in their destruction.
“THE ROD”
7 When Jehovah’s typical nation of Israel forsook his commandments and went in the way of the surrounding nations that practiced religion or demonism, Jehovah used as a rod of punishment King Nebuchadnezzar, the conqueror of Assyria; and Jerusalem was destroyed. “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him [Nebuchadnezzar] against an hypocritical nation [unfaithful Israel], and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.” (Isa. 10:5,6,11) Who now is “the rod” of today concerning whom “the Lord’s voice crieth, . . . Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it”?
8 Those who hear and heed the Lord's voice crying out through the world's din see that Jehovah’s “rod” of his anger and indignation against “Christendom” is his Elect Servant, Christ Jesus. When that Servant was on earth and was transfigured on the mountaintop in the presence of his disciples Jehovah’s voice was heard from heaven, saying: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” (Matt. 17:5) When Jehovah enthroned him as King in 1914 and proceeded to make Christ’s enemies his footstool, Jehovah then fulfilled His promise: “Jehovah will send forth the rod of thy strength out of Zion: Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” (Ps. 110:1, 2, A.R.V.) Therefore Jehovah is the One who has appointed The Rod, and that for the vindication of His name upon “Christendom”, which has defamed that name. “He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct [‘Christendom,’ which claims covenant-relationship with God]?” (Ps. 94:10) Inasmuch as Jehovah has appointed “the rod”, he will surely use it for his purpose. Chastisement cannot be escaped by the covenant-breakers even though “Christendom”, particularly her Roman Catholic Hierarchy, thinks and claims she has a “covenant with death” and is at “agreement with hell” and can escape correction. (Isa. 28:14-18) She will not survive her drubbing at Armageddon.
9 By his prophet Micah Jehovah had just declared what is good and what he requires of man. Consider now what Almighty God uncovers in “Christendom” and honestly judge whether she meets his requirements or deserves “the rod”. “A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight.” (Prov. 11:1) “Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?” (Mic. 6:10) That this is true of “Christendom” the great accumulations of ill-gotten wealth testify. Not only is such true of the powerful commercial traffickers, and also of the Nazi and Fascist dictators, but it is notably true of the religious organization and its “rich men”, especially the Hierarchy with headquarters at Vatican City. These religionists are the chief of “the wicked”. Theirs are “treasures of wickedness” because they profess to know and to communicate with God, and at the same time they turn their back on his Word, oppose his Theocratic Government by Christ Jesus, denounce and persecute His witnesses preaching the Bible, and commercialize their religion and fleece the religious public. In this wickedness she justifies herself, as did Ephraim of old. — Hos. 12:7,8.
10 The clergy have accepted their hire from their congregations and have pretended to hand out the full measure of God's message, but actually have taken away the vital things from his Word and the people have received “scant measure" as a result and are starving spiritually. The pile that the-e “rich men” have heaped up has now about reached its peak, and the Lord bids them now “weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. ... Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days"; and the last days are here. (Jas. 5:1-6) Before they retire from business, shortly, the religionists hope to clean up on Jehovah’s witnesses who expose fraudulent religious dealings. When “the king of the north" and “the king of the south” pool their interests in a totalitarian world-combine, the Roman Catholic Hierarchy will not fail to get astride that "scarlet coloured beast”. She will ride it in a total charge against Jehovah's servants to rob them of everything and safeguard her treasures of wickedness The coming peace conference under her dominance will make no allowance whatsoever for Jehovah’s witnesses after this conflict for world domination. (Rev. 17 :1-6) The totalitarian dictators and politicians who cry for “more religion” plan on retaining the religious money-changers in the temple after that conflict.
11 “Christendom” has long had the Bible and should know and should have taught God's standard of exchange of goods, to wit: “Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great [for yourself] and a small [for your customer]. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have; . . . For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God." (Deut. 25:13-16) In view of that law to his covenant people Jehovah asks concerning “Christendom": “Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights’” (Mic. 6:11) Doubledealing is abominable to Jehovah God. It has ever been true that the religious shepherds make the commercial traffickers the respected “principal of the flock”, that they might share their commercial loot. The people complain that the political element have double-crossed them and not given them a square deal. But the worst double-dealing has been and is the duplicity and hypocrisy of the religious leaders, including the “evil servant” class whom the Lord casts out into the company of such religionists. In Scripture the balances are a symbol of scarcity. Scarcity has come upon the world since the symbolic four horsemen began their ride in A. D. 1914, and requiring the measuring out and rationing of the scanty supplies to the people. (Rev. 6: 5, 6) How all the world is faced with shortage and famine, and rationing has begun in all the nations and will increase. Price control is being established, and ceilings are attempted to be fixed and applied to prices of labor and goods. But not so with religion! Its dishonesty and its fraudulent charges for prayers and masses for those supposed to be in “Purgatory”, and other like religious services, continue uncontrolled, and the reproaches upon Jehovah’s name and his Theocracy continue to be heaped up. Is that what the Lord has shown to be good ? Is that the doing justly, showing mercy, and walking humbly with God which he requires of man claiming to be in a covenant with God for His blessings?
12 “For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.” (Mic. 6: 12) This is a true picture of “Christendom” this very day, and that after fifteen or more centuries of religion, the Roman Catholic Hierarchy having existed unbroken and in control all through those centuries. In fear of what they see coming, the religious leaders and their political and commercial allies turn attention away from religion's disgraceful failure and brazenly they say that religion is the only remedy and cure-all and is what the world needs; whereas the world has never been without it in plenty. The clergy as professed representatives of God set the example for their allies and the religious public. Such clergy follow in the steps of their religious forerunners in Jesus’ day, the Pharisees, to whom Jesus said: "Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” ‘Lind the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things; and they scoffed at him. And he said unto them, Ye are they that justify yourselves in the sight of men : but God knoweth your hearts : for that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God." (Luke 16: 13-15, ARV) The clergy justify the religious racket, their allies exalt it, but God abominates it. Therefore now God’s sheep must cut connections completely from all religious shepherds and their folds.
13 The history of the labor movement down till today throws a glaring light on the rich men as “full of violence”, and they have not hesitated to provoke violent and bloody wars between nations to gain commercial advantage and supremacy. Religious history shows up the clergy “rich men” as being "full of violence”, even to excelling the commercial traffickers. The clergy have incited their dupes to violence against the innocent and have justified the violent and condemned the innocent victims. Particularly was this made manifest in the year 1940 and thereafter by the mobs either led or incited by the Roman Catholic clergy, and by other forms of violent persecution against Jehovah's witnesses because these obey God’s commandments and proclaim the truth which opens the eyes of the victimized people to the money-making schemes and oppression by religion. Public servants and officers of the law fail to keep their oath of office to uphold and to apply the law to protect the innocent, peaceful, and law abiding citizens from violent assault and injury. Hence Jehovah’s witnesses under the religious persecution cry out in the words of an earlier Jehovah’s witness, the psalmist: “False witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.” (Ps. 27:12) “Forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever. Have respect unto the covenant [promising protection and deliverance] : for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.” (Ps. 74:19,20) (Also Habakkuk 1:2-4) And concerning “Christendom’s” condition Jehovah's inspired servant says prophetically: “The rod [of power of the rulers] hath blossomed; pride hath budded. Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness. . . . Make a chain; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.” (Ezek. 7: 10, 11, 23; 8:17) As reported in Der Deutsche Weg (“The German Way”) of May 29, 1938, the pope's clergy in Germany stirred up the Catholic dictator Hitler. In fulfillment of his Concordat with the pope, Hitler forbade the existence of Jehovah's witnesses and dissolved their organization and confiscated their literature; and to this the Roman Catholic priest of Berlin who published the report adds, “Bravo!” Then he deplores that the American government has not followed the example of that violent religious-totalitarian dictator in a like violation of democracy and liberty of worship. (See Face the Facts, Appendix, pages 60, 61.)
14 Micah foretold: “And the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.” Informed and honest commentators on the condition of religious “Christendom” state baldly that never was the word and contract of man in his dealings with his fellow man more undependable and lightly respected and easily scrapped. Concerning the two rival powers in the scramble for world domination at the “time of the end” Daniel 11:27 foretold: “And both these kings’ hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.” These two world powers sit at the table of the 'father of lies’, trying to deceive each other, but especially the people. (John 8:44; 1 Cor. 10:21) Their biggest and chief lie is their denying that God’s appointed “times of the Gentiles” ended in 1914, and that Jehovah God and Christ Jesus are “the Higher Powers”, and that Jehovah’s Theocratic Government by Christ Jesus has begun and is the rightful rule of the earth. Therefore they carry on their desperate struggle for total domination of the earth. The responsibility for this general lying and deceit Almighty God fixes upon the clergy of all denominations in “Christendom”, saying: “For both prophet and priest are profane [hypocritical]; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem [type of ‘Christendom’] an horrible thing: they commit adultery [with the world], and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evil doers, that none doth return from his wickedness: . . . But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.” – Jer. 23:11,14, 22.
15 Such lying and deceit may not and does not exist now among Jehovah’s remnant of witnesses and their companions whom He has delivered from the power of religion. To them he has, since 1918, turned a “pure language”, or “pure lip”, the message of Kingdom truth, “that they may all call upon [publish] the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” (Zeph. 3:9) His command to them is: “These are the things that ye shall do: Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates: and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.” (Zech. 8:16,17; Eph. 4:25) They must speak abroad the truth about Jehovah’s name and his Righteous Government under Christ. (Zeph. 3:13) To counteract this the clergy and other religionists resort further to lies and deceit in the religious and secular newspapers, over the radio, in the propaganda, in the courts of law, and in their cathedrals and other religious meeting-places. They grossly misrepresent those who bear Jehovah’s name not in vain and who show forth his praises. The religious persecutors draw nigh to God with flattering lips, but their worship is ceremonial and formal, with hearts far removed from God. Immediately after such deceitful formality, they go forth and speak of safeguarding liberty of speech and religious worship and protecting the people in their inalienable rights, and at the same time they scheme and use their influence with politicians and legislators. By these they get laws put through or misapplied to stop Jehovah’s witnesses speaking the truth to their neighbors having hearing ears.
16 The time for lies to end has come, because by the lies Jehovah’s name has long been reproached. That stainless name must now be set forth and made known in truth. The deceitful tongue has wagged long enough and done its damage. It has been a fire, and “is set on fire by Gehenna”, by destruction, and to cause the destruction of the blameless. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy have “made lies [their] refuge, and under falsehood have [they] hid [themselves]”, and now God’s time is here to unmask them before he blots them out. (Jas. 3:6,8, Am. Rev. Ver.; Isa. 28:15,17) To “Christendom” he says: “Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.” (Mic. 6:13) Rotherham reads: “Moreover also I have made thee sick with smiting thee.” This smiting is different from the woes which Satan brings upon the people in his great wrath. Such calamities and great suffering Satan and his demons cause to make the people bitter and hopeless and to make them curse God and deny the Only One who can deliver them from destruction at Armageddon.—Rev. 12:12,13,17.
17 Ancient Egypt denied to Jehovah’s chosen people the right and freedom to worship Him to the full extent that he commanded. The Devil religionists were stubborn and tried to keep the Israelites slaves to religion. Jehovah warned that he would smite them with plagues unless they let his people go and serve him. Fully warned by Jehovah’s prophet Moses, and therefore fully responsible for their course of opposition, Pharaoh and Egypt were smitten with ten plagues, and Jehovah’s judgment was executed upon all the demon gods of Egypt. Thereafter He destroyed the armies of the demon-worshipers in the Red sea. Those ten plagues were typical. They pictured the declaration today of Jehovah’s judgments against religion, his “strange work”, and the destruction thereafter of the religious organization, and which is his “strange act”. The first nine plagues are delivered against “Christendom” by his courageous witnesses under Christ Jesus, as pictured by Aaron acting as mouthpiece for his brother Moses in the presence of Pharaoh. This declaration of Jehovah’s judgments and of his coming day of vengeance has made “Christendom” in particular very “sick” from the smiting. Many of the tormented religionists would like to die rather than feel further the torment caused by the Lord’s judgments exposing religion. (Rev. 9:6) Instead of repenting in their sickness, they have blasphemed God and made attempts on the lives and property of his servants. —Rev. 16: 9-11, 21.
18 In the “battle of that great day of God Almighty” God will make “Christendom” sick unto death by administering the final smiting of which she has been amply warned; and she shall die. Jehovah makes her desolate “because of [her] sins”. These sins are not due to human weakness and sinful inclination inherited from Adam, but are unpardonable violations of her covenant-obligations toward God. Note her “presumptuous sins”. In spite of the great educational campaign by Jehovah’s servants advertising the Kingdom which began in 1914, “Christendom” has rejected and stumbled over The Stone, God’s anointed King, laid in Zion. In preference to God’s Righteous Government she sets up and commits idolatry with “the image of the beast”, a federated world under demon rule and commonly called a “League of Nations”. Whether the original League of 1920 is meant, or the proposed “new League of Nations” under totalitarian-religious dictators, both are of the same origin, “the god of this world.” Her choosing of the continued rule of God’s enemies, and that after the announcement of God’s kingdom and the warning of his vengeance for taking such contrary course, this constitutes the “transgression of desolation”. (Dan. 8:13) The desolation wrought by such a course may be plainly seen in the train of events following such transgression and leading up to the present conflict between “the king of the north” and “the king of the south”.
19 Following up her choice of further demon rule “Christendom” has manifested great indignation “against the holy covenant”, to wit, The Theocracy promised in God’s unbreakable covenant. As a result Jehovah’s devoted people who are in the “covenant for the Kingdom” and who represent its interests on earth are hated and persecuted by all the so-called “Christian nations”. (Ps. 89:20-37; Luke 22:28-30; Isa. 55 : 3, 4) Choosing the rule of political states with arbitrary dictators in preference to God’s Theocratic rule by Christ Jesus, “Christendom” has exalted the state above God. More and more she encroaches upon the “pure worship” of God in spirit and in truth and regiments the people and threatens them with penalties if they do not worship the “beast”. The purpose of the “image of the beast”, which image is also branded “the abomination of desolation”, is to desolate faith in and support of God’s kingdom and thereby to destroy the earthly interests of his kingdom. The purpose of the demons in this is to cause the desolating of the earth of her entire population at Armageddon and so prevent any from surviving and going over to the “new world” under God’s established kingdom. “Christendom” must herself be desolated at Armageddon. As she thought to do unto The Theocratic Government and its witnesses, so the like must and will be done unto her. (Deut. 19:19) God’s judgments declared already show her to be a desolation. The facts show her to be a dry, waste desolation as far as offering any relief to the people is concerned. All she actually has yet is outward show and a loud string of talk, self-praise and misleading optimism about her ability to “come back”. She is astonished that God does not help her and has not fulfilled the widely advertised purpose of the pope’s “Holy Year” of 1933 nor answered her multiplied prayers for peace and prosperity. Those who are meek or teachable toward God see her inability, failure and hopelessness. They abandon her before her complete desolation comes, and they turn to Jehovah God and his kingdom, for which they have long prayed.
20 How true concerning “Christendom” the further words of the prophet: “Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword”! (Mic. 6:14) This denotes food scarcity and drought, and that not merely through any unconstitutional AAA measure paying farmers to plow under their crops and kill off their pigs, and like things. “Christendom” refuses Jehovah’s message proclaimed by his witnesses, and therefore has no other place to eat than at “the table of devils [demons]”. She feeds on religion and cries for more of it, but the Bible remains a closed book to her. The spiritual, political and economic palaver and provender that she dishes up does not satisfy the craving of any honest person who loves truth and righteousness. Among God’s covenant people there is an abundance of spiritual food, which Jehovah provides from his unfolding Word, and they eat and rejoice and pass out the food to the hungry persons of good-will. On the religionists, however, has come to pass God’s warning prophecy: “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.”—Isa. 65:13-15.
21 “And thy casting down [(Am. Rev. Ver.) thy humiliation] shall be in the midst of thee.” This means more than simply that “Christendom” shall “be shrunk with hunger within thee” (Rotherham), or, that “what thou hast eaten shall bend thee down” (Leeser), and that her empty stomach will “gape” within her. It means internal disagreement within her organization, one section of the ruling factors turning against the other, resulting in a mutual casting down of themselves. That the clergy or religious element will be first to be cast down by its present day allies, politics and commerce, is pictured at Revelation 17. That picture shows the religion-ridden beast and its ten horns turning on its rider, the great harlot that mingles the things of God with the things of demon rule, and then destroying her. Her table of religious delicacies finally does not satisfy them or meet their needs and they recognize the religious organization as hypocritical. (Isa. 28:8) As far as the people of good-will themselves are concerned, they have cast down religion and killed its influence and power over them. Like the eunuchs that cast the demon-worshiping Queen Jezebel out of the window at Captain Jehu’s command, so these people who were once religion’s dupes and slavishly pampered her now let her drop to meet the fate foretold in Jehovah’s judgment against the hypocritical religious organization.-—2 Ki. 9: 30-37; Rev. 2: 20-23.
22 “And thou shalt remove, but shalt not carry away safe.” (Eng. Rev. Ver.) Now “Christendom” has brought forth the “abomination of desolation” foretold by the prophet Daniel and Christ Jesus, and “the king of the south” and “the king of the north” have set it up “in the holy place” as a substitute to crowd out Jehovah’s kingdom under Christ Jesus. It is a sure evidence of the nearness of Armageddon, and Jesus warns those wanting to escape to immediately flee to the “mountains”, to wit, Jehovah God and Christ his King, for safety. Those who are on the “housetop”, the high places of the religious organization, must come down and flee to escape its destruction. They must not attempt to enter in and carry off anything of religion with them. (Matt. 24:15-18) Religion is a hobble to the feet, an easily-besetting sin, and it will hinder anyone in taking his flight to safety to make it in time before Armageddon. “Remember Lot’s wife.” (Heb. 12:1; Luke 17: 32, 33) “Christendom” at no time takes Jesus’ advice. She likes high honors of men too much to come down from her high place. When the worst comes and destruction stares her religionists in the face, they will try to escape and carry off some of her selfish things which she has used in reproaching God’s name. They hope to set such down in a place of safety, but they shall deliver nothing, not even their own lives. The totalitarian dictators and other rulers have their escapes planned and have finances hidden away in supposedly safe places to continue living selfishly after making their getaways. The great religious ruler at Vatican City will not be so successful in making his escape as he did in 1848. Although he started the Axis powers on their course and still backs them, he wants to save something of advantage out of any possible failure of his scheme for world domination. He is willing to compromise with the anti-Axis forces should they gain military victory. While so doing he can try to shield his totalitarian puppets against total ruin and undoing.
23 All proposed reforms and reorganization of the world by men trying to carry over some of the present world organization to a “new world order” “founded on moral principles” will fail to save “Christendom” from the Lord’s sword at Armageddon. “And that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword,” says the Lord. Already the Roman Catholic Hierarchy and other religionists see signs of the end for them and are busy trying to deliver or “set in safety” their religion and the clergy system and control of the religious population. They have caused local and state lawmaking bodies to enact anti-Nazi and anti-Hate laws and other measures safeguarding religion; they have established antiCommunist schools, and secret orders, such as Knights of Columbus, also Holy Name societies of religionists employed in departments of public service. They have captured key positions in the public service and protective departments of government, judgeships, movie censorship boards, public education, etc. Religionists of “the king of the south” still try to preserve the League of Nations, excuse its failure, and clamor for its revival after the war. The Axis powers, desiring to re-establish the old “Holy Roman Empire”, secede from that League and found one of their own, a “new League of Nations”, that “new order” so fervently desired by the Hierarchy which operates out of Vatican City. The political and commercial elements will carry religion safely through this present conflict and enable her thereafter to cry “Peace and Safety!” They shall never carry her alive through Armageddon, but will turn upon her and destroy her when God exposes her to them at Armageddon.
24 Concerning the endeavors to escape with something selfish the following prophetic words may have some reference to airplanes and bombproof underground shelters and undersea craft. Such, however, will be of no real protection when Jehovah begins Armageddon. Hence the scripture seems to have a still deeper meaning: "I will slay the last of them [religionists and allies] with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. Though they dig into hell [by claiming a non-aggression pact or Agreement with hell’, the grave, and a covenant safeguarding them from death], thence shall mine hand take them [to execute my judgments upon them]; though they climb up to heaven [by claiming to have the keys of heaven, and also saints in heaven to pray and intercede for them with Christ Jesus, Jehovah’s Executioner], thence will I bring them down; and though they hide themselves [in the jungle-grown clefts] in the top of [Mount] Carmel [throwing up a hypocritical camouflage and hiding behind a great mountain of lies as a refuge], I will search [the lofty hiding-place of falsehood] and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight [as they think] in the bottom of the sea [the sea picturing the peoples alienated from God and bearing up Satan’s ships of commercial gain; under the cover of claiming to protect the people’s interests the religionists persecute Jehovah’s witnesses and also frame laws mischievously against them, presumably to shield the sea of humankind against religious intolerance, Communism, shocked sensibilities, etc.], thence will I command the serpent [symbolizing evil or disastrous calamity], and he shall bite them: and though they go into captivity before their enemies [thus prolonging their lives a little further to make a deathbed repentance], thence will I command the sword [Jehovah’s Executioner, Christ Jesus], and it shall slay them.” (Amos 9:1-4) Religion will not provide them a way of escape. Jehovah sees through every subterfuge of the religionists. They shall not outlive Armageddon nor have an existence during the thousandyear reign of Christ Jesus, who delivers only those who worship God in spirit and in truth.
25 ‘‘Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap.” (Micah 6:15) The crop expected is not reaped. Vatican strategy plants its priestly “fifth column” in all the lands, and puts members of the ‘‘Catholic population” into controlling positions in governments and organizations, especially in democratic and constitutional nations. They expect by the cultivation of Catholic totalitarian dictators to reap a ‘‘new order” and thereby to change the course of history for a thousand years to come; but it shall not be so. Blight shall smite their plantings, because they are not of God’s planting. (Matt. 15:13) As to their vain and boisterous schemes, “they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind” of destruction at Armageddon. God will change the course of human history for the eternity to come. None of “Christendom’s” political and religious schemes shall succeed.
26 “Thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil.” Oil is provided to make man’s face to shine. (Ps. 104:15) Those who seek to take over the direction of the world, particularly of “Christendom”, and who are responsible for the present world stress, hope to squeeze out therefrom that which will result in prosperity for them and make their faces to shine with optimism and sleekness. In the Scriptures the olive tree is used as a symbol of God’s spiritual organization united with him by the terms of the “new covenant". That covenant has as its purpose to bring forth a “people for His name”. This symbolic “olive tree” is rooted in Jehovah's promise to set up a government in the hands of The Seed of Abraham, which Seed is Christ Jesus. With him are associated the people for Jehovah’s name brought forth according to the new covenant. (Rom. 11:17-27; Jer. 31:31-34) “Christendom,” particularly the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, purposes to establish the counterfeit kingdom by their “new order” and to occupy all places as branches in a false “olive tree”. She has brought forth only a people opposed to Jehovah’s name and defaming it. She shall never fatten and anoint and soothe herself with what her pressure squeezes out of the people. Instead of “the oil of joy”, she shall have mourning unto death. In glorious contrast, Jehovah has anointed Christ Jesus with the “oil of gladness” above his fellows, and his kingdom shall prosper. — Isa. 61: 3: Pss. 45:7; 92:10.
27 “And [thou shalt tread] sweet wine, but shalt not drink [the] wine.” Wine it is “that maketh glad the heart of man”. (Ps. 104:15) It is a symbol of the joy of the Lord due to the kingdom which vindicates Jehovah’s name. At his receiving the Kingdom and coming to the temple the Lord Jesus drinks this fruit of the vine “new” with his faithful followers by sharing together in the vindication of God’s name. “Christendom’s” wine is that of the “vine of the earth”, Satan’s counterfeit kingdom. That counterfeit is therefore the “abomination that maketh desolate”, attempting to take and occupy the place of God’s kingdom. It is the totalitarian-religious “scarlet coloured beast”, and to it eventually all ruling factors of the earth shall “give their power and strength". By this they expect to keep themselves in power as religious and political rulers, the religious on top. and to drink the wine of the joy of their lord, “the god of this world.” (Rev. 17:13) Therefore they oppose the proclamation of God’s kingdom by Christ Jesus, and they “eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence” against Jehovah's servants who announce that kingdom as the rightful government of mankind that lives. Concerning the religious-political would-be rulers of the world, "these shall make war with the Lamb [of God], and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” (Rev. 17:14) The religionists gave their kingdom unto the “beast ’. but shall drink no joy of any lasting kingdom of their own nor any joy of God’s kingdom.—Rev. 17 : 17.
28 Jehovah discloses the reason for “Christendom’s” failure: “For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.” (Mic. 6:16) Omri, king of the northern kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel, was the father of King Ahab. Omri followed the idolatrous calf-worship which Jeroboam had set up in Israel. Omri bought the hill Samaria and built the city of Samaria thereon as his capital. The calfworship then became known as “the sin of Samaria”, because her king was responsible for such religious practice of pretending to give honor to God through the worship of creatures, but which image-making and worship God’s commandment absolutely forbids. (Amos 8:14; Ex. 20:3-5) '‘Christendom” keeps the statutes of Omri by practicing the modern style of calf-worship, by pretending to worship God and Christ through forms of creature-worship, through hero-worship, worship of the state, the idolizing of religious organizations and clergy, worship of the anti-Theocratic '‘beast”, and suchlike. Omri’s son Ahab did worse than his father. He made the devilworshiper Jezebel his queen and set up Baal-worship in Samaria. That worship represented the honoring and giving service to the organization of which Satan the Devil is Baal or lord. Jehovah used Captain Jehu to cut off all of Ahab’s house, including Jezebel. Today “Christendom” keeps all the works of the house of Ahab; she makes friends with Satan’s organization and renders it service and support and worship, thereby making herself the enemy of Jehovah God. (Jas. 4:4) The Lord God therefore uses his Executioner, the Greater Jehu, who at Armageddon shall kill all those who do the works of Ahab’s house, demon-worship, devilism.
29 Before executing the Baal-worshipers, Jehu gathered them together and made them identify themselves by donning the vestments of Baalism. Now, by walking in the counsels of Omri and Ahab, the religionists and their allies and hangers-on in “Christendom” oppose Jehovah’s Theocracy under Christ. They maliciously persecute those who worship Jehovah God in spirit and truth, and thus don the vestments of identification marking them for slaughter by the Greater Jehu in earth’s final tribulation. Jonadab refused to walk in the counsels of Omri and Ahab, but took his stand with Jehu against religion. He was therefore spared and witnessed the destruction of the religionists. Now the Greater Jehu is at the temple and due to act! Those who do not discard the vestments of religion shall shortly be slaughtered with ‘‘Christendom”. Jehovah’s witnesses must sound the warning in the interests of those ‘feeling after God, if haply they might find him’. Only those who follow the course of Jonadab and thus become "Jonadabs” shall escape destruction.— 2 Ki. 10:13-28: Jer. 35:19.
30 “Christendom’s” desolation at Armageddon will involve religion, and hence such is an astonishment to all wearing the vestments of religion or Baalism and branded with the “mark of the beast”. All those destroyed by Jehovah’s “strange act” will be hissed at in contempt and loathing by those who survive and live, Jehovah's faithful remnant and the “Jonadabs'’. (Isa. 66: 24) The organizers, rulers, operators, supporters and hangers-on of "Christendom” hypocritically affect to be God’s people and Christ’s followers; and therefore they shall bear the reproach of the hypocrites who are rebellious and disloyal toward God. They brought reproach upon Jehovah’s name; now their own everlasting reproach comes. Because of their opportunities and claims they are more reprehensible, hence more low-down, mean, contemptible, and disgraceful than the out-and-out heathen or pagans. This proves that it is a very responsible thing to claim to be a Christian and then prove false to the claim and so bring reproach upon God’s holy name, taking it in vain. Only in the way of integrity toward God is there certainty of approval, blessing, deliverance and life, under a successful government, The Theocracy.
FURTHER DISCLOSURE
31 Christ Jesus foretold the persecution of Jehovah’s covenant people from and after A.D. 1914 as one of the visible proofs of the end of Satan’s uninterrupted rule and the beginning of God’s kingdom under Christ. Coinciding exactly with Jesus’ prophetic words concerning the “time of the end” are the words of Micah in chapter seven. The prophet was a witness of Jehovah and therefore represented Jehovah’s remnant of witnesses now. He expresses the feelings of these just before the ingathering of the Lord’s “other sheep”, the “Jonadabs”, begins, and when Jehovah’s consecrated ones seemed all forsaken, and their work was apparently permanently stopped. “Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.” (Mic. 7:1) The Devil and his agents, principally the religious leaders, brought great woe upon Jehovah's servants during the opportunity created for them by the emergency of the World War of 1914-1918. As a consequence of the hatred and persecution by all nations, and also by the unfaithfulness and betrayals of those companying with them, Jehovah's people became very reduced in numbers, very few, and scattered here and there, like fruits overlooked here and there and left for the poor of the land to glean and get the benefit thereof. (Lev. 19:9,10; 23:22; Deut. 24:19-22) Added to that, the Lord came to the temple for judgment in 1918 and gathered out from his consecrated ones the “evil servant” class of “workers of iniquity”, leaving only a small faithful remnant. (Matt. 13:41; 24:45-51) But a remnant must be left for the benefit of the Lord's “other sheep”, those poor in spirit and who needed the help of the remnant faithful to God and bearing the fruits of his kingdom. — Matt. 21: 43.
32 There then appeared to be no “cluster" of God’s people left or in sight except the remnant, the Micah class. This was foreshadowed by the prophet Elijah when he fled before Jezebel and said to Jehovah God: “The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword: and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” (1 Ki. 19:14) Then the Lord revealed to him that there were others of a remnant besides himself, and told him to go and anoint Jehu king and also to anoint Elisha “to be prophet in thy room [or stead]". (1 Ki. 19:15-18) With the Lord’s coming to the temple in 1918 the work pictured by Elijah's activities came to an end and was taken away as by a war-chariot of fire and in a whirlwind. Thereafter the Lord God revived the remnant in his sendсe as his witnesses, and added others, and the Elisha work of testifying boldly to Jehovah's name and kingdom proceeded. In the midst of the tribulation back there the faithful ones did not foresee the further work to be done as foreshadowed by Elisha. That work to be done with a double portion of the Lord’s spirit is likened to the desirable “firstripe fig” (Am.Rev. Ver.). The afflicted and restrained Micah class desired to be released and to further serve the Lord on earth in whatever service might be pleasing to him. Hence they said in effect: “My soul desireth the first-ripe fig.” In other words, they desired the Elisha work of God’s remnant to begin. Hungry to eat that meat which is to do the Lord's will, they yearned for the new season of receiving and bearing forth the fruits of Jehovah's kingdom to the peoples. — John 4: 32, 34.
33 Further describing the condition of “Christendom" immediately before the end of the Elijah work, God’s prophet continues : “The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net." (Mic. 7 : 2) The Rotherham rendering of this is: "Perished is the man of loving-kindness out of the earth." This same expression is applied at Psalm 50:5 to those devoted to doing God's will and who have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice. In the visible earthly part of Satan’s organization there were no men of loving-kindness, no “godly man”, but all nations hated Jehovah’s “men of lovingkindness” because these declared the name of Christ as earth's Rightful Ruler and King. Their work of testimony was foreshadowed by both the prophet Elijah and the prophet John the Baptist. Hence that work is symbolized in Revelation as God’s "two witnesses”. Such two witnesses the nations of "Christendom” killed. Until God revived his work of witness or Elisha work, those “two witnesses” lay dead in “Christendom's” street for a testimony against her, and the demon-controlled religionists heaped great reproach and suffering upon Jehovah’s faithful covenant people. (Rev. 11:7-10) Some were killed and shed their blood. The others were hunted to hinder and stop their open and free worship which is to serve Jehovah God and his kingdom. In this hunt the persecutors were joined and aided by the “evil servant” class, who turned upon their spiritual brethren and smote them and handed them over into the enemy hands for punishment and restraint. The net, skillfully and craftily concealed, was spread to catch Jehovah’s servants who refused to discontinue his service. If these could be made to for ever forsake the Lord's work and so violate their covenant, it would cause their destruction. Jesus corroborated Micah’s prophecy, saying of that time: “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”— Matt. 24:10,12
34 Be it observed that the nations which profess to be “Christian” committed such acts against genuine Christians who served God according to his commandments. Certainly there was no Christian loving- kindness about that. Officials high in the affairs and authority of those nations are exposed as bearing a heavy responsibility before God for conniving or winking at such violation of their implied covenant with God as professed Christians. Says the prophet: “That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. The best of them is as a brier; the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.” (Mic. 7:3, 4) Jesus foretold that his faithful followers at the end of Satan’s world would be brought before rulers (princes) and councils (courts) for a testimony against such. (Mark 13:9) Had it been worldly criminals that “Christendom’s” officials were obliged to deal with, no principle would have been violated in penalizing them for their activities. But it was innocent, inoffensive, God-fearing and law-abiding Christians that the religionists condemned, punished and persecuted with official approval and backing. They thus condemned the just and justified the wicked persecutors for reward. (Prov. 17:15; Isa. 5: 23: Ex. 23: 6-8) In this anti-Christian persecution religionists of all denominations worked together with one another and with public officials; as described by the prophet: “Thus they weave it together” (Am. Rev. Ver.); “and so do they make a network of wrong” (Leeser). (Nah. 1:10) They are like briers and thorns on cursed ground, to tear, scratch and injure Jehovah's faithful servants. From such religionists the people cannot gather the fruits of God’s kingdom. — Luke 6:44; Matt. 7:16; Heb. 6:7,8; Ezek. 2:6,7.
35 Such things they did at the beginning of the “time of the end”. It is not strange that under increased demon-influence the religionists commit worse things now immediately preceding Armageddon. (Luke 23:31; 2 Tim. 3:12,13) “Christendom” has closed her ears to the warning cries of God’s “watchman” class. She has appointed her own watchmen to care for the people’s interests, placing their eternal interests under the clergy’s care. Now God’s visitation of destruction upon her at Armageddon draws near, and the nations are in the greatest distress, and that with increasing perplexity. (Luke 21:25) All such are the sure signs of the final end as foretold, and Jehovah’s faithful witnesses and their companions lift up their heads and rejoice. They sing all the more loudly His praises, because the deliverance of all God’s righteous servants draws nigh.—Luke 21: 28, Diaglott.
(To be continued)
ENDURING RICHES
POVERTY of the people of the world is increasing. For centuries the greatest religious system in “Christendom” has been heaping up material riches and worldly treasures, and her priestly representatives parade before the public in lace and gold and precious jewels. From the past there come ringing the words which are specifically directed to this Laodicean period and its religionists . “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” (Rev 3.17) Not for long now shall that religious organization be “arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls”. Wait just a little while, until those symbolized by the “ten horns” and the “beast” turn upon the religious organization which has committed spiritual adultery with them: “These shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will.” (Rev. 17:4,16,17) Certainly the proverb says in truth: “Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.” — Prov. 11: 4.
…