The Watchtower, July 1, 1946
Download: PDF — The Watchtower, July 1, 1946
SEeWATCHTOWER.
Published Semimonthly By
WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY 117 Adams Street - - Brooklyn 1, N.Y., U.S.A.
Officbbs
N. H. Knorb, President W. E. Van Ambubgh, Secretary
“And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” - Isaiah 54:13.
THE BIBLE CLEARLY TEACHES
THAT JEHOVAH is the only true God, from everlasting to everlasting, and Is the Maker of heaven and earth and Giver of life to his creatures; that the Word or Logos was the beginning of his creation and his active agent in creating all other things; and that the creature Lucifer rebelled against Jehovah and raised the issue of His universal sovereignty;
THAT GOD created the earth for man, made perfect man for the earth and placed him upon It; that man yielded to unfaithful Lucifer, or Satan, and willfully disobeyed God's law and was sentenced to death; that by reason of Adam’s wrong act all men are born sinners and without the right to life;
THAT THE LOGOS was made human as the man Jesus and suffered death in order to produce the ransom or redemptive price for obedient men; that God raised up Christ Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every other creature and clothed him with all power and authority as head of God’s new capital organization;
THAT GOD’S CAPITAL ORGANIZATION Is a Theocracy called Zion, and that Christ Jesus Is the Chief Officer thereof and Is the rightful King of the new world; that the faithful anointed followers of Christ Jesus are Zion’s children, members of Jehovah’s organization, and are His witnesses whose duty and privilege it Is to testify to Jehovah’s supremacy and declare his purposes toward mankind as expressed In the Bible;
THAT THE OLD WORLD, or Satan's uninterrupted rule, ended A.D. 1914, and Christ Jesus has been placed by Jehovah upon the throne, has ousted Satan from heaven, and now proceeds to vindicate His name and establish the "new earth”;
THAT THE RELIEF and blessings of the peoples can come only by Jehovah's kingdom under Christ, which has begun; that His next great act is to destroy Satan’s organization and establish righteousness completely in the earth ; and that under the Kingdom the people of good-will surviving Armageddon will carry out the divine mandate to “fill the earth” with righteous offspring, and that the human dead in the graves will be raised to opportunities of life on earth.
ITS MISSION
THIS journal la published for the purpose of enabling the people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed in the Bible. It publishes Bible instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah’s witnesses and all people of good-wilL It arranges systematic Bible study for its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid In such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public instruction In the Scriptures.
It adheres strictly to the Bible as authority for its utterances. It is entirely free and separate from all religion, parties, sects or other worldly organizations. It is wholly and without reservation for the kingdom of Jehovah God under Christ his beloved King. It Is not dogmatic, but invites careful and critical examination of Its contents in the light of the Scriptures. It does not indulge in controversy, and its columns are not open to personalities.
Yearly Subscription Price
United States, $1.00; all other countries, $1.50, American currency; Great Britain, Australasia, and South Africa, 6s. American remittances should be made by Postal Note cr by Postal or Express Money Order or by Bank Draft. Outside of the United States remittances should be made direct to the respective branch offices. Remittances from countries other than those mentioned may be made to the Brooklyn office, but by International Postal Money Order only.
Australia ~......................
Canada . ■
Foreign Offices ___— 7 Beresford Rd., Strathfield, N. S. XV. ..... .. 40 Irwin Ave., Toronto 5, Ontario
England .. _________, --
___ 34 Craven Terrace, London, W. 2
India ~..... ... . —
____ —. 167 Love Lane, Bombay 27
Newfoundland ..... .
...... ....... P. O. Box 521, St. John’s
V#»»n Zealand .„ ,
______ . ___177 Daniell St., Wellington. S. 1
Philippine Islands ____
South Africa________
______------—.....r 1219-B Oroquieta St.. Manila ______623 Boston House, Cape Town
Please address the Society in every case.
Translations of this journal appear In several languages.
ALL SINCERE STUDENTS OF THE BIBLE who by reason of infirmity, poverty or adversity are unable to pay the subscription price may have The Watchtower free upon written application to the publishers, made once each year, stating the reason for so requesting it. We are ?;lad to thus aid the needy, but the written application once each years required by the postal regulations.
Notice to Subscribers: Acknowledgment of a new or a renewal subscription will be sent only when requested. Change of address, when requested, mav be expected to appear on address label within one month. Old and new addresses must be given. A renewal blank (carrying notice of expiration) will be sent with the journal one month before the subscription expires.
Printed in the United States of America
Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Brooklyn, N. under the Act of March 8, 1879.
THE CLEVELAND ASSEMBLY
Jehovah’s witnesses world-wide are all interested in what is going to happen in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 4 to 11. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Incorporated, is arranging for an eight-day convention and it will be an all-nations Theocratic assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses because representatives will be coming to Cleveland from all parts of the earth. Many delegates have already arrived in the United States from Europe, Africa, South America and islands of the seas. Many others are on their way from these and other continents. Thousands of students of the Lord’s Word will gather together in the Cleveland Stadium for worship of Almighty God from August 4 to 11. All Watchtower readers are welcome to attend all the sessions, or as many as they can arrange to attend. The Society has set up headquarters in Cleveland to arrange for rooming accommodations. For information in this regard address Watchtower Convention Rooming Committee, 2515 Franklin Boulevard, Cleveland 13, Ohio. Make your plans now and bring with you people of goodwill, those desiring to serve God and anxious to serve the Kingdom of heaven announced world-wide. Detailed information can be obtained from your local company of Jehovah’s witnesses. There is a rich blessing in store for those attending this first all-nations assembly in the postwar period. Come, and “be glad, ye nations, with his people”.
“CREATOR’S REMEMBRANCE” TESTIMONY PERIOD
For a month usually devoted to the recuperation of one’s physical vigor and strength and youthfulness in the Northern hemisphere the above name is very fitting. Not only will school children then enjoying their vacations but also all others of Jehovah’s witnesses will want to remember their Creator by publishing the message of his name and kingdom. During August they will offer to the reading public the combination of four of the Society's booklets on a contribution of 10c, or any ten of the booklets, including “Be Glad, Ye Nations”, on a contribution of 25c. The distribution of booklets has proved a splendid way for many new publishers to get started in the work of giving witness to God among the people, and doubtless many Watchtower readers will be interested to take a part therein and thus show remembrance of their Creator. All that is necessary to be put in touch with those who will give practical instruction and association in the field service is to drop us a brief word. Do so, and we shall give it our earliest attention. At the close of this August Testimony Period we should be delighted to receive field reports of more publishers of the Kingdom message.
"WATCHTOWER” STUDIES
Week of August 4: “Vindicated on the Covenant by Sacrifice,” fl 1-20 inclusive, The Watchtower July 1, 1946.
Week of August 11: “Vindicated on the Covenant by Sacrifice,” fl 21-41 inclusive, The Watchtower July 1, 1946.
ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM
Vol. LXVII July 1, 1946 No. 13
VINDICATED ON THE COVENANT BY SACRIFICE
"Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”—Ps. 50:5.
TEHOVAH has called into court all those who have I relationship with him through the great covenant J by sacrifice. All “Christendom” is interested; she is before the bar of justice, because for many centuries she has loudly claimed to have covenant relationship with God through sacrifice. All Jewry is likewise interested, because this persecuted people, according to their own history, entered once as a nation into a covenant with Jehovah God by sacrifice. Also those persecuted Christians who are known all over the earth as “Jehovah’s witnesses” are interested. Why? Because their very name obligates them to go on the witness stand for the One whose name they bear and to point out the fact as to the covenant here involved. The question up for settlement is, How have all those who profess to have solemnized the covenant with the Lord God by sacrifice lived up to it? What connection has the non-fulfillment of the covenant with the disturbed, disastrous world-conditions today? Who is righteous in the matter? Has God, who is party to the covenant, any grounds for making complaint and seeldng justice against the covenant-breakers ?
2 For a view of the setting in which this court is conducted we turn to Psalm 50 of the sacred Scriptures. It correctly foretold the situation in this twentieth-century time. It also sets out God’s indictment or legal statement of charges. It shows what is the case with the defendants on trial and what is the only way to take to escape the execution of the sentence against the guilty. The One who is the Judge in this court is the One who at the same time files the charges against those professing to have a covenant relationship. He is Jehovah God. It is his covenant that is concerned. It was originated and drawn up by Him; no one understands it better or can render better judgment concerning it than he can. We want to learn what this Supreme Judge recommends as the sure way to avoid being sentenced with the covenant-breakers and undergoing execution of that sentence in the coming great worlddisaster.
3 Psalm 50 is entitled “A Psalm of Asaph”. The original Asaph was a temple servant at Jerusalem, of the tribe of Levi. He was a musician, and King David set him over the service of singing at the house of the Lord God. He became the fatherly head of a house or line of musicians or singers; and it was for this musical house which descended from Asaph that Psalm 50 was written. The evidence appears to be against its having been written for the original Asaph in the days of King David or of King Solomon. Psalm 50 is the first of twelve Asaphite psalms or songs, and all of them are distinguished for making prominent that Jehovah God is the great Judge. —See titles of Psalms 73-83, inclusive.
1 In the opening verse of Psalm 50 we see the summons being issued for all interested persons, particularly those interested in the vindication of the Most High God, to attend the court and be witness to the righteousness of the proceedings and to the vindication of the great Judge. The psalm begins: “The Mighty One, God, Jehovah, hath spoken, and called the’ earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.”—Ps. 50:1, Am. Stan. Ver.
’ It is an unusual Personage that issues the summons; and the emphasized translation of the Bible by the noted J. B. Rotherham shows how He is designated according to the original Hebrew of the Psalms: “El Elohim Yahweh [Jehovah] hath spoken and called the earth, from the rising of the sun unto the going in thereof.” The One calling out the summons is “El Elohim Jehovah”. That designation is a solemn one, and was used on the occasion of making solemn declarations of one’s purpose and one’s obligations. For one historical case of such we quote from Joshua 22:21-23 giving the solemn statement by the Reubenites, the Gadites and the Manassites to the other tribes of the nation of Israel: "Then responded the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, and spake unto the heads of the thousands of Israel: El-Elohim-Yahweh [Jehovah], El-Elohim-Yahweh [Jehovah], he know-eth, and Israel he shall know; if in rebellion or if in
1. (a) Whom has God called into court, and who are interested in this 3. According to the title, for whom was Psalm 50 first written?
case? (b) What is the question up for settlement? 4, In the first verse what do we see being issued?
2. (a) What does Psalm 50 show in this connection? (b) Who is the 5. What is the designation of the Personage here sending out the
judge in this case, and what do we want to learn from him? summons?
treachery against Yahweh [Jehovah], . . . that we should build for ourselves an altar, to turn back from following Yahweh [Jehovah], or if that we might cause to go up thereon ascending-sacrifice or mealoffering, or if that we might offer thereon peaceofferings, let Yahweh [Jehovah] himself require it.” (Rotherham) And in the Second Commandment of the Ten Commandments the Lord God tells his covenant people why they should not make or worship idols, saying: “For I Jehovah thy God [Elohim] am a jealous God [El].”—Ex. 20:5, Am. Stan. Ver.
“All will notice that, in translating the Hebrew expression “El Elohim Jehovah”, the American Standard Version Bible translated El as “the Mighty One”, and Elohim as “God”. The title El or Mighty One befits Jehovah, because he is really almighty and nothing just and right is impossible for him to do. The title Elohim befits him because he sums up and contains in himself all the powers and pre-eminent qualities that any and all other mighty ones could have and he surpasses all such others. Elohim is the title marking him as the Maker and Framer of all creation; it is the title applied to him in the opening verse of the Bible: “In the beginning God [Elohim] created the heaven and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1) He deserves the attention of all his intelligent creatures.
T El Elohim, or “The Mighty One, God”, is what He the Creator is; and his name Jehovah (or Yahweh) is exclusively his name. It designates him as the God of purpose, the One who purposes and whose purposes never can be blocked or broken. "He causes to be” is what this name is understood to mean literally ; and what He causes to come into existence is for a right and good purpose. He especially uses his name Jehovah in connection with his covenants or solemn contracts. It was in this name that he entered into the covenant by sacrifice with his ancient chosen people, the nation of Israel. When sending Moses to the Israelites to bring them into the covenant by sacrifice, He said to his prophet Moses: “I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” And when Moses inaugurated the covenant with the Israelites at Mount Sinai in Arabia, we read—“he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that Jehovah hath spoken will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant,
6. Why does the designation befit him?
7. What does his name mean, and in what connection was it especially used?
which Jehovah hath made with you concerning all these words.”—Ex. 3:14,15; 24: 7,8; Am. Stan. Ver.
’Hence “El Elohim Jehovah” is the great Judge who sends out the summons and is the One with whom the covenant by sacrifice was made. That makes the matter most serious; and religious prejudice and misrepresentation against the name “Jehovah” should not be permitted to turn anyone away in scorn from considering this matter. If anyone of “Christendom” does so, it simply upholds the truthfulness of the charges made in the divine indictment. Psalm 50 shows that the consequences will be most serious and disastrous for such scornful one. It shows that all on the earth are summoned, from the far east to the far west, “from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof,” or wherever the sun shines.
8 In view of the general ignorance in which religion has left the mass of humankind, Jehovah’s calling the earth over such a wide extent indicates that he obligates himself to do something. What? To get his message, by which he summons the court attenders, out to all nations, kindreds, peoples and languages. And since he sends his message by means of human servants on earth, as servers of the notice, tills also indicates a tremendous work of publicity by his witnesses to get His message out. Not to speak of their publishing work done before, it can here be reported that since the close of World War I in the year 1918 Jehovah’s witnesses have penetrated to most parts of the earth and have put in circulation nearly a half billion copies of books and booklets explaining the Bible, God’s Word. Add to that other hundreds of millions of free tracts, magazines, announcements and recorded lectures and free Bible lectures delivered at public auditoriums, over radio stations and networks, and in private homes. But even with such an unparalleled publication in eighty-eight different languages by such few witnesses of Jehovah as there are, the end of the 'calling of the earth from east to west’ is not yet.
ZION, THE SEAT OF JUDGMENT
10 One fact of which all should be notified is of where the judgment seat of the great Judge is, from where he sends his enlightening message. Psalm 50 declares: “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God [Elohim] hath shined.” (Ps. 50:2) This fact shows that mankind has moved far along the stream of time, bringing the grand climax of matters therefore now so near. When the typical covenant by sacrifice was made between him and the nation of Israel, God shined forth from Mount Sinai, in 1513 B.C. At that time, as the historian says in address to God, “Thou
8, What, then, makes the matter dealt with in Psalm 50 most serious'’ 9. (a) Calling the earth from sunrising to sunset shows Jehovah obligates himself to do what? (b) To what extent has he done it to date? 10. (a) Where now is the Judge’s seat, and what does this indicate? (b) From where did he shine forth when the typical covenant by sacrifice was made? earnest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: and madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant.” And Moses testifies regarding this to the Israelites, saying: “Ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And Jehovah spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of words, but ye saw no form; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.”—Neh. 9:13,14; Deut. 4:11-13, A.S.V.
11 That covenant of law, with the Ten Commandments as its fundamental law, was made with Jehovah over sacrifice or by sacrifice. It also had much to say concerning acceptable sacrifices. The sacrifice upon which this law covenant primarily rested was the passover lamb, slain down in Egypt on Nisan 14 of the year 1513 B.C. The instructions as to the holding of that passover feast were really the beginning of the law covenant; and the death of the passover lamb was the death of the victim over whose sacrificed life the covenant was made. The blood of the passover lamb was sprinkled upon the doorposts and lintels of the Israelite houses; it was the blood which made the law covenant valid or binding and operative upon the chosen people of God. Their march out of Egypt and toward Mount Sinai as Jehovah’s freedmen followed a few hours later. Jehovah speaks of it, therefore, as “the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith Jehovah”. (Jer. 31:32, Am. Stan. Ver.) That covenant was inaugurated or dedicated at Mount Sinai by a spoken agreement between God and the Israelites, and by God’s giving them his written law through the mediator Moses. This inauguration of the law covenant was made by or over a suitable sacrifice. Concerning this we read as follows:
12 “And Moses came and told the people all the words of Jehovah, and all the ordinances: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which Jehovah hath spoken will we do. And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the mount, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto Jehovah. And
11, 12. (a) Upon what sacrifice did the law covenant primarily rest, and why? (b) Over what sacrifice was that covenant inaugurated, and how? Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that Jehovah hath spoken will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah hath made with you concerning all these words.” (Ex. 24:3-8, Am. Stan. Ver.) “For where a testament [covenant] is, there must of necessity be the death of him that made it. For a testament is of force where there hath been death: for it doth never avail while he that made it liveth. Wherefore even the first covenant hath not been dedicated without blood. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses unto all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded to you-ward.” (Heb. 9:16-20, Am. Stan. Ver.) In a twofold sense,, then, it was a typical “covenant by sacrifice”.
13 However, since then the great Covenant-maker and Judge, Jehovah, has moved from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion from which to shine. He there enters into judgment over his covenant with his people. In a typical or pictorial way this occurred after he brought the nation of Israel into the Promised Land and then aided their faithful king, David, to capture and occupy Zion, which was the stronghold in the city of Jerusalem. (2 Sam. 5:6-10) Shortly before dying, at the borders of the Promised Land, Moses spoke of this movement from Mount Sinai toward Mount Zion, saying: “Jehovah came from Sinai, and rose from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came from the ten thousands of holy ones: at his right hand was a fiery law for them. Yea, he loveth the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words.” (Deut. 33:2,3, Am. Stan. Ver.) All along the line of march Jehovah shone forth and revealed his glory.
14 The Zion or Jerusalem to which Jehovah came in the days of King David and on which he later established his temple by King Solomon was just typical or figurative. It was prophetic of the heavenly Zion. This Zion is the capital organization which is exalted over all the universal organization of God, just as the Zion of old was the royal capital of the nation of Israel and had the visible “throne of Jehovah” upon which David and his faithful successors sat. Jehovah’s King in that capital organization is
13. Since then, to where has he moved? and what does Moses say regarding this movement?
14. What is this Zion from which Jehovah now shines? and what is its foundation?
His beloved Son, Christ Jesus. After Jesus died on the tree as a martyr or witness of Jehovah, God raised him out of death and exalted him to his own right hand, “angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.” (1 Pet. 3:22) The exalted Christ Jesus is thus the foundation of God’s capital organization Zion, and as to this God made the declaration of purpose centuries in advance: “Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not be in haste.” (Isa. 28:16, Am. Stan. Ver.) From this true Zion Jehovah now shines forth, for it is “the perfection of beauty”, surpassing all the rest of creation.
15 Showing the difference between ancient Mount Sinai and the true Mount Zion of God’s capital, with the superiority going to Zion, the apostle Paul says to the Christians who have entered into a covenant with Jehovah God by sacrifice: “For ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that no word more should be spoken unto them; for they could not endure that which was enjoined, If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned; and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: but ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh.”—Heb. 12:18-25, Am. Stan. Ver.
ie We can now appreciate the prophecy of the coming of “God the Judge of all” to the true Zion, his capital organization of perfect beauty. Psalm 50 warns us of it, saying: “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.” (Ps. 50: 3) That coming of God to his capital organization was in the year 1914, for in that year the Almighty took to himself his great power and began to reign by means of his capital organization Zion. He did so by putting His King, Christ Jesus, upon the throne to rule. At that time a prophecy applied which had long stood written in God’s Word: “Jehovah will send forth the rod of thy strength out of Zion: Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” (Ps. 110:2, Am. Stan. Ver.) The new king’s first act of 15. How does Paul, nt Hebrews 12:18*25, show the difference between Mount Sinai and the true Mount Zion?
16. When was fulfilled the prophecy “Our God shall come”, and how? rulership in the midst of his enemies was the casting of Satan the Devil and all his demon angels out of the heavenly heights. The King’s enthronement A.D. 1914 and the “war in heaven” which he waged thereafter in order to eject the Devil’s invisible organization from their association with the heavenly sons of God was prophetically pictured in a vision described at Revelation 12:1-12. Running parallel with that “war in heaven” was the first world war, of 1914-1918, for the domination of the earth by the nations.
1T Nineteen centuries ago, it was three and a half years after Jesus’ baptism and anointing with God’s spirit that he rode into Jerusalem, entered the temple and executed a judgment against the religionists that were then defiling the typical house of God. Down here at this end of our common era it was three and a half years after his enthronement as Jehovah’s Anointed King that. Christ Jesus came to the spiritual temple of God, namely, in the spring A.D. 191S, and began judgment at the house of God. “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.”—1 Pet. 4:17.
18 From then on Jehovah has not kept silence. When he was keeping silence prior to that coming to the temple of his Messenger and King; the hypocrites in “Christendom” were doing certain criminal things. They persuaded themselves that God’s silence meant his approval of their religious misdeeds. His breaking his silence means that he would send forth his judgment message by means of his Messenger at the temple and by means of the faithful remnant of his anointed witnesses upon the earth. Out of Zion Jehovah has shined forth upon this remnant by illuminating the pages of the Bible for them and revealing to them the glorious message of the establislunent of the Kingdom in 1914 by the conferring of authority upon Christ Jesus as King. Such glory light of Jehovah from Zion his witnesses on earth must reflect to all “men of good will” by preaching the gospel of the Kingdom to all nations of the world. At the same time they must be Jehovah’s mouthpieces to declare his message of judgment against religious “Christendom”, because the time has come for Jehovah God to break his silence against the practicers of religion who take his name but only to bring scorn and reproach upon it. At the time of executing his destructive judgments against them, at the battle of Armageddon, then God will put into play his forces of destruction like a consuming fire, and it will be very stormy about him as he expresses his wrath against the hypocrites. “For our God is a consuming fire.”—Heb. 12: 29; Deut. 4: 24; Ex. 24:17.
17. How do we calculate the time of the Klug’s coming to the temple? 18. (a) In what way has God not kept silence since then9 (b) When will fire devour before him and it be tempestuous about him?
AFTER THE SUMMONS THE JUDGMENT
19 That which follows Jehovah’s summons is no secret trial, no closed hearing with the public debarred, all newspaper reporters shut out, and a tight official censorship clamped down against all possible leaking out of the news. Jehovah is not afraid of having the matter at issue fully aired to all heaven and earth. Aye, let all the universe get in on the news, for, after all the exposures and frank-discussion and raging of the controversy, the end result will be that Jehovah’s judicial fairness and impartiality will be enhanced and his side of the covenant by sacrifice will be vindicated. Only the religionists are in favor of a censorship, and they clamor for it lest they get their religious sensibilities hurt and their sanctimonious hypocrisy be exposed. Hence Psalm 50 shows the universal publicness of the hearing and trial, saying: “He called to the heavens above, and to the earth, to judge his people. 'Gather to me my saints, who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.’ Then the heavens declared his righteousness, that God was giving judgment. Selah.”—Ps. 50: 4-6, An Amer. Trans.
20 As to calling the heavens above to attend the trial, Isaiah the prophet had a vision of Jehovah’s judicial representative seated on the throne at the temple, and writes: “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the very vision Isaiah felt himself judged unclean, and he accepted the cleansing promptly tendered to him. (Isa. 6:1-7, Am. Stan. Ver.; John 12:39-41) Thus the seraphim are indicated as being present at the trial and testifying to God’s holiness and righteousness. Furthermore, Christ the King is Jehovah’s judicial appointee to the bench of judgment at the temple; and concerning him the prophecy has declared: “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels -with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.” (Matt. 25: 31, 32) That prophecy shows that Christ’s attendant angels of heaven would also be present at the trial; and, besides that, it shows that “the earth”, that is to say, all the nations of earth, would be gathered to the trial. They cannot escape being assembled for the grand inquiry and investigation, because Almighty
19. What follows God’s summons? and how, according to Psalm 50:4, will it be conducted?
20. How do the Scriptures show heaven and earth would be present at the hearing and judgment?
God has called and those who must appear for questioning are located among all nations. Amid such an assemblage God judges “his people”.
11 His people! Who are they? They are the same ones as are meant by the expression “my saints”, who are to be gathered to Jehovah God for a hearing and trial because they have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice. In the fulfillment of the prophecy in our day it is evident that the designation “his people” embraces not just all those who are by all proofs his covenant people but also those who religiously make claims to being His people in covenant relationship with him. That includes the natural Jews, who maintain that the covenant by sacrifice made through Moses still holds good, leaving them still Jehovah’s chosen people. It also includes the millions of sectarian religionists of “Christendom”, so called, who make their claims to being His covenant people through Christ. That means they are in an implied covenant with God. Since they claim the favored privilege of covenant relationship with Him, and its blessings, then they must be taken at their word and be judged according to the obligations and requirements of that covenant. Who, now, is it that stands the judgment test by God, who is “judge himself”?
COVENANT BY SACRIFICE
22 It is necessary to determine what is this “covenant by sacrifice” in order to make sure who are in it and who are “my saints” in a true sense. In the ancient typical circumstances existing in the days when Psalm 50 was written, that which Jehovah God recognized as the “covenant with me by sacrifice” was the law covenant which all the nation of Israel made with him through Moses. Except that Moses undertook individually to make the covenant with Jehovah for the Israelite nation as their mediator, this “covenant by sacrifice” was not made with each and every individual Israelite separately. It was not made with any individual Israelites, but was made with the entire nation through the mediator Moses. No individual Israelite made an individual or personal covenant with Jehovah God by a sacrifice of his personal own self. The nation, through its representative elder men, declared in favor of this agreement with Jehovah God; and there was one passover lamb for each household when making the covenant in Egypt, and one set of sacrifices for the entire nation when dedicating the covenant at Mount Sinai.
23 That ancient covenant by sacrifice continued until the real passover lamb was sacrificed, and then that old law covenant found its counterpart in a new covenant by sacrifice. It is written, at 1 Corinthians
21 . Who are “his people” meant in the prophecy, and why?
22 . In the ancient typical circumstances what was the “covenant with me by sacrifice”? and was it an individual covenant-arrangement or otherwise?
23 What is the counterpart now of that ancient covenant? and who has made it, and over what sacrifice?
5:7: “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us?’ Yes, Christ Jesus is the true passover lamb whose blood makes valid or binding the new covenant upon his faithful followers, the true “Israel of God”. (Gal. 6:16) Christ Jesus is the Mediator of the new and better covenant by sacrifice, and he is the One who makes it with Jehovah God in behalf of the new “holy nation”, the “church of the living God”. Jesus’ human sacrifice is the one and only sacrifice that enters into the making of the covenant and the ratifying of it; as lie himself said when offering his disciples the wine of the Memorial supper: "Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” (Matt. 26: 27, 28; Luke 22: 20) In view of the blood of his sacrifice it is written in God’s Word: “But now hath he obtained a ministry the more excellent, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which hath been enacted upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second.” “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant.”—Heb. 8: 6, 7 ; 9:14,15; Am. Stan. Ver.
24 In times past the expression “covenant with me by sacrifice” has been understood by many Christians as meaning a personal covenant which each one makes at the time he dedicates himself to God through Christ in an agreement to do God’s will henceforth. It was further thought that such personal covenant was specifically made with human sacrifice in mind, with the direct understanding that the covenanter was to be sacrificed with Christ Jesus and thus forego all right to perfect human life in the New World and, instead, inherit immortal life with Christ Jesus in the heavens. Thus each such covenanter was understood to make a separate, personal, individual “’covenant by sacrifice’, that is, his own sacrifice, and distinct from the new covenant. But this is not the Scriptural understanding of the matter. When a believer in God and His Christ dedicates himself to God unreservedly to do God’s will and to have God’s will done toward him, he does not lay down any conditions upon which he thus dedicates himself to God, as, for example, that he be sacrificed with Christ Jesus. Certainly the men of good-will who today are dedicating themselves to God according to His will do not thus do on the condition that they be taken into the church which is the “body of Christ” and be “made conformable
24. What has been the understanding of many concerning the “covenant by sacrifice”? and why la it incorrect? unto his death”. Their full dedication of themselves is an unconditional one, and they let the all-wise God decide for himself what disposition to make of them as to their final destiny, whether of eternal life on earth or of life in heaven through being put to death with Christ.
25 The “covenant with me by sacrifice” is God’s one covenant made with his Mediator in behalf of all the spiritual “Israel of God”, the church who are members of Christ’s body. In Psalm 50:5 the expression “covenant with me” is in the original Hebrew “my covenant”; for which reason Rotherham’s translation of the verse reads: “Gather yourselves unto me —ye my men of lovingkindness, who have solemnised my covenant over sacrifice.” God originated and proposed the new covenant over Christ Jesus’ perfect sacrifice; and the purpose of this covenant is to ‘take out of the nations a people for Jehovah’s name’, to wit, God’s “holy nation” of spiritual Israel. God has a definite time for taking men into this covenant through the “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”. It is not for the believer on earth to stipulate, but it is for God to do His own will and determine which ones of those dedicating themselves to him to take into His covenant over Christ’s sacrifice.
“MY SAINTS”
26 Those whom Jehovah takes into the new covenant over Christ’s one sacrifice to become members of his “holy nation” or “people for his name” are receivers of God’s unspeakable loving-kindness. Hence they are called by Him “my saints”, or, better translated by Rotherham, “my men of lovingkindness.” What the psalmist calls each of them in his original tongue is “hhaseed”, which name occurs 32 times throughout the old Hebrew Scriptures, and 25 times in the Psalms alone. It is drawn from the root word meaning “mercy or loving-kindness”; and in the Bible, and especially in the Psalms, the mercy or loving-kindness of God to men is more outstanding than is the mercy or loving-kindness of godly men to others. Hence “my saints” undoubtedly means the ones who have received of God’s mercy and loving-kindness through Christ by being taken into the new covenant by Jesus’ sacrifice. Jesus is in a chief way God’s saint or holy one or man of loving-kindness, and concerning his resurrection out of death and the grave the scripture says: “For thou wilt not abandon my soul to hades, neither wilt thou suffer thy man of lovingkindness to see corruption.”—Ps. 16:10, Roth.; Acts 2: 27, 31.
27 Of all such ones, who taste of God’s loving-kindness and mercy through the new covenant into which
25. What, then, is the “covenant with me by sacrifice”'’ and what is its purpose?
26. Whom, then, does “my saints” specifically designate, and why? 27. How many are in that ‘covenant by sacrifice’ today and living up to it, as foretold by Isaiah? they are brought, there is only a remnant on earth today. Of all those who profess to be in the new covenant (and all the sects of "Christendom” so profess to be) there is only a remnant who actually are in it and living up to their covenant obligations to be a people for Jehovah’s name, His witnesses. As it is stated, at Isaiah 1: 2, 3, 9: “Hear, 0 heavens, and give ear, 0 earth; for Jehovah hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah.”—Am. Stan. Ver.
28 The ‘gathering’ of Jehovah’s saints or men of loving-kindness does not necessarily imply that they have been scattered, although the faithful remnant were scattered by malicious religious forces in “Christendom” during World War I. The gathering means that they are assembled together to the trial and judgment which Jehovah sets in motion by his royal Judge at the temple, Christ Jesus, the King. The assembling is brought about by the setting of God’s judgment-message before all those summoned and concerned, by means of His Theocratic organization for publishing his message. Hence not only is the remnant gathered to the grand courtroom for the occasion, but also all those of “Christendom” who make loud claims of being God’s saints in covenant relationship with him by Christ’s sacrifice. Also present at the trial and judgment, as observers, would be the multitudes of persons of good-will, the companions of the faithful remnant, because surely these good-will companions are included in the sweep of “the heavens above and . . . the earth”, to which God calls for their attention to this trial and judgment. Hence since the close of World War I in 1918 the gathering of all those professing to God to be his “saints” has gone forward, for the facts show that the judgment-message as declared in the remainder of Psalm 50 has been set before all the earth, and particularly before “Christendom”, by the agency of Jehovah’s faithful remnant of witnesses.
29 Christ Jesus is the chief and topmost one of God’s heavens, and he as representative of God’s holy heavens declares Jehovah’s righteousness. He declares God’s faithfulness to His part of the covenant by sacrifice. He declares also God’s impartialness in dealing with the other parties to the covenant, and his strict justice and his adherence to the rules of the divine court. The court is now set, with a full courtroom from heaven and earth; and now a pause occurs, as denoted by the word “Selah”, which ends
28 (a) To what Is the ‘gathering’, and how is it accomplished? (b) Who on earth are present at the grand assemblage?
20. How do the heavens declare God’s righteousness? the first division or section of Psalm 50.—Ps. 50: 6.
JEHOVAH’S TESTIMONY
so Jehovah, beginning the trial, is first to testify, laying his charges against those who profess to be his people, his Israel, but either they are not such or they are not correctly carrying out the terms of the covenant by sacrifice. That covenant had much to say about animal sacrifices, back there in the first or typical covenant, and hence we hear Jehovah God now say: “Hear, 0 my people, and I will speak; 0 Israel, and I will testify unto thee: I am God, even thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; and thy burnt-offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?”—Ps. 50:7-13, Am. Stan. Ver.
31 God here describes the formalities of offering outward sacrifice ■without one’s heart being in it in true worship of God. It corresponds with the religious formalism which the prophet Isaiah, likely a contemporary of the writer of Psalm 50, describes. Declaring that God is not pleased but is nauseated at such formal worship by those who do not live up to the covenant, Isaiah says: “Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. What unto me is the multitude of your sacrifices? saith Jehovah: I have had enough of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to trample my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; new moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies,— I cannot away with iniquity and the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary of bearing them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah."—Isa. 1:10-18, Am. Stan. Ver.
32 As we listen to Jehovah’s testimony through his
30 Who testifies first? against whom are charges laid, and as respects what ?
31 What does Jehovah God thus describe9 and to what like expression of His through Isaiah does it correspond?
32. At such testimony from Jehovah why do our minds turn to “Christendom” and to her condition? psalmist and through the prophet, our minds skip from the ancient time of the Mosaic law covenant by sacrifice to the present time of the new covenant by Christ’s sacrifice. Religious “Christendom” with her hundreds of sects, religiously divided, politically divided, nationally divided, and militarily divided, claims to be in the covenant with God by sacrifice, and she scoffs at the small remnant of His anointed witnesses who are truly in the new covenant over Christ’s sacrifice. “Christendom’s” religion is all an outward formality, and not a heart worship of God “in spirit and in truth”. It brings much reproach upon God’s name. For this reason “Christendom’s” condition spiritually, socially, morally, and physically, is as described by Isaiah: “Why will ye be still stricken, that ye revolt more and more? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and fresh stripes: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with oil.”—Isa. 1: 5, 6, Am. Stan. Ver.
33 Hence “Christendom’s” slogan for peace and her international organization for world peace and security will not bring peace or healing or social justice. Her schemes are no part of his covenant by sacrifice, but are against the kingdom of God’s Son, whose sacrifice validates the new covenant. When “Christendom’s” clergy of religion pray heavenward for her and for her worldly institutions, God will not hear. He is not hearing and answering. He says: '“Your hands are full of blood.” And after World War I and World War II, the bloodiest conflicts of all human history, “Christendom’s” hands are full of blood; and that includes the religious clergy, from the pope on down. None of these clergy have done anything within their religious powers to prevent or stop war, but, instead, they have blessed and prayed for both sides of the carnal conflict and have sent their chaplains to give religious morale to both opposing sides and have hurrahed both sides on into the fratricidal slaughter. How, then, can God recognize their religious formalities? Do these things enrich God at all? Do “Christendom’s” money drives for magnificent cathedrals and religious institutions and functions contribute anything to God’s wealth and obligate him morally to them? Not one cent’s worth! for all the world is his and all that is in it.
34 What, then, should the people do who want to worship God aright, especially at this troublous time of the end of this old world? Let all those gathered together, Jehovah’s witnesses and all, hear the instructions of “El Elohim Jehovah” (Ps. 50:14,15): “Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: and call upon me in the day of 33. Why^ will God not hear and answer “Christendom"? and why is he not obligated to her?
34 . What should sincere worshipers sacrifice and pay, according to God’s instructions at Psalm 60: 14? and how? trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” The sacrifice or offering which the acceptable worshipers of Jehovah God must offer instead of religious formalities is thanksgiving to God and payment of their vows or solemn agreements to Him. "Sacrifice to God a thank-offering, and fulfil your vows to the Most High.” (Amer. Trans.) Offering thanks to him as a sacrifice means expressing gratitude to him from the heart by a life of praising Him, and this must be done through Christ Jesus: “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” (Heb. 13:15,16) At this crucial time of the world, with its end in the battle of Armageddon getting ever closer, this giving God the fruit of our lips in continual praise and thanks, and this doing good and communicating, means publishing the facts about Jehovah God and his purpose, and communicating to the suffering bewildered people “this gospel of the kingdom”. When dedicating themselves to God, Jehovah’s witnesses vowed obedience to His will; and now they must pay or fulfill their vows by keeping his commandments through Christ and announcing to all men His kingdom.
35 The sincere ones hear God’s reproof and correction and turn from religion and render Him obedience and worship in spirit and in truth. They are the ones whom He invites to call upon him through Christ in this time of trouble. They may do so with full confidence that he will hear them. He will deliver them from the snares of this world and from its destruction by His executioner at Armageddon. For His deliverance of them from the bondage and condemned condition of this world they now glorify him to all their friends and neighbors and associates. In the new world after Armageddon they will forever glorify him in life eternal.
TESTIMONY TO THE WICKED
36 It is a grand privilege to be now a witness of Jehovah God, bearing his name and being entrusted with his message for proclamation to distressed humanity. The wicked, hypocritical religionists of “Christendom” are not thus favored. God witliholds this privilege from them, as his next courtroomtestimony declares. “But to the wicked God says: 'What right have you to recount my statutes, and to take my covenant upon your lips? For you hate instruction, and you cast my words behind you! If you see a thief, you are friendly with him; and you make common cause with adulterers. You charge your mouth with evil, and your tongue frames up 35. Who call upon Him In this time of trouble? and what deliverance do they experience?
36. Why, and in the face of what testimony against the wicked, is it a privilege to be a witness of Jehovah God? deceit. You sit down and speak against your brother, against the son of your mother you utter slander. These things you have done—and am I to be silent ? You thought that I was just like yourself! I "will correct you and set it forth in your sight.”—Ps. 50:16-21, An Amer. Trans.
37 What business or what right have the wicked to pretend to teach God’s Word and to be in his covenant by sacrifice when their conduct is as God’s indictment here describes? “Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself ?... Thou that makest thy boast of [having] the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.”—Rom. 2:21-24; 2 Sam. 12:14; Isa. 52: 5.
38 The wicked religionists do not accept and apply to themselves the instruction and discipline which they read in the Holy Bible. And when Jehovah God raises up his faithful covenant-keepers to bear witness to his Word, the wicked show no love for the truth. Despite their oily professions with their mouths, they show hate for divine instruction and reproof by tossing God’s Word over their shoulder and turning their back on it and trying to censor and to stifle Jehovah’s witnesses. Although seeing the political and religious leaders and institutions stealing the worship, love and obedience of the people from God, the wicked do not protest against it by divorcing themselves strictly from this world. They pleasantly compromise, and join in praising and applauding the thieves and their political religious schemes. Claiming to be in covenant with God, still they seek this world's respect and keep on friendly terms with it, and their being a part of this world makes them spiritual adulterers. (Jas. 4:4) They speak double talk in order to deceive the simple-minded and to hide their selfish, worldly aims and desires. They sit in conferences and conspiracies and hatch up falsehoods. Then they wrongfully accuse Jehovah’s witnesses and misrepresent and slander them, in order to keep the people from hearing and heeding Jehovah’s message by his witnesses. This is the same as slandering their brother, their own mother’s son, because they profess to be in the same covenant with God as His anointed witnesses are.
37. How are the wicked, who undertake to teach God’s law, inconsistent with themselves?
3S. What is the conduct of the wicked toward (a) God’s Word, (b) thieves, (cl-adulterers, and (d) their implied brethren?
39 The wicked religionists have judged God to be just like themselves. That is, they have set up their own human standards, and then they have painted God as approving of those standards and as using these religionists to be his preachers and representatives. Now that the time of trial and judgment is here of those professing to be in the covenant by sacrifice, shall God any longer keep silence? No; and he has not done so. He has raised up his witnesses who are faithful covenant-people for his name, and by these he has sent his message of judgment. By his message he shows up the wicked as hypocrites, and corrects the wrong impression that they have made respecting God. By his faithful "witnesses he puts the matter forth plainly to the public and in the sight of the -wicked. Thus Jehovah vindicates his side of the covenant and gives proof that he is not party to the wickedness of those not living up to the covenant.
40 Hear now His warning to the formal worshipers who at heart leave Jehovah God out of consideration : “Understand this, I pray you, ye who are forgetting God, lest I tear, and there is no deliverer. He who is sacrificing praise honoureth Me, as to him who maketh a way, I cause him to look on the salvation of God!” (Ps. 50: 22, 23, Young) “Christendom” will keep on declining to consider the judgment message that Jehovah God sends by his covenant-remnant who are now backed up by the multitude of goodwill companions. These companions have quit “organized religion” during this time of opportunity. At the battle of Armageddon God will tear wicked, hypocritical “Christendom” to pieces by his “Lion of the tribe of Juda”, Christ Jesus his Executioner, and will blot out her religion.
41 Those, however, who will see God’s deliverance and salvation to eternal life in the New World will be those who now set their way or life-course according to their covenant obligations. These avoid all forms of wickedness and hypocritical religious formalities. They remember God their Creator continually. They use their vigor, time, means and all to glorify him by daily sacrificing to him the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, declaring his holy name and his glorious kingdom by Christ Jesus.
39. How have such wieked ones misjudged God? and how has he vindicated himself on the covenant by sacrifice?
40. What warning does Jehovah finally give? and why *ill “Christendom” suffer it, and when?
41. How do those who will look on the salvation of God make or order their way?
FROM BRITISH GUIANA
GOING into British Guiana during April, 1946, meant going into a British colony where the privilege of importation is forbidden to all literature published by the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. A total ban against importing this educational literature went into effect June, 1944, during the global
TO CENTRAL AMERICA
war. Even copies of the Holy Bible containing no Watch Tower commentary but being simply versions published by other Bible societies were banned, that is, to Jehovah’s witnesses. British Guiana’s government certainly did not put itself in favor with the Lord God when it seized 258 copies of the authorized King James Version Bible and withheld these from sincere Christians and also held up a shipment of Watch Tower literature imported under government license, which license had been issued after careful scrutiny of each item imported. In Trinidad, about 200 miles northwest, the ban there was lifted months ago, but down to preparing this report neither the circulating of a petition by Jehovah’s witnesses nor the public distribution of thousands of copies of a leaflet reporting on the disposal of the petition had spurred the British Guiana government to put itself among the various governments of the British Empire and Commonwealth that had lifted all bans and proscriptions against Jehovah’s witnesses and the Watch Tower publications which these use. Hence a situation faced the president of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, our brother N. H. Knorr, as he undertook to enter British Guiana and to attend to the Society’s Branch matters in that colony.
The previous day’s flight for a landing at the field of the British West Indies Airways in British Guiana had failed. So Brother Knorr made another attempt on Friday, April 5. Leaving the hotel in Port of Spain, Trinidad, at 5 a.m., he and his companion, William Tracy, rode the journey of three-quarters of an hour out to the Piarco airfield. There all the passengers (some picked up yesterday at the island of Barbados) that'had been grounded in Trinidad due to the plane’s motor trouble over British Guiana were on hand. A few minutes after 6 a.m., with all these passengers aboard, the BWIA 8-passenger plane got on its way, bound again for Mackenzie, B.G. This time no stop was made in Barbados, but flight was made direct to Mackenzie. Arrival there was at 8: 30 a.m. Before allowing our travelers entry here the British Guiana department of health officials at the airport checked their physical condition. From Mackenzie there is a shuttle plane which bears passengers to Georgetown at the mouth of the Demerara river. This amphibious plane takes on only six passengers and hence those unable to acquire passage on it must take the boat down the Demerara river to reach the capital city, Georgetown. Our friend Tracy was either fortunate or unfortunate enough to be assigned to this river boat. Thus he got to travel down the river’s winding course, through jungles and past the little palm-thatched-hut villages, an interesting voyage indeed. Brother Knorr, baling obtained passage in the shuttle plane, covered the direct distance of 53 miles in thirty minutes from the plane's take-off at Mackenzie field, thus reaching Georgetown on the Demerara about 10 a.m. Brother Tracy’s river steamer docked at the Georgetown wharf at 3: 30 p.m., or 51 hours later.
…