The Watchtower, March 1, 1942
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‘‘CHILDREN OF THE KING” TESTIMONY PERIOD
The spring month of April is a favorable time for the "Children of The King” Testimony Period. and which is therefore a world-wide period of united action by those advertising the King and the Kingdom. In all the earth not only those of the anointed remnant, but also all those hoping to become the earthly "children of the King”, will take part, and if any such want references to companies organized for this testimony let them without delay write the office in their respective countries. Much advance preparation for this campaign is required. April being the close of the three-month Watchtower Campaign, the servants and children of the King will continue offering the special combination, namely, a year’s Watchtower subscription, together with the ... of the book Children and the new booklet Hope, and all this for the regular subscription rate of $1.00 in America, and correspondingly in the other lands. Let this be your best month of the campaign. and at the end thereof you will with joy turn m your report of activities and the fruits thereof.
“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES
Week of April 5: “Micah” (Part 4), 1-20 inclusive, The Watchtower March 1, 1942.
Week of April 12: “Micah” (Part 4), 21-42 inclusive, The Watchtower March 1, 1942.
“HOPE”
With pleasure the Society announces publication of a new booklet, Hope – for the Dead – for the Survivors – in a Righteous World. The theme itself impresses one that the booklet meets a very present need, when millions of hearts need to be infused with new hope both for the living and for the newly dead; and the contents, in an up-to-date setting, will delight you. It is a 64-page booklet, self-covered, but having a very engaging cover design Date of its release for general circulation in the field is announced elsewhere, but you will first desire to read and enjoy it yourself and thereby know how best to present and use it in ‘comforting all that mourn’. You may obtain your personal copy now, contributing 5c therefor.
1942 YEARBOOK OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES
This new Yearbook presents the president’s report on the work throughout the world this past year, showing the greatest year’s work yet despite persecution and war. It further includes the yeartext and comment, and also a text for each day of the year and a pointed comment thereon. The edition of the Yearbook is always limited, hence a contribution of 50c a copy is asked. It will be mailed to you postpaid on receipt of your order with remittance to cover.
No. LXIII March 1, 1942 No 5
MICAH
PART 4
“He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.’’ – Isa. 40:11.
JEHOVAH is the Great Shepherd. “Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want,” gratefully sung one of His “sheep”. (Ps. 23:1, Am. Rev. Ver.) These words, though glibly repeated by religionists as beautiful poetry, do not apply to all human creatures. Few, comparatively, seek the leadership, protection and provision of the great Keeper of His own flock. The psalmist David was a shepherd before becoming king of Israel, and he was one of the typical covenant people of Jehovah God. Both as a shepherd and as the first king of the typical Theocracy in Israel, David was a type of the Good Shepherd, who gave his life for his sheep, and who is made the “King of kings, and Lord of lords”. David anointed his obedient sheep with oil; and the Great Shepherd anointed the One who is “the Lamb of God” with the oil of gladness above his fellows, and he is Jehovah’s Anointed King, that is to say, Christ the King of The Theocratic Government. When David was anointed to be king the spirit of Jehovah came upon him; and the spirit of the Lord God is likewise upon Christ Jesus to be his Chief Witness, whose name is called “Faithful and True”.
2 David fought the Philistines, the demonized enemies of God’s covenant people, and including the giant Goliath, who pictures the terrible totalitarian monstrosity of the present time, and David also won the strange battles against them at Mount Perazim and at Gibeon. Now the Greater David, Jehovah's Beloved One, gains for his followers the victory over the religious-totalitarian rule of the world, and at “the battle of that great day of God Almighty” he shall destroy all the demon-worshiping modern Philistines, the religionists and their political and commercial allies. Now he carries on Jehovah’s “strange work” of notifying such in advance of that “strange act".
3 The effort of the thieves and the wild beasts is to scatter the sheep, to make them their prey. The loving purpose of the Great Shepherd is to gather his sheep and to keep them together under his watchcare and protection. At times sheep stray away; and religion, which is demonism, has deceived many of the Lord’s “sheep” and caused them to stray from the path of truth and of the worship of God in spirit and in truth. The worldly organizations of rulership have taken advantage of this and, like wild beasts, have preyed upon the strayed sheep and scattered them. The political element have been induced to do this under the influence of the demons, who use religion and religionists to stir them up to such action against Jehovah’s sheep. Concerning such religionists it is written: “Neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.” – Ezek. 34:1-6.
4 The great scattering of Jehovah’s covenant people in fulfillment of this prophecy took place at the height of the World War in 1918, and at the instance of the religionists of “Christendom”, particularly the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. Such took advantage of the war state to carry out their conspiracy with politicians and judicial officers, to wit, to break up the organization of Jehovah’s servants proclaiming God’s kingdom by Christ Jesus. (Matt. 24:7-9) Thereby a great test came upon these consecrated ones; but a faithful remnant endured the severe trial of their faith and devotion and held fast to Jehovah God and his kingdom, and shortly thereafter and in his due time Jehovah by the Good Shepherd regathered the scattered remnant unto himself at the temple for his further service.
5 “I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.” (Mic. 2:12) “Israel” was the name Jehovah gave to Jacob because he maintained his integrity toward God and kept his faith in Jehovah’s coming Theocratic Government and refused to compromise with the governments of this world. Both names applied to the natural Israelites, and now apply in an antitypical sense to Jehovah’s covenant people, who are the spiritual Israelites, and of whom Christ Jesus is the Head. “But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter.” (Rom. 2: 29) The faithful stand in marked contrast with those who claim to be spiritual Israelites and therefore heirs of the birthright, but who are hypocritical religionists, and whom the prophet addressed earlier, saying: “O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the Lord straitened?” (Mic. 2:7) Such have the spirit of Esau, who proved unworthy of the birthright and was willing to sell it for a mess of pottage and then sought to kill his brother Jacob and caused him to flee from home and become a wanderer. - Gen. 25: 29-34; 27 : 41-46; 28:1-10.
6 The assembly which Jehovah God makes is greater than appears to the human eye. The apostle foretold of those who come “to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.” (Heb. 12: 23, 24) The assembling is unto Zion, which is Jehovah’s capital organization, his Theocratic Government by his beloved King, Christ Jesus. “I will surely assemble ... all of thee,” says the Lord; and this includes those faithful Christians who maintained their integrity toward God even unto the death and who died prior to the coming of the King to the temple for judgment. These were sleeping in the graves at the time of his coming, and their being assembled would mean being awakened out of death and being “changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”, and being “raised a spiritual body”. – 1 Cor. 15: 51, 52,44.
7 Concerning this assembly the apostle further says: “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him.” (2 Thess. 2:1) The assembling of these sleeping saints, including the apostles and those who have believed through their word, ‘prevents’ or precedes the gathering of the devoted servants of Jehovah yet alive on earth. “Even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. . . . and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” (1 Thess. 4:14-16) Their resurrection, being in the spirit, of necessity must be invisible to human eyes, and their gathering is unto the great King and Judge at the temple, which is the condition of unity with him and is in the place that is unseen to the eye of the natural man.
8 Concerning the faithful remnant of spiritual Israelites alive in the flesh at the time of the Lord’s coming to his temple the prophecy states: “I will surely gather the remnant of Israel”; that is, these which had been scattered by the action of the religionists and allies, and who showed iniquity of lip by keeping silent because of fear of men, but who repented of their course of submission to worldly powers opposed to God and thereafter sought the face of the Lord and a renewing of their activities in his service. The Lord showed such his mercy, and early in 1919 he began to gather these unto him at the temple and to revive them in his service. “The Lord doth build up Jerusalem; he gathered together the outcasts of Israel.” (Ps. 147:2) “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time [the first time being the gathering of the Israelites back to Jerusalem in B.C. 536] to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” (Isa. 11:11,12) The remnant are gathered as a “people for his name”, and therefore Jehovah cleanses away their uncleanness of lip and puts his word in their mouth. He sends them forth to declare his name throughout all the earth before he shows his almighty power against the Devil and the demons and their earthly agents who wickedly scattered the servants of Jehovah.
9 These servants are gathered out from the organizations of the Devil which have held them in restraint; and Bozrah, the chief city of Idumea or Edom, pictured the demon-worshiping religious system of the Devil’s organization. The word “Bozrah” means “inclosure”; that is, a “sheepfold”. Hence the correct translation of the text of Micah’s prophecy (2:12) must be as given by Leeser: “I will surely gather up the remnant of Israel; I will place them together as flocks in the fold”; to wit, in the Lord’s fold, and not in the enemy organization pictured by Bozrah. “For the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.” (Isa. 34: 6) Those represented by Bozrah have taken part in scattering Jehovah’s sheep, and they continue in this malicious effort to this day, and for this they shall be slaughtered at Armageddon. Nothing can hinder the predetermined work of God, and now he gathers into the unity and safety of his organization the faithful remnant of his "little flock”: “as droves in the midst of their pen.” (Leeser) This gathering of the anointed remnant from and after 1919 continues on down more particularly to 1931, when the Lord revealed to them their “new name”, to wit, “Jehovah's witnesses." Then the Lord began to bring more fully into view the earthly class of good-will, who are pictured as the “other sheep” of the Lord and who shall live on earth for ever under the Kingdom. The “remnant” sheep are few in number, comparatively, but the Lord’s “other sheep” are those who shall form the “great multitude" without number, and these become the companions of the remnant in the witness work, and thus the company of all God’s sheep is increased.
10 The gathering particularly of the Lord's “other sheep” is yet going on, and will soon reach a climax before Armageddon breaks. Concerning the gathering of the spiritual Israelites and their devoted earthly companions, and the carefulness and thoroughness and urgency with which it should be done, Jehovah caused his prophet to write: “I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.” (Jer. 16:15,16) This results in a great demonstration to the glory of the Lord and which is noised abroad throughout the land, to the great chagrin and dismay of the enemy. Says the Lord of his gathered “sheep”: “They shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.” Rotherham renders this: “Like a flock in the midst of its pasture shall they hum with men.” This does not mean internal strife and discord among those gathered into the Lord’s fold, but denotes great activity in showing forth the praises of Jehovah and in advertising his Theocratic Government by Christ Jesus. “Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts, so shall the waste cities [made so by the enemy in 1918] be filled with flocks of men; and they shall know that I am the Lord.”–Ezek. 36: 37, 38.
11 The Lord God has given marvelous demonstrations of this in very recent years, to wit, in 1938, when approximately 150,000 gathered together in assemblies at the same time in 47 cities in Britain, America, Canada, Australia, and other lands, and by wire and wireless communication heard the same convention speeches from the key assembly at London, England; also in 1940, while war raged in Europe and great persecution was upon Jehovah’s witnesses in America, and when 18 assemblies from coast to coast were held in the United States, all tied together by wire and public-address systems, and when 45,000 assembled in the key city, Detroit, alone; and also in 1941, when Jehovah God brought the members of the remnant and of his "other sheep” together at one place in Theocratic Assembly, to wit, in St. Louis, Mo. There the assembly grounds and the surrounding fields of witness work fairly hummed with the joyful noise of a vast multitude of more than 115,000, feeding at the Lord’s provided table and sounding forth his name and his Theocratic Government, which shall rule in righteousness over the children of the King. Furthermore, the following month, and due to the war between the Nazi- Fascist "king of the north” and the opposing “king of the south”, a like assembly was held at Leicester, England, where 12,000 assembled to hear the same speeches by recording and to make like proclamation of The Theocracy to the peoples. The effect of these assemblies, particularly those in 1941, is to spur the Lord’s servants on to greater effort and diligence in connection with the Lord’s work of hunting and ingathering of the remainder of his “other sheep” before the universal war of Armageddon begins. They “put on more steam”.
12 The war against religion is on. It is not a Avar with carnal weapons, as with tanks and machine guns, but with the weapons of truth, including ' the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God”, and which weapons are “mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds”. (Eph. 6:17 ; 2 Cor. 16: 4) The publication of the truth will not in itself overthrow the great religious organization, but it exposes the same. It also breaks the power of religion or demonism which has been established like strongholds of error in the minds and hearts of the people, and from the restraint of which the people of goodwill must be broken loose. The strongholds of religion must be pulled down in their minds, and they must render it a dead thing to them, and their minds must be renewed by the knowledge and the understanding of the truths of Jehovah and his Theocracy. Only the Lord God can destroy the mighty, entrenched religious organization throughout the earth; and He will do so at the beginning of Armageddon. Now he breaks the strong power of religion over the lives and actions of his remnant and their companions.
13 Religion is a great system of confusion, and therefore Jehovah calls the religious organization "Babylon”. At Babel, or Babylon, religion was first organized by the totalitarian ruler, Nimrod. For seventy years ancient Babylon held Jehovah's typical covenant people, that is, the faithful remnant thereof, in captivity as exiles from God’s organization. In due time he sent kings from the east, and they broke into the city, and thereafter the Lord released his devoted remnant and sent them forth from Babylon. Modern Babylon, particularly "Christendom” with its "organized religion”, held Jehovah’s consecrated servants in like bondage during the World War and for some time thereafter. These were unable to free themselves. Then the Lord did so by sending his Messenger of the Covenant, to wit, Christ Jesus, ‘‘the prince of the kings of the earth,” to the temple, and he broke the restraints of the strong hold of religion for them and led them forth. Of and concerning this the prophet says: “The breaker is come up before them; they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it; and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on [at] the head of them.”–Mic. 2: 13.
14 “The breaker” is Christ Jesus, who has come to the temple and manifests his presence unto his "faithful and wise servant” class, enlightening the eyes of their understanding by the unfolding of God’s Word, and who thus ‘comes up before them’. They recognize him as their Leader, and discern that Jehovah God and Christ, and not human creatures, are their Teachers. “And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers.” (Isa. 30:20) Other translations call Christ Jesus “the wall-breaker” (Leeser)-, “one making a breach” (Rotherham). The religious leaders imprison the members of their congregation behind great walls of religious traditions of men and “doctrines of demons"; they back up the political powers and give them a great build-up as the “higher powers” “ordained of God”, and they use these political powers as a wall of protection for themselves and to put and keep Jehovah's faithful and active servants under restraint. They did so in 1918, and succeeded then for a time. But the “wall-breaker” appeared and took the lead, and in 1919 opened the way for their free and fearless action as the witnesses of Jehovah unto all nations.
15 Following after the King of Jehovah’s Theocratic Government, the faithful remnant broke the entanglements of the besetting sin of religion, and the bonds of the fear of men, political and religious, and marched forth through the gate of Babylon and into the “liberty of the sons of God”, the Lord’s “free men”. They followed no man, but recognized that the Kingdom had come and that Christ Jesus is the King and rightful Ruler of the world, and that Jehovah was and is the Head over all, the great Theocrat. They march away from the Devil organization of Babylon and march on to Zion, Jehovah’s capital organization, The Theocracy, which shall govern the new world in righteousness. Hence the Lord’s command to his people now is: “Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.” (Isa. 62: 10) "Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord. For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward [rearguard].” (Isa. 52: 11,12) They march forth as victors over religion, not apologetically nor in fear of self-exalted men, but boldly announcing the name of Jehovah the Supreme One and also his King of the Holy City, which is the only hope of the people of good-will that seek life. The Lord’s "other sheep” follow with and after the remnant, and the assembling of the rest of such “other sheep” continues and the gathering work increases in earnestness as the “final end” draws near.
HEAR
16 Religious and political leaders in the liberal nations granting free speech, free press and free worship of God enjoy these freedoms for themselves, but they declare that the servants of Jehovah have no right or commission to call public attention to and criticize the derelictions and failures of classes or organizations of men. God’s message proclaimed neither names any individuals nor attacks and ridicules such, and yet they see themselves according to the description of God’s Word as declared by God's witnesses, and their tender religious susceptibilities are greatly shocked. Particularly do religious leaders howl that they are being subjected to that which exposes them to ridicule, shame and obloquy, and they stir up acts of violence against the witnesses. This failing to silence the faithful proclaimers of God's Word, the religious element cry out to the political element for a revamping of the Bill of human rights and for the enactment of new laws to get Jehovah's servants. Note the cunning of the Serpent as below:
In the November, 1941, issue of the Law Review of a prominent eastern religious college, a Catholic priest, who is a member of the Congregation of Missions, writes specifically concerning Jehovah’s witnesses, to wit: “Since they regard their propaganda activities as forms of worship, however, they are not likely to let the susceptibilities of others interfere with what they regard as their God-given duty. Hence it may be necessary to revise some of our statutes in the interests of the general welfare. . . . it seems as though an amendment to our statute will be necessary in order for libel of a group to be punishable criminally. If such an extension is proposed it should be limited to well ascertainable racial or religious groups, however, ...” Finally, with a practical admission that Catholic-inspired mob violence has failed to halt the witnesses in America, and then artfully blaming those who fought for religious liberty in Europe as responsible for the blood spilled in the fight, this priest with oily words concludes: “Action of some sort is urgent for the protection of domestic peace and unity. The Witnesses cannot be left to the mercy of mob violence; nor is a legislative persecution proposed. But in the light of European experience as to the frightful but logical results of an unrestrained outpouring of intolerant and bigoted hatred–racial or religious–it is time for Americans to re-examine this question in its entirety and provide a remedy which will be effective as well as just and constitutional.”
17 No laws by men that would forbid the preaching of God's kingdom in the manner that Christ Jesus and his apostles preached it could be just; for only the Lord’s way is just, and what is opposed thereto could only be ‘framing mischief by a law’. (Ps. 94: 20) The Lord has no fellowship with such iniquitous lawframers who are now in the throne on earth. Such proposed laws could not even be constitutional, because they take away the right of an unpopular minority to freely worship God by following in the steps of Jehovah’s Chief Witness as he left us the example. (1 Pet. 2: 21) When he called the religious clergy “wolves”, “hypocrites,” “liars,” “whited sepulchers” hiding the bones of Jehovah’s martyred witnesses, “vipers,” and other true terms, God's Chief Witness was not guilty of “an unrestrained outpouring of intolerant and bigoted hatred” nor of “libel of a group”; and yet He was crucified at the instance of clergymen heading a mob and as an act that was “urgent for the protection of domestic peace and unity".
18 The laws the Catholic priest hints at could be nothing else nor less than “legislative persecution” and would put the lawmakers in the position of fighting against God. Such Catholic advice is totally contrary to the Jewish advice given by a doctor of the law at Jerusalem: “And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.” (Acts 5: 38, 39) The day will soon come when the political lawmakers will realize that their present allies, the religious clergy, maneuvered them into fighting against God, “whose name alone is Jehovah,” thus marking themselves for slaughter at God's hands at Armageddon. (Rev. 17:16,17) Now, therefore, in good time Jehovah by his prophet warns all such, saying: “And I said, Hear, I pray you, 0 heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel: Is it not for you to know judgment?”. – Mic. 3:1
19 Jehovah calls to both those of “Jacob” and those of “Israel" to hear God’s message. Thereby the Lord, in the modern fulfillment, speaks to the ruling factors of both “the king of the south” and “the king of the north” now engaged in a struggle for world domination. The religious and political and commercial elements of “Christendom" do not inquire of Jehovah God and of his enthroned King Christ Jesus, nor do they ask to be told of God's purposes toward the world and of his judgment of them; but Jehovah gives them full warning and commands his witnesses to give the warning, and he orders his enemies to “hear”. So doing, Jehovah does not take advantage of his enemies facing destruction. Were such sincere in their profession to be “Christians” and hence in a covenant with God to do his will, and if they were sincere in claiming to be “the higher powers" and “ordained of God”, they would respectfully hear God's warning by his witnesses. As to the warning vigorously delivered by Jehovah’s witnesses, particularly down to 1940, the Lord has not asked whether they wanted to hear, but he sent forth the warning in mercy and fairness. Likewise in due time he will not ask whether the totalitarian ruling factors of “Christendom” want to hear, but, shortly now, "tidings out of the east [from Christ the King] and out of the north [from Jehovah God] shall trouble him [the rulers gone totalitarian] : therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.” (Dan. 11:44) This furious action proves that such totalitarian-religious fighters against Jehovah’s Theocratic Government did not want to hear, but were displeased at what they heard and therefore will try to make away with Jehovah’s witnesses and their faithful companions.
20 “Is it not for you to know judgment?” Because attempting to occupy the place of rulers over the peoples of “Christendom” and as guardians of their interests, the religious, political and commercial elements should know and are responsible to know what is justice or right judgment, particularly as they claim to be the “higher powers” and representing God on earth. “The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God : and he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.” (2 Sam. 23:3,4) Such is the prophet’s description of what the ruler, or King of Jehovah's Theocracy, is and shall be.
21 “Christendom's” ruling factors, with the clergy as their spiritual advisers, forget Jehovah God and his Theocratic Government. Now they follow the lead of the demons and seek to set up in place of that Theocracy their “new world order” with religion, or demonism, under full protection of the political rulers and financially supported by the commercial element. Such presumptuousness is abominable in God’s sight, and thus they stand up their “abomination of desolation" where it ought not to stand, to wit, “in the holy place,” as a fraudulent makeshift for Jehovah’s holy Government under Christ Jesus. (Matt. 24: 15; Mark 13:14) They promise the people a “peace with justice”, but in their manner of setting up the totalitarian “abomination of desolation" they have shown no justice.
22 Furthermore, by Jehovah's witnesses they have been notified that this is the day of judgment of the nations, particularly since the Lord’s coming to the temple in 1918, and that they are being judged by their acts toward The Theocracy and those who advertise it to the nations. They have the Holy Scriptures of the Bible which set forth the righteousness of God. They have their many and spacious cathedrals and religious buildings for the assembly to worship, and have a hired clergy paid to study God’s commandments and purposes. They have set aside the first day of the week for all to have opportunity of a full day to worship. As for the modern-day “heads of Jacob” and “princes [rulers; judges] of the house of Israel”, even these the religious leaders have made to be "the principal of the flock". Have they, then, any valid excuse before God not to know judgment and what is justice?
23 What, however, is their record since A.D. 1918, from and after which date all nations have been gathered before Jehovah's great Judge upon his throne at the temple ? Let the people now examine and judge as to the fulfillment of the prophecy. Even since casting Satan out of heaven Jehovah has permitted him to remain; and Satan's demon-controlled visible representatives on earth God has left to prove by their acts and deeds in office whether religion has taught them judgment and justice. Has it? Or the contrary, the prophet speaks concerning them as those “who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones: who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron”. (Mic. 3:2,3) This compares with the action of a wild beast; and the Scriptures liken the demon-ruled totalitarian organization of “Christendom” to a “scarlet coloured beast” with religion, “the great whore,” riding on the back thereof as the spiritual superpower. (Rev. 17:1-5) The woman who rides the “beast” is responsible for its destructive, bloody course against the people, and particularly against the servants of Jehovah God. Concerning “organized religion” the record says, in symbol: “And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs [(Young’s) the blood of the witnesses] of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered.” (Rev. 17 : 6) “And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.” (Rev. 18: 24) Therefore let all who would please God and live shun religion.
24 Particularly the religious leaders pretend to have great love for the people and to be concerned about their welfare here on earth now and their eternal life hereafter; but religion is responsible for the war since 1939 between “the king of the north" and “the king of the south”, and which is the most destructive and bloody war of human history and for which the people are suffering heavy burdens of taxation and great privations, and the totalitarian powers treat human flesh as cheap and many human bones are literally broken and bodies flayed and blown to pieces. The head of the greatest religious organization in “Christendom” oft advertises to the public his grief and “sorrowing heart” as for their sufferings, and yet he has political alliances by concordats with the political elements of “the king of the north”. Unto this religious potentate the so-called “children of the church” throughout the world vow their allegiance above their allegiance unto the political State, and he claims spiritual power and authority over more than 350 million of the religious population of “Christendom”, and particularly in the nations that make up the Nazi-Fascist “king of the north", and his word to those millions is as the law of God. A few days before “the king of the north" blasted his way by blitzkrieg over Poland several hundred delegates of national, religious, veterans’ and trade-union groups met in Chicago. Illinois, and cabled a plea to the religious head at Vatican City to excommunicate that born, baptized and reared Catholic dictator of Germany, to “help the cause of freedom, Christianity, humanity, and civilization at this time”. The ‘sorrowing-hearted’ ruler of Vatican City flatly refused their petition and held fast his Concordat ties with the totalitarian dictator, and the crudest of all wars has continued since their petition over two years ago.
25 More recently, the last day of 1941, a prominent financier of Cleveland, Ohio, and who is also recognized as an “authority on world religions”, wrote a letter to the Vatican’s “apostolic delegate” to the religionists in America. In this letter that banker and industrialist urged upon the Roman Catholic Hierarchy the “calling upon its members everywhere to oppose the pagan German and Japanese forces that seek to enslave the world. Once the [Catholic] church has spoken, Italy can no longer range herself on the side of these ruthless aggressors nor Ireland continue to remain aloof from the struggle", (Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 3, 1942; New York Times) Again the Vatican refuses to turn its millions of religious children against its totalitarian partners whom it is using as “the sword of the church”, and the sufferings of the people increase. The ultrareligionists and allies consider that such is a cheap price for the gaining of their selfish aims, to wit, world domination contrary to the will and kingdom of Jehovah God by Christ Jesus. Now those members of the Hierarchy who swear allegiance to that foreign power at the Vatican and who reside in the lands of “the king of the south” profess to be great friends of democracy, and recently one outstanding member of the Hierarchy in America said at a large public religious gathering: “Permanent peace can be founded only on justice and charity. The only enduring peace that will restore the world to sanity and to a sense of the dignity of human personality is the peace of Pope Pius XII.” (Cincinnati Times-Star, October 13, 1941) Thus they hope to pave the way for the religious partner of “the king of the north” to sit in on the expected peace conference and to control it.
26 Also in the lands of “the king of the south” the religious, political and commercial men in authority show they “hate the good, and love the evil” in their hatred of The Theocracy and the love of the demonrule of the “present evil world”, and therefore they hate Jehovah’s witnesses who proclaim The Theocracy, and they make and improperly apply laws to suppress them. At the same time they love religion, which is demonism, and love those who are the friends of the world and hence the enemies of God, therefore “evil”. In their secular and religious newspapers and publications they flay the skin off and pick to pieces Jehovah’s witnesses, who are not of this world, and these are also bruised and torn and broken by demonized mobs and lawbreaking police and the “strong-arm squad”, stirred up by fanatical religionists. Should these of “Christendom” not have known and exercised justice and judgment?
27 Now concerning such “heads” and “rulers” and “princes” and “judges” and their agents and hangers- on the Lord God says: “Then shall they cry unto the Lord [Jehovah], but he will not hear them; he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.” (Mic. 3 : 4) These are words of comfort and encouragement to those who now suffer and whom the enemy now make to cry out unto Jehovah God and Christ Jesus for grace to help them to maintain their integrity under persecution and reproach. “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them’ I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:7,8) The religionists do not have such faith, and they take advantage of God’s forbearance and continue to heap suffering and reproach upon the remnant of God’s elect and their companions. “The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.” (Ps. 34:17) Then the turn of the persecutors and opposers comes and they have the chance to prove how much their cries and prayers avail with God. “Then." that is, when “the breaker" begins to dash the nations to pieces like a potter’s vessel at Armageddon and their cries to their demon gods prove unavailing, they raise their deathbed cries to Jehovah God. “And they shall know that I am Jehovah,” but their cries to him will not be of worship nor for the glory of his name and its vindication.
28 Jehovah will vindicate his name in the destruction of the wicked; hence he will not answer their selfish prayers for preservation. “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy.” (Jas. 2:13) "Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.” (Prov. 21:13) Especially since 1918 they have been warned by Jehovah’s faithful appointed watchmen, but have scoffed at the warning and not taken advantage of the time available to flee to the “mountains” of The Theocracy ; and now the final end comes upon them. Jehovah changes not, and he sticks to his judgment written and executes the same upon them. "When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind ; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord : they would none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof: therefore shall they eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.”–Prov. 1: 27-31.
29 The Lord must let justice have its righteous course at Armageddon. The demon-controlled religionists and their allies have behaved themselves as "goats” against the least of Christ's brethren who proclaim The Theocracy, and they are gathered to his left side of disfavor. He therefore hides his face of grace and pity from them: “The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” (Ps. 34:16) The Lord has given them ample warning, and now he directs his faithful servants to tend his “other sheep” and comfort all of good-will that mourn. The faithful know that the present persecution upon them is not a sign that Jehovah has hid his face from them, but is permitted as a test of their integrity toward Him and his Theocratic Government, and they therefore endure with joyfulness and hold fast their integrity. Continuing to do so, they are “blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ”.–1 Cor. 1:8.
30 Great objection has been made to the statement, “Religion is a snare and a racket.” and judges seated in solemn court have manifested great indignation against those who have published this plain fact. The political, judicial and police elements have greatly exercised themselves to protect the religious racketeers. Note now what the Lord God declares He will do, and observe whether he condemns religion as a snare and racket: “Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets [religionists] that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.”–Mic. 3:5.
31 Posing as true prophets or mouthpieces of God, the religious leaders make a great display of worldly knowledge and education and make great and bold claims for themselves, that they have a stand-in with God and possess special mysterious powers peculiar to themselves; and thus they make the deceived people look to them for the exercise of such supposed powers and they gain the confidence of the ignorant trusting people. Then they teach the people the wisdom of this world and the traditions of demonized men which make void God’s Word of life. Thereby they cause the people to err from the path of light and life and to go in the way that leads to opposition to Jehovah’s Theocratic Government and to destruction at Armageddon. These religious prophets or spokesmen of demonism make loud, boastful predictions in behalf of the works and institutions of men, such as the League of Nations, which the Federal Council of Churches in America called “the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth”; also such as the “new order of things” by the totalitarian dictators, for which “new order" the pope prayed on November 24, 1940, and which prayer responsible Italian authorities said echoed the aims of the “Axis powers”; and also such as popular human rule, for which rule sudden friendship is now expressed by the official members in America of the totalitarian Hierarchy, the European members of which Hierarchy co-operate in the destruction of democratic and constitutional liberal governments. The advocates of all such do not take into account the "end of the world” at Armageddon, now near.
32 Further describing their racket, the Lord says: "[They] bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace.” Leeser renders this: “Who, when they have something to bite with their teeth, cry, Peace.” This proves they use religion for self-gain. To those who give them handouts, they “cry, Prosper!” (Rotherham) The apostle also speaks of the religionists, “whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things." (Phil. 3: 19) When collections and donations are coming in, they are very generous and liberal in bestowing their ecclesiastical blessings (which cost them nothing but words and motions with the hand). Concerning those who fail to support the religious organization they publicly say that the calamities and tribulations and woes upon the people are visitations from God for forsaking religion. Further quoting the above-mentioned Hierarchy member, the newspaper reports him as saying: “Because the world is so degraded by sin–the sins of individuals, of homes, of nations–we may regard the present war as a divine chastisement.” Which is to say, that the totalitarian “king of the north” is the instrument of God and Christ to chastise the peoples of the nations that have broken away and do not submit to the ruler at Vatican City as the spiritual superpower. Such statement is a religious blasphemy against God, and is induced by the demons to turn the people against God and into Satan’s trap of religion.
33 “And he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.” This is the course of all racketeers. Those who refuse to come across with contributions for protection from the racket, they threaten and intimidate, and against them they carry on a war of damage and destruction. If anyone exposes their racket and thereby causes interference with their contributions and support from others who have been their victims, they war upon such one to destroy him or his influence. For this reason Jehovah’s witnesses are the object of their bitterest war and attacks. Jehovah’s witnesses do not put handouts into the mouths of the religious prophets and preachers, but are uncompromisingly opposed to religion as being demonism. They preach the truths of the Bible, and this exposes the falsity and duplicity of religious gangsters and causes the honest-hearted seekers after God to quit supporting the religious institutions and the idle, nonproducing clergy. The witnesses also go from house to house with the message in printed and recorded form, that the people may read and hear, so that it is not necessary for the truth-seekers to go to religious meeting- places and put money into the collection plate for the clergyman’s hire. The religious prophets or preachers see their revenue being turned away, that the victims of their racket are being put wise and snatched from their power. Hence they prepare gangster-like war against these benefactors of all who love truth and righteousness and liberty.
34 “They hallow against him a war!” (Rotherham) Such war they carry on by appealing to the politicians and lawmakers and to the police force and “strong-arm squad”; and by influencing the judges of the courts; and by pressure and boycott on the commercial element; and by propaganda and misrepresentation in both the secular and the religious newspapers and periodicals; and by concordats and secret deals with the totalitarian dictators. The clergy speak of this as a “holy war” in behalf of religion or demonism, and hallow such opposition to God’s “strange work”, and thus prove themselves to be “goats”, Jehovah foresaw this warfare, and he warns and strengthens his people against it and invites the enemy to come and to do their worst: “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, 0 Lord. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision; for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” (Joel 3:9-14; see the book Religion, pages 316-340) The faithful remnant and their companions maintain their integrity under such warfare and assaults and refuse to yield any support to the “prophets” of religion.
NO VISION
35 To those who war against His people of integrity giving their undivided allegiance and support to him and his Theocratic Government Jehovah now says: “Therefore night shall be unto you. that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips: for there is no answer of God.” (Mic. 3: 6, 7) The fulfillment of this prophecy marks the coming of the great mental and spiritual darkness upon “Christendom” and her religious leaders. Such religious leaders fear creatures and men, and not Jehovah God, and the Lord withholds from them the light of his revealed truth, because “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him”, and “light is sown for the righteous”. (Pss. 25 : 14; 97:11) By the battle at Shiloh the religious organization of ancient Israel was destroyed, and now the condition has come upon “Christendom” as in the days of Israel right before the disaster of Shiloh, to wit: “And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision.” (1 Sam. 3:1) The prophets of religion are in the darkness of starless night; they are blind leaders of the blind. They are not of the “young men” upon whom the Lord God pours out his spirit of illumination and power and who “see visions” of Jehovah’s Theocratic Government and of his purpose to vindicate his name thereby and to bless the obedient of humankind.–Joel 2: 28.
36 Now we are in “the last days” of demon rule, and the religionists together with their political and commercial allies are groping in the darkness in which the demons have been reserved unto the day of judgment. God, whom they pretend to serve, does not fulfill to them his promise stated to his faithful witness Daniel: “Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people [Jehovah’s witnesses] in the latter days [where we now are] : for yet the vision is for many days.” (Dan. 10:14) The faithful servants and witnesses of Jehovah, however, are the ones that are now favored with the “vision” and they see in the events of these critical da\s the fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel 11:27-45.
37 To another of his faithful witnesses of old Jehovah commanded: "Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” (Hab. 2:2, 3) The religionists have rejected the Word of the Lord, and they have no vision of The Theocracy, the sole hope of mankind. Therefore they and their religious organizations shall be destroyed at Armageddon. “Where there is no vision, the people perish; but he that keepeth the law [of Jehovah God], happy is he.” (Prov. 29:18) There is a “vision”, but not to those religious opposers of The Theocracy. “And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book [the Bible] that is sealed [till the time of the end], which men deliver to one that is learned [in religion], saying. Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed” (Isa. 29: 11) Were Jehovah God to give any such the “vision” they would surely commercialize it, as they have done their religion. “The prophets thereof divine for money.” (Mic. 3:11) To walk in the light and to escape destruction the persons of good-will must quickly turn away from those religionits and unto The Theocracy, upon which the glory of Jehovah shines, making plain his written Word.
38 Jehovah will bring to nought all the predictions and divinations of the “prophets” concerning world domination by a “new world order” or a "new League of Nations”, so that they shall cease to divine and predict and promise, because always with failure and self-exposure to themselves. Jehovah “frustiateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish’’. (Isa. 44: 25) Then those religionists who look wise and pretend to have a vision will be shamed by the Lord. No anti-hate laws against exposing religion to shame and public contempt will be able to protect them. Their hopes for a new day of religion in politics will turn to darkness. Their sun of prosperity will set for ever, and the religious diviners of blessings promised by other ways than by God’s kingdom shall be confounded. All along they have claimed that they are God’s channels of communication and that God answers mankind through the medium of the clergy, and their mouths have been open presumably to give the message from God. But after they begin to cry “Peace and safety!” as their one last prediction, then God will give them reason to “all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God”.–Mic. 3:7.
39 They shall cover their “upper lips” (Hebrew), to not further open their mouths and show their foolishness and lies. Doubtless, when Jehovah gives his emphatic warning to “Christendom's” religious-totalitarian rulers, as stated at Daniel 11:44, “tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him,” then the religious element shall find it prudent to disguise themselves and hide out. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive: but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth. And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands ? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” (Zech. 13:4-6) But they shall not escape destruction. That is God's only answer to them.
SPIRIT
40 In contrast with that disastrous result which has already begun fulfilling upon the religious prophets and diviners, the faithful witness of Jehovah says: “But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.” (Mic. 3:8) Those who presume to act as the spiritual instructors to the nations are filled with the spirit of the world. They make friendship with the world, and hence try to carry on the “good neighbor policy” with Satan's organization. They have utterly failed to declare to either the totalitarian or the democratic section of “Christendom’’ the transgression and sins these commit against Jehovah God and his King. The pontiff at Vatican City refuses to denounce and excommunicate the arbitrary dictator of Germany, or to condemn the rape of Ethiopia or the invasion of Albania and Greece; he pronounces the rebel who set up the dictatorship upon the blood-soaked ruins of the Spanish Republic a “Christian gentleman”. When that disgrace to American judicial history was selling justice for filthy lucre the Vatican knighted him as a “papal knight of the order of St. Gregory the Great”, and not one word of rebuke does that religious Hierarchy utter against him since his recent conviction and imprisonment in Federal jail. Religionists of all denominations close their eyes to history and slap one another on the back in public and carry on a national conference of so-called “Christians” and Jews. They object to anyone discussing contradictory religious doctrines in public or to calling attention to delinquencies and hypocrisies of professional men who are responsible before God and men.
41 This is the day of judgment of “Christendom” and of all the nations. Therefore Jehovah's judgments must be declared against such, and he raises up his “people for his name”, whom he has taken out from the nations. His spirit is his invisible power by which he moves his devoted people in his service. Upon these he pours out his spirit, and he commissions and empowers them to serve as his witnesses. As clearly marked by the facts in evidence, since A.D. 1922 he has poured out his spirit of power, and they have ‘the double portion of Elijah's spirit’, and are filled with the boldness and fearlessness of the prophet Elisha. (2 Ki. 2:9,15) They are blind to everything save only The Theocracy, and, like the blinded Samson, who pulled down the pillars of demonism, they are full of power by the Lord's spirit to use the spiritual weapons of Christian warfare and which weapons are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds of religion or demonism. Jehovah also puts his spirit upon his “other sheep”, the companions of the remnant, just as He put his spirit upon faithful men of old before Christ, to accomplish his will and his work through them.
42 The religionists shrink from the Lord’s judgments written in his Word centuries ago and treat them as intolerant; but the “faithful and wise servant” of the Lord counts it an honor to declare such judgments and to be associated with Christ Jesus, who shall execute those judgments upon the enemy: “To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints.” (Ps. 149:9) Such have boldness in this day of judgment. (1 John 4: 17, 18) They are filled with might, being strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. They have understanding of their relationship to Jehovah and his Theocracy, and therefore have strength. (Prov. 8:14) They glory in the might of no man, but in Jehovah. (Jer. 9:23) They keep covenant with God by fulfilling their commission, being “filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with jovfulness”. –Col. 1:9-11.
(To be continued)
Know therefore that Jehovah thy God, he is God. the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love him and keep his commandments.–Deuteronomy 7: 9, A.R.V.
MEMORIAL
IN A.D 33 Jesus with his disciples kept the passover, as commanded by Jehovah God. That was the last passover. Jesus knew he was soon to be put to death and before that event he must instruct his disciples, and through them instruct others of like precious faith who should follow after, of and concerning his Father's purpose, and therefore he did the things recorded. “And as they were eating [the Passover], Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it: for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins ” (Matt. 26: 26-28) The institution of this memorial by the Lord Jesus took place immediately following the eating of the last passover, and it is the memorial of Jesus’ death that his followers are commanded to annually observe.
The law covenant, which included the yearly passover, was made in Egypt with Moses as the chief one or mediator. The new covenant as foretold at Jeremiah 31:31-34 was made by Jehovah with Christ Jesus while Jesus was on earth (antitypical Egypt), and it was the blood of the Lord Jesus that made good or operative that new covenant. Therefore he said to his disciples, referring to the wine in the cup which represented his lifeblood: “This is my blood of the covenant, . . . Drink ye all of it.”–Matt. 26 : 27, 28, Am. Rev. Ver.
Previously Jesus had uttered these words (John 6:53) : “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” He was then speaking of his “sheep”, the ‘little flock” (Luke 12:32), who become members of Jehovah’s royal house of sons. Otherwise stated, it is the ones begotten of God’s spirit as his sons and taken into the new covenant that must eat the bread and drink the blood. But do not all persons that ever get life have to ‘eat of the bread’? No. only the spiritual sons eat the bread, and drink the blood. All who get life on earth must exercise faith in the lifeblood of Christ Jesus poured out for the remission of sins, but at the institution of the Memorial he was inviting his faithful disciples alone to be broken with him and to be dead with him and to thus share in his death and in his resurrection. Since then his words apply only to those who are consecrated to God and are spirit- begotten. Let it be carefully noted that “Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it”, and gave the broken bread to his disciples and commanded them to eat. The breaking is of very great importance and cannot be ignored or passed over. It is of vital significance to all who participate with Christ Jesus in his kingdom. It means that they must become members of the “body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:12-18, 27) and must be broken with him and therefore die with him in order to share with him in his Kingdom glory.–1 Cor. 11:23, 24
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