The Watchtower, March 1, 1947
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WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY 117 Adams Street - • Brooklyn 1, N.Y., U.S.A
Officers
N. H. Knobb, President Grant Suiter, 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
HIS journal is 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-wllL 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 tor the kingdom of Jehovah God under Christ his beloved King. It is not dogmatic, hut 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.
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RESIGNATION AND NEW APPOINTMENT
Continuously since 1903 W. E. Van Amburgh has been the secretary-treasurer of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, a Pennsylvania corporation. It is therefore with regret that we announce that due to conditions a change has been necessary in the occupancy of this office.
On February 5 last, from his sickbed in the Richmond Memorial Hospital, Staten Island, New York, Brother Van Amburgh issued his resignation from this official position in which he proved himself so faithful and efficient during all these years. His resignation called attention to his incapacity for this service due to his extreme old age and his illness bordering nigh onto death, and recommended the appointment of his then assistant to the post he was obliged to vacate.
The following day the board of directors of the above-named corporation-met at the executive offices in the Bethel home, Brooklyn, N. Y., Brother Van Amburgh perforce being absent. The quorum of directors, with N. H. Knorr, the president, acting as chairman, accepted the resignation tendered and in agreement with Brother Van Amburgh’s recommendation unanimously voted Grant Suiter to be his successor as secretary-treasurer. At the same time the directors voted the framing of a letter to the hospitalized brother, advising him of their acceptance of his resignation and appointment of his successor, and saying, in part:
“While we accept your resignation, we do so with the greatest of love for you. Your physical incapacity is regretted by us and we would prefer to have you continue, if that were possible. However, we are assured that there are ahead of you, by God’s grace and merciful kindness, service privileges without end. Your faithfulness to your covenant has been to the honor and glory of God, and we gladly acknowledge it as a good example of steadfastness in faith and in line of duty. Your proper use of the gifts bestowed upon you by God's spirit gives common good to all, for it has been a joy and blessing to us to work with you. Our mutual worship of Jehovah continues to bind us with you and with each other, and this unity is emphasized by the circumstances of your illness and resignation.”
This letter of notification was immediately carried by messenger to his bedside, where Brother Van Amburgh was still in physical and mental condition to read its contents. He was thankful and greatly refreshed. We are sure his successor will carry on in office just as faithfully, to the vindication of Jehovah’s name.
This accounts for the change in the heading of this page, first column.
On February 7, at 6:15 a.m., Brother Van Amburgh passed on to his heavenly reward.
“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES
Week of April 6: “Libel-Sedition Cases, Past and to Be Expected,” fl 1-20 inclusive, The Watchtower March 1, 1947.
Week of April 13: “Libel-Sedition Cases, Past and to Be Expected,” fl 21-41 inclusive, The Watchtower March 1, 1947.
ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM
Vol. LXVII1
Maech 1, 1947
No. 5
LIBEL AND SEDITION AGAINST GOD
“The LORD is king forever and ever; the nations will perish from his land.”—Ps. 10:16, An Amer. Trans.
JEHOVAH God is forever the Supreme Govern-I ment. He is the one Universal Ruler. Creatures J in heaven and in earth, both invisible to us and visible, all come under his all-inclusive sway. A seditious movement to unseat him from his supreme position and to overturn his universal authority was launched about six thousand years ago. It has made no progress toward success. It never will, no matter how much longer the Almighty God lets it go on. There is persuasive evidence that the seditious movement took on the form of armed insurrection in the heavens A.D. 1914, marked by world-stirring events visible here upon this earth. Yet the fact remains unchanged, that Jehovah reigns as King. For thousands of years this earth has been a hotspot of sedition against God. It will shortly be compelled to acknowledge His universal reign. Happy are those who now recognize it and live in harmony with it!
2 The prime mover of sedition against Him Jehovah still lets go on in his way. Today the great danger to men and women is that of being drawn into the wicked movement and being found in it when it is finally put down by wholesale execution of all the seditionists at Armageddon. The Lord God has let it continue on into this postwar era for the testing of the loyalty of men and women to Him. That is a leading reason why he has permitted such seditious wickedness all this while until at last he vindicates his universal sovereignty. His vindication will mean life and joy to all the loyal ones. Hence the timely command of Psalm 117:1 now goes forth: “Oh praise Jehovah, all ye nations.”—Am. Stan. Ver.
3 The results are always happier if a human creature praises Jehovah God rather than libeling or blaspheming, him. In sacred Scripture libel (blasphemy) and sedition are closely linked together. Sedition is the word applied to a commotion or the raising of a commotion in a state or country, but which commotion does not break out in insurrection. It is an excitement to discontent toward a government or to resistance against lawful authority. It is conduct leaning toward treason but which falls short of treason for want of some open act.1 On the other hand, libel is the word now used to mean any statement of defamation against another person, whether by mouth or in writing. And in law, libel is used to mean any statement or representation published without just cause or excuse. It may be expressed in print or writing, or by pictures, effigies, or other signs visible, tending to expose another to public hatred, contempt or ridicule. In a larger sense, libel is the publication of such writings, pictures, or like things, as are of a blasphemous, treasonable, seditious, or offensively unclean kind.1
4 Of course, the first mover and organizer of sedition against the Lord God is His opposer and adversary. The specific name of identification that God’s Holy Word gives to such opposer is Satan, for that is what this name means. He was also the first to commit libel against God, and on that account God’s Word calls him Devil, for this name means libeler or slanderer. Shall we say, then, that Satan the Devil was guilty of seditious libel? Yes; although today, in law, statements made by word of mouth are not classed as libel, but as slander; and that which is written or published which defames a person and tends to provoke and irritate him and expose him to shame, hatred, ridicule or contempt is classed as libel. What is stated or published may be true; but if it is published with malice and evil intent, without good reason or excuse, then the truth of what is contained in the libel does not ordinarily stand as a defense for the party charged with the libel.
5 In the case of Satan the Devil, there was not only no truth in his libel, but no reason or excuse for his libel and sedition. Pure malice and evil design moved him, in order to disturb the public peace and good order of the universe against Jehovah God. On all counts his libel was actionable in the courts of God and according to the lines of a criminal proceeding. God did take action, too, because his universal sovereignty was involved, and his good name also. In the face of God’s first action against seditious
libel and the sentence he pronounced upon the criminal starting it, how foolish it is for men and for human governments and religious organizations today to think that they can engage in libel and sedition against Jehovah God and can come off unpunished! Enough examples are recorded in the Bible to show that men and political governments and religious organizations will be called to judgment before the divine bar for libel and sedition against Jehovah God. All these examples were recorded and preserved for the warning of men, nations and organizations today.—1 Cor. 10:11.
LIBEL-SEDITION CASES, PAST AND TO BE EXPECTED
SATAN the Devil put on a stage play before humankind to put across his libel against the name of the Universal Sovereign Jehovah. The invisible Satan used as his visible actor the subtile snake or serpent, against a background of trees of the garden of Eden. He did so in order to frame Jehovah God as a liar and selfish oppressor, trying to run an absolute, dictatorial government over mankind on earth. With deceptive purpose, Satan caused the serpent to say or represent to the woman Eve this question: “And so God has said that you are not to eat from any tree of the garden?” Not suspecting deception by the serpent, the woman replied that only concerning the tree in the middle of the garden had God said: “You may not eat any of it, nor touch it, lest you die.” Now came the downright libel, when the serpent said or enacted the words: “You would not die at all; for God knows that the very day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods who know good from evil.”—Gen. 3:1-5, An Amer. Trans.
2 With those words or representations it was not the mere visible serpent that slandered and libeled God in order to stir up discontent 'with his government and disobedience against such. It was the Devil, Satan, invisibly behind that serpent. That this is fact, and not imagination, the apostle Paul shows when he warns Christians against disloyalty to Jesus Christ, saying: “I am afraid that just as the serpent by his cunning deceived Eve, your thoughts will be led astray from their single-hearted fidelity to Christ. For when somebody comes along and preaches another Jesus than the one I preached, or you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it well enough! Such men are sham apostles, dishonest workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan himself masquerades as a shining angel. So it is nothing strange if his servants also masquerade as servants of uprightness. But their doom will fit their actions.”—2 Cor. 11:3,4,13-15, An Amer. Trans.
8 Not a fragment of truth was in what Satan the Devil said or serpentized to Eve. The malice behind its falsity was shown in its leading Eve and Adam into disobedience to the Universal Sovereign Jehovah God and to their untimely death. This is why Jesus Christ said to his religious persecutors: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44) When Jesus said the Devil was a murderer from the beginning he did not mean that God had created this murderous devil. The inspired Scriptures make clear that this heavenly spirit creature now known as Satan the Devil was a holy, perfect spirit creature at the beginning of his existence when Almighty God made him. The words of the prophecy fit him, which say: “Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; . . . Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so:... Thou wast perfect in thy ways, from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” (Ezek. 28:12-15) In such words God clears himself of having produced Satan the Devil, and shows that the “anointed cherub that covereth” made a devil out of himself by ambition leading to iniquity. God tells when he found this iniquity in this anointed cherub by saying: “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.”—Ezek. 28:17.
4 The anointed cherub in Eden corrupted his Godgiven wisdom by lifting himself up with self-admiration and pride and then using superhuman cunning to deceive Eve into seditious action against God by a lie, a libel, a slander. The sentencing of Adam and Eve to death quickly followed this. But it was not the death of this human pair that the corrupted cherub, Satan the Devil, had sought. He was out after something bigger than that; for what could he do with just two dead humans ? Satan was out to skyrocket himself up to an equality with God in ruling the universe, if not also to shoot higher to a superiority over God in exercising the universal sovereignty. Satan was speaking seditiously against Jehovah’s government when he told Eve that by
4. Of what else was Satan guilty there, and bow so? disobedience to God’s law and eating the forbidden fruit she and Adam would become like gods capable of determining for themselves what is good and what is wrong. Satan was plotting an uprising against God’s government, and he succeeded in getting Eve discontented and contemptuous of it. Satan himself was discontented and contemptuous of it, and now he aimed to set up a government of his own, independent of God and with unchecked control over mankind. On the way to this seditious goal he used libel. Ever since then libel and sedition have gone hand in hand as wicked weapons against Jehovah’s universal sovereignty.
5 The seditiousness of the purpose of this bright-shining “anointed cherub” is turned inside out for us in God’s prophetic word, at Isaiah 14:12-15, which says: “How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: ... I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” To aid him in his ascent beyond the clouds that hug this earth to a super-earthly rulership like that of the Most High God, Satan the Devil caused Babylon to be established upon earth. Hence the Bible uses that political, religious organization of Babylon to symbolize Satan’s organization as a whole in heaven and in earth. It is a rival against God’s sovereignty.
BABYLON, TBE MOTHER SYSTEM
* If we believe the Bible, then we must honestly admit that all political and religious systems of men have their foundation and roots in ancient Babylon. This is no seditious libel against the political and religious systems of today, no more so than that the Bible that gives us this information is a libel against modern-day political governments and church-state systems. In fact, to publish otherwise would be seditious libel against God, for which we would be accountable to him. Christians and Jews are supposed to believe the ancient Hebrew Scriptures of the Bible. Such Scriptures publish to us the information that whatever man-made governments and religious systems existed on earth before the flood of Noah’s day perished because of their corruptness, violence and blasphemy. The same Scriptures publish to all readers that the first man-made political government organized on earth after the flood was Babylon, as a pattern for other political, religious systems that soon followed. We here reproduce simply what the Scriptures say, at Genesis 10: 8-12, in An American Translation: “Cush was the father of Nimrod, who was the first person on the earth to be a despot. He was a mighty hunter in the sight of the LORD; hence the saying, ‘As mighty a hunter in the sight of the LORD as Nimrod.’ The nucleus of his kingdom was Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar; from that region he pushed out into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and Resen, the large city lying between Nineveh and Calah.” The cross became the sacred symbol in Nineveh.*
’ In view of the known history of Babylon and Nineveh, and in view of Isaiah’s above-quoted words addressed to the “king of Babylon” (Isa. 14:4), will any Bible-believing Jew or Christian claim that Jehovah God set up Nimrod as despot or king in Babylon? Did God ordain Nimrod to be the “higher powers”, the “powers that be”, to whom Noah, Shem, Abraham and other servants of God should be subject, whether right or wrong against God? Nimrod’s being a “mighty hunter in the sight of the LORD” does not mean approval in the Lord’s sight. The American Standard translation of Genesis 10:9,10 reads: “He was a mighty hunter before Jehovah: wherefore it is said, Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Jehovah. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel,” etc. Here the phrase “before Jehovah” means ahead of Jehovah, anti-Jehovah, or in opposition to Jehovah. So it is explained in the religious Cyclopaedia of McClintock and Strong, Volume 7, page 109, column 1; and also in the Jews’ Targum of Jonathan and the Targum of Jerusalem, and also by the Jewish historian Josephus.t—Compare Genesis 6:11.
8 Nimrod’s government and rule were seditious against Jehovah’s rightful rulership over all the earth. Also the saying that was said in praise of his successors and his political imitators, that is, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Jehovah,” was libelous against God. This explains why Nimrod, after his death, was claimed to be, not dead, but alive in the invisible world as a god, and he was deified. There is no question that the mighty hunter Nimrod, during his kingship over Babylon, permitted, yes, demanded that his subjects worship him instead of Jehovah God whom Nimrod defied. Thus Nimrod combined religion with his government. He made
* See Layard’s Nineveh and Babylon, page 211; Nineveh and Its Remains, volume 2, pages 170, 346.
t The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel says: “From the foundation of the world none was ever found like Nimrod, powerful in hunting, and in rebellions against the Lord.”
The Jerusalem Targum says: “He was mighty in hunting (or in prey) and in sin before God, for he was a hunter of the children of men in their languages; and he said unto them, Depart from the religion of Shem, and cleave to the institutes of Nimrod.”
See also Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, Chapter 4, paragraphs 2, 3.
7. In what way was Nimrod mighty “before Jehovah”?
8. What kind of government and rule were Nimrod’s? himself religious head of Babylon and so united religion with the state.
•Nimrod’s example in the political and religious fields has been copied by countless pagan rulers since, down into the so-called “Christian era”, and notably so at Rome. Augustus Caesar, who ruled in the “golden age” of the Roman Empire, died in the fourteenth year of this “Christian era”. At death he was numbered among the gods, and temples and altars were erected to him. Emperor Claudius Caesar, who preceded the notorious Nero, died A.D. 54, and was likewise deified, and statues were raised to him to which the honors of worship were paid. At least in the case of pagan rulers Satan the Devil pretended to make good his promise: “Ye shall be as gods,” gods in the pagan religious institutions. This was seditious toward Jehovah God, because it turned men away from the worship of Him and from allegiance to His universal sovereignty.
10 Two and a half centuries later Constantine installed himself as emperor of Rome. He assumed the title of Pontifex Maximus, meaning “Chief Priest”, in order that he might supervise all the religious activities of the empire. He presided at the Nicean Council A.D. 325, which he had called together for the sake of religious peace. There as Pontifex Maximus, Emperor Constantine was the one to decree that the doctrine of a trinity of three gods in one person should be the rule of belief among those claiming to be Christians. Constantine enforced this religious decree by the sword of the state. Claiming to have been converted to Christianity, he combined church and state, with himself as binding tie. He was shrewd enough to clothe the person of the political head of the state with a sacredness that would class him as inviolable, untouchable by any subjects of the empire.
11 Gratian, who became emperor A.D. 378, refused to take upon himself the title and insignia of Pontifex Maximus, even though till then this had been considered a dignity inseparably annexed to the office of emperor. Although Gratian, a politician, refused to wear the title of “pontifex maximus” because it was of pagan origin and did not befit a Christian, the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome promptly picked it up, pope Damasus, Emperor Gratian’s contemporary, being first to do so, it appears. Hence Eusebius Jerome, whom pope Damasus appointed to translate the Bible into Latin, put the term pontifex into the Latin Vulgate Bible and applied it to Jesus Christ. Certainly, in officiating under the title pontifex maximus of pagan origin the popes of Rome do not serve and glorify Jehovah God, but the one who instituted the office of “pontifex maximus”, namely, “the god of this world,” Satan the Devil.
12 It does not surprise us, therefore, that the pope is called “vice-god”, as representing Almighty God on earth, and that honors, worship and titles that should be paid to the living and true God, Jehovah, are paid by Roman Catholics to a pope created by a college of cardinals.* The seditiousness of such conduct can be seen in the light of the divine statement at Isaiah 42:8: “I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images.” (Am. Stan. Ver.) The Christian who is loyal to the Supreme One of the universe in the midst of a seditious world will act in harmony with the apostolic words at 1 Corinthians 8:4-7: “We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one. For although there be that are called gods, either in heaven or on earth (for there be gods many, and lords many); yet to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom-are all things, and we unto him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. But there is not [this] knowledge in every one.” (Catholic Douay Version) A religious ruler that claims to be a Christian and that at the same time does not act according to this apostolic rule is guilty of blasphemy or libel and sedition against Jehovah God and His Christ, and brings great reproach upon both God and Christ.
AN OFT-USED TRICK
” A favorite trick resorted to by men of this world of which Satan the Devil is god is this: to accuse Jehovah’s faithful servants of the very things of which they themselves are culpable before God, namely, libel and sedition. The Holy Scriptures make a number of examples prominent, which our times make it advisable to review here briefly. Because it is the universal sovereignty of the eternal God Jehovah that is implicated, examples are to be found many centuries before Christ. Our first example cited here finds its location in the seventh century before Christ. The one accused is Jehovah’s prophet Jeremiah. Who are his accusers, please? Do
• To quote: “The following, called The Adoration, is still a part of the ceremony connected with the installation of a new pope. The new pope, clad in white, studded with many brilliant gems, and wearing red shoes with large gold crosses for buckles, is conducted to the altar, where he kneels. Then,—‘The pope rises, and, wearing his mitre, is lifted up by the cardinals and placed by them upon the altar-throne to sit there. One of the bishops kneels, and the singing of Te Deum [We praise thee, 0 God] begins. Meantime the cardinals kiss the feet and hands and face of the pope.’ A coin representing this ceremony, struck in the Papal mint, bears the words, ‘Whom they create, they adore.’ ” —The Time Ie at Sand, page 316, paragraph 2. (1889)
12 . How Is the seditiousneBS of the pope seen In the light of Isaiah 42:8 and 1 Corinthians 8:4-7?
13 . To what favorite trick do worldly men resort? and why Ls Jeremiah’s case brought up as an example? not be shocked, but the Bible record says they are the priests and prophets of Jerusalem: "Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.” (Jer. 26:11) The “city” was Jerusalem, the reputed holy city with its temple built by King Solomon. Now if Jeremiah had spoken against these "sacred” things, then he would appear to be guilty of both libel and sedition, because both the priests and the royal government were involved. Yes, Jeremiah had thus spoken. At Jeremiah 7:8-18 this prophet wrote down what he had spoken standing there in the temple gates, namely:
14 “Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods that ye have not known, and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered; that ye may do all these abominations? Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, saith Jehovah. But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the .wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith Jehovah, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not: therefore will I do unto the house [temple] which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim [in 740 B.C.]. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear thee. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.” —Am. Stan. Ver.
13 The above words being uttered in public right in the holy city of Jerusalem, nay, more, right in the temple precincts, were they not liable to stir up public -commotion, rioting, and a mob? That is exactly what they did. The sacred Record tells us: “And it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Jehovah had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. Why hast thou prophesied in the name of Jehovah, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant? And all the people were gathered unto Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah.” (Jer. 26:8,9, Am. Stan. Ver.) Some persons will say, Well, now, surely such- public indignation and religious uprising must prove that Jeremiah’s words were seditious libel, which brought the royal government of Jerusalem into contempt and irritated the religious sensibilities of the temple priests, the religious prophets and the temple-goers. Granting that Jeremiah spoke the truth about making the temple a den of robbers, and stealing, murdering, committing adultery, swearing falsely, burning incense to Baal and worshiping pagan gods, and making cakes to the queen of heaven, yet, despite all that religious racket, did Jeremiah have a right to say this in public? Did he have just cause or excuse for speaking such things openly, at the capital?
16 WTiat clears Jeremiah of all libel, blasphemy and sedition in this case is that Jehovah God himself sent Jeremiah and commanded him to speak thus in His name in the temple courts where the religionists could hear his words. What the Most High God commanded his witness on earth to declare could not be libelous and seditious, for surely God is not libelous and seditious against himself. What is more, those temple-goers all professed to be God’s covenantpeople and His worshipers. Hence, taking them at their claims, it was right and consistent that Jeremiah say these things to them at God’s command. He did not speak with malicious intent, but in obedience to God. In proof that Jeremiah’s chief cause and excuse for saying his cutting message was God’s commandment to him we read:
17 "In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from Jehovah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Stand in the court of Jehovah’s house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Jehovah’s house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word. It may be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way; that I may repent me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings. And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah: If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send unto you, even rising up early and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; then will I make this house like Shiloh [robbed of its ark of the covenant, symbol of God’s presence], and will make this city [Jerusalem] a
16. What clears Jeremiah of the charges made against him?
17. What does the record at Jeremiah 26:1-7 show? curse to all the nations of the earth. And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Jehovah.” —Jer. 26:1-7, Am. Stan. Ver.
18 In court, after the prosecution by the priests and. prophets had been heard, Jeremiah made his defense. He asked for dismissal of the case on the ground that he had spoken by God’s command. Jehovah had ordained him to preach what he did, and therefore these Israelites who professed to worship God were under obligation to hear. If they heard and heeded, it would be for their good. “Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, Jehovah sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard. Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of Jehovah your God; and Jehovah will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you. But as for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as is good and right in your eyes. Only know ye for certain that, if ye put me to death, ye will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof; for of a truth Jehovah hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.”—Jer. 26:12-15, Am. Stan. Ver.
19 To kill Jeremiah on the baseless charge of seditious libel would not remedy matters; it would merely increase their own guilt of libel and sedition against the Lord God. It would stain them and their holy city with the blood of Jehovah’s innocent witness. So Jeremiah rested his case with this warning. What now would the politicians of Jerusalem do? Would they fearfully side with those priests and false prophets and fanatical people? or would they decide the case on its merits, regardless of the fact that Jeremiah was Jehovah’s witness? Today in acting upon charges of libel and sedition, at the instigation of priests and preachers and Action Societies, the politicians and judges do well to note how the men handling Jeremiah’s case came to a decision. They had two opposite precedents to follow in disposing of charges against Jeremiah. They were prevailed upon by common sense and good judgment to follow the right precedent. “Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets: This man is not worthy of death; for he hath spoken to us in the name of Jehovah our God.” Here let us listen to the observing elder men defending Jeremiah:
20 “Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying, Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house [the temple] as the high places of a forest. Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death ? did he not fear Jehovah, and entreat the favor of Jehovah, and Jehovah repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus should we [in not following Hezekiah’s example] commit great evil against our own souls.”
21 Possibly, the religious elders that thirsted for Jeremiah’s blood were the ones to bring up the opposite argument, in favor of his death: “And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of Jehovah, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt. And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt; and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king, who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.” (Jer. 26:16-23, Am. Stan.Ver.) King Jehoiakim’s reign had just started. So any elders presenting this argument to get Jeremiah killed for libel and sedition could not know what would be the king’s end for killing the prophet Uriah. Whereas the merciful King Hezekiah had his life prolonged fifteen years and died an honorable death in peace, the murderous King Jehoiakim came under siege by Emperor Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and died a violent death. He got the kind of burial given to a jackass thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.
22 Furthermore, eleven years later Jeremiah’s words came true upon those accusing him of seditious libel, and Jerusalem and her temple were destroyed worse than Shiloh by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. ( Jer. 22:18,19; 2 Chron. 36: 5-8,14-21) That destruction of unfaithful Jerusalem pictured the coming destruction of Christendom and her religious organization at the “battle of that great day of God Almighty”, Armageddon.—Rev. 16:14-16.
23 There was at least one prince that was not priest-ridden. No doubt through him Jeremiah was acquitted of libel and sedition. The divine Record says: “Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.” Prince Ahikam’s son, Gedaliah, survived the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah, who had not
21, 22. (a) What opposite precedent did other elders cite? (b) What developments showed which precedent was the proper one?
23. What prince was active for saving Jeremiah’s life? run away like Uriah, also survived.—Jer. 26:24; 39:8-14.
ILLEGAL PREVENTIVE ACTION
24 Satan’s purpose in causing Jeremiah and other witnesses of Jehovah to be accused of libel and seditious conspiracy against a religion-controlled political state is to get them out of the way. It is to prevent their giving further testimony to God’s purposes. He turns it into a political matter, to involve them with the state. Satan hates all those who do not look up to him and his worldly organization as “the higher powers” and who therefore do not side in with his ambitions for world domination. He considers their faithful preaching and allegiance to the Most High God as libel and sedition against him and his wicked world. One method that he has often used is this: He has them accused of seditious designs, and then, supposedly to prevent such from breaking forth into overt acts, he oppresses them by taking away their freedom and liberties, imprisoning them or even lulling them. An early instance of this took place in Egypt some time after the death of Joseph, the prisoner who became prime minister, second only to Pharaoh.
25 A Pharaoh came to power that did not regard the national good that the Hebrew Joseph did to Egypt. Noting the increase of the Hebrew population who worshiped Jehovah, he accused them of a long-range plot to rise in armed insurrection against the government in a time of war with its enemies. Hitler-like, Pharaoh used this as an excuse to begin wiping out this race of worshipers of Jehovah. “He said to his people, ‘See, the Israelite people have become too numerous and too strong for us; come, let us take precautions against them lest they become so numerous that in the case of a war they should join forces with our enemies and fight against us, and so escape from the land.’ Accordingly, gangforemen were put in charge of them, to oppress them with their heavy labor.” Slave labor failing to cut down the Israelite increase, Pharaoh next resorted to ordering the Israelite boy babies to be lulled right after birth. (Ex. 1:8-22, An Amer. Trans.) Pharaoh was a devil-worshiper. His reasons for taking such discriminatory, unjust, racial precautions were groundless, fictitious. They were simply the Devil’s scheme through him to exterminate Jehovah’s chosen people.
26 About a thousand years later, or in the sixth century before Christ, another instance came of using the false charge of sedition to interfere with the work of Jehovah’s servants. A faithful Jewish remnant had just returned from captivity in Babylon to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. This remnant under Governor Zerubbabel and the high priest Jeshua refused to let the heathenish religionists have any part in the temple-building, lest they defile it. Therefore the heathenish adversaries determined to have the temple-work stopped altogether by the imperial government. To this end they sent a letter of misrepresentation to the emperor, Ahasuerus or Artaxerxes I. They represented themselves as great patriots loyal to the government, but the Jewish temple-builders as seditionists. Among other things their letter to Emperor Artaxerxes said concerning Jerusalem: “Therefore be it known to the king, that if this city be rebuilt and its Walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and immediately it will injure the revenue of the kings. Now because we eat the salt of the palace and it is not fitting for us to behold the king’s dishonor, therefore we have sent and informed the king, that search be made in the book of the records of your fathers; for you will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city and one that causes damage to kings and provinces and that the Jews have stirred up sedition in it from ancient times, for which cause this city was laid waste.”
27 To counter this letter, King Artaxerxes did not look up the state records about the faithful Jew Daniel as prime minister of Medo-Persia, nor the unchangeable decree of King Cyrus for rebuilding the temple. Hence he wrote back: “I gave command and search has been made, and it has been found that this city from ancient times has been rebellious against kings and that rebellion and sedition have taken place in it. . . . Now give command that these men cease and that this city be not rebuilt until a decree shall be issued by me.” (Ezra 4:1-21, An Amer. Trans.) Armed with such orders, the advei-saries forced the temple-work to stop. Finally, the Jewish remnant pressed a legal fight for their rights and obligations to Jehovah and pushed their case straight up to the imperial government of King Darius II. They caused the true facts to be made known, which the government quickly verified as the truth. Then the temple-work was reopened and brought to a completion,'greatly to the shame of the howlers of “Sedition!”—Ezra, chapters 5, 6.
28 Daniel has just been mentioned. He too came under the enemy’s wicked charges of a political kind. King Darius I made Daniel the prime minister of the Medo-Persian Empire. The leading underofficers of the empire tried to put Daniel out of his presidential office because he prevented their graft and racketeering. Knowing Daniel’s unbreakable faithfulness in worshiping Jehovah God, they schemed to use this to trap Daniel into an appearance of sedi-
27. What did King Artaxerxes then write back? and how were the effects of his letter overcome later on?
28. How was Daniel accused of sedition, and how vindicated? tion against the imperial ruler himself. They said: “We shall find no ground of complaint against this Daniel, unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.” (Dan. 6:5, An Amer. Trans.) They framed mischief by law in order that Daniel’s prayers to God would be legally branded as sedition and a breach of loyalty to the deified state-ruler, Darius I. In this test regarding universal sovereignty Daniel chose to worship Jehovah as Universal Sovereign and God of prayer. For loyalty to God Daniel was cast to the lions, but his preservation overnight in the lions’ den proved him innocent of sedition against King Darius. It exposed the malicious purpose behind the wickedly-framed sedition law. Hence its framers were thrown to the lions, whose mouths Almighty God now permitted to be unlocked to tear them to pieces and crunch their bones.
28 Previously, Daniel’s three Hebrew fellow captives had refused to fall down and idolize the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar set up in Babylon, Their faithfulness to Jehovah was condemned as an act of sedition which brought the religious decrees of the king into public contempt. The Chaldeans, the then priestly class, were the ones to interpret the Hebrews’ refusal to break God’s commandment against idol-worship as sedition against King Nebuchadnezzar. So Jehovah’s three faithful worshipers were chucked into the fiery furnace for their “crime” of obedience to His universal sovereignty. Thus their innocence was obliged/to be proved by fiery ordeal. Jehovah’s sovereign power prevailed over fire, and they were delivered alive from the midst of the blazing furnace, to explode the enemy charge of “Sedition!” Then Jehovah’s vindicated servants and witnesses were promoted still higher in office in the province of Babylon. (Dan. 3:1-30) This deliverance and that of all other servants of Jehovah above named are examples. They are typical prophecies of how He will likewise deliver his faithful witnesses of today when charged with libel and sedition for worshiping Him.
CHRISTIANS NOT ABOVE JESUS CHRIST
80 All the unswerving worshipers of Jehovah God from the first martyr Abel down to John the Bap-tizer, Jesus’ forerunner, the apostle Paul describes as a “cloud of witnesses”. (Heb. 11:1-40; 12:1) Jesus said to his faithful apostles and through them to all his other faithful followers: “The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.” (John 15: 20) After his resurrection from the dead this Jesus said respecting himself: “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” (Rev. 3:14) Despite his being the faithful and true witness of the Lord God, yet Jesus was accused of blasphemy or libel and of sedition. When the priests and scribes and people clamored to the Roman governor Pilate for Jesus’ death on a torture stake, they said: “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” (John 19:7) They said this although Jesus had earlier refuted their false charge of blasphemy or libel against God, as reported at John 10:22-38. According to Moses’ law under which Jesus as a Jew was bom, a blasphemer must be .stoned to death. Leviticus 24:16 reads: “And he that blasphemeth the name of Jehovah, he shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him.” (Am. Stan. Ver.) A Jew might properly blaspheme or revile the false heathen gods, but not the true God Jehovah. (1 Ki. 18:27) A number of times the Jews tried to stone Jesus as a blasphemer, but now, to escape blood guilt, they schemed for Rome to kill him.
81 Communism of the Karl Marx kind did not exist in Jesus’ day, or else the religious priests, scribes and Pharisees might have laid the charge of “Communism!” against Jesus before Rome’s governor in Judea. Not being able to accuse Jesus and his disciples of being the “advance column of the Communists", the religionists used the Devil’s favorite trick of accusing Jesus of sedition against Rome. That Rome of the Caesars was the kind of Rome that the Fascist Duce, Benito Mussolini, tried to revive by dictatorial rule, by the 1929 Lateran treaty with the Roman pope, by invasion of Ethiopia and Albania, and by the 1940 “stab in the back” of France while being overrun by Nazi aggressors. On what grounds did the religious leaders base their false charge of sedition! On Jesus’ having preached the kingdom of God and having said: “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s: and to God the things that are God’s.”—Luke 8:1 and 20: 25, Douay V ersion.
82 See now how the religious element contrived to get political agents to do their dastardly desires against God’s “faithful and true witness”, Jesus. We read (Douay Version): “And the whole multitude of them rising up, led him to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying: We have found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he is Christ the king.” But neither Governor Pilate, nor later King Herod, found any guilt of sedition in Jesus. To carry out 31. Why was Jesus not accused of Communism, but why of sedition? 32. How did the religionists get the political element to carry out their desires against Jesus?
his custom of releasing a political prisoner at Passover time, Pilate let the religionists choose between Barabbas and Jesus; concerning which we read: “But the whole multitude together cried out, saying: Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas: who, for a certain sedition made in the city, and for a murder, was cast into prison.” Their insistent cries prevailed over Pilate’s unwillingness. “And he released unto them him who for murder and sedition, had been cast into prison, whom they had desired; but Jesus he delivered up to their will.” (Luke 23:1-25) Thus the religionists chose freedom for the actual seditionist and rioted for the innocent witness of Jehovah God to be held under arrest pending execution with torture. Religion was therefore directly accountable for Jesus’ death; but all the water-washing of Pilate’s hands could not clear the political element of Rome from partnership in the crime due to the politician’s weakly giving in to the wicked demands of religion.
33 If Jesus was accused of libel and sedition against this world, so was also his follower the apostle Paul. At Thessalonica (now Salonika, Greece) the Jewish religionists stirred up a riot in the city and said respecting Paul and his fellow missionaries: “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; . . . and these all do contrary to the decrees of Cassar, saying that there is another Idng, one Jesus.” Under how much bail they put Jason, Paul’s entertainer, raising it or not, is not known, but the Catholic Confraternity translation says: “And they accepted bail from Jason and the rest and then let them go.”—Acts 17:5-9.
34 At Ephesus, where the catholic worship of the goddess “Diana of the Ephesians” was centered, the leader of the guild of workers who made fat money by manufacturing images and shrines of their “queen of heaven”, accused Paul of libel or blasphemy against her. Demetrius said to the guilds-men: “Almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: so that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.” After the city uproar and rioting that followed this speech of incitement, Paul left Ephesus for other parts. (Acts 19: 24-41; 20:1) Later, when Paul stood court action before Governor Felix at Caesarea, the spokesman for Ananias the Jewish high priest prosecuted Paul, saying: “We have found this to be a pestilent man, and raising seditions among all the Jews throughout the world, and author of the sedition of the sect of the Naza-renes. Who also hath gone about to profane the temple.” (Acts 24:1-6, Douay) Here again the same old charge of sedition as well as blasphemy or libel is leveled at a follower of Jesus to put a stop to his preaching.
WHAT TO EXPECT
35 Jesus’ own words, and all the afore-cited cases, are a warning for us of what to expect during this postwar period all the way down to the battle of Armageddon. There finally the supreme issue of the sovereignty of the universe will be decided against Satan, “the god of this world,” and in vindication of Jehovah. Satan the Devil and his political, religious and commercial world have not changed their tactics, even in this twentieth century. In the eighteenth year of this century, near the climax of World War I, a charge of seditious conduct was brought against Jehovah’s -witnesses in these United States, and the religious forces of Christendom rejoiced over the sentencing and imprisonment of leading officials and servants of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.* But the falsity of the sedition charge, and the innocence and vindication of the witnesses of Jehovah, were established in 1920, after the case was reviewed in a higher coprt and the judgment was reversed, and the falsely accused ones were later cleared of all the wicked charges.*
36 It should frighten no true Christian that the Devil’s same hoary charges of sedition and libel should be raised in this period following World War II. It has always served the Devil well, and especially the religious part of his world organization, to trump up these charges against peace-loving witnesses of Jehovah God who in obedience to him go about peacefully preaching the good news of His kingdom by Christ and who try to educate the people in the pure truths of the Bible, free from religious error. The purpose of accusations against them by religious leaders that exercise great influence over political leaders is plain. It is to stir up the arm of the law to take action and to wield the sword of the state and cut off the witnesses of the supreme Universal Sovereign and destroy their testimony. This is done in order that the oppressed and bedarkened people may not get the freedomgiving truth.
* See The Watch Tower of July 1 and 15,1918; also of April 1 and June 1, 1919, and of June 1, 1920. Also the Brooklyn Eagle, of May 15, 1919. The cases above were dismissed by the government, thus ending the prosecutions following the reversal. The Supreme Court of the United States in World War II held that the preaching activity of Jehovah’s witnesses was not seditious as charged by the State of Mississippi. Similar results were reached by courts in Kentucky and Indiana.
35. Of what do Jesus’ words and the above given cases give us warning? and what example of this did we have in 1918?
36. Why has the Devil always trumped up these charges against the witnesses of Jehovah?
" We are in the so-called “atomic age”, when world government on a global scale by the participation of all nations is seen to be a dire need for preserving the political, commercial and religious systems. Such a world-government creature was foreseen and foretold in God’s Word, the Bible. Its being ridden by organized religion was shown up in vision to the apostle John, who was then in exile on the island of Patmos evidently on a charge of sedition against the Roman Empire. John writes: “I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” Then concerning the political powers which are thus saddled with religion and which go to make up this combination creature for world domination John further writes: “These have one design: and their strength and power they shall deliver to the beast. These shall fight with the Lamb [Jesus Christ], and the Lamb shall overcome them, because he is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and they that are with him are called, and elect, and faithful.”—Apocalypse 17: 3,13,14, Douay Version.
38 The scarlet-colored “beast” is thus pre-described for us as full of the names of blasphemy. Why? Because today it denies to Jehovah God the world domination that belongs to him and it takes to itself the power to rule the world for all time, with lasting peace and security. It advertises itself as about to do what only Almighty God in heaven can do and has prophesied to do through his King Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. The world-government “beast” is therefore guilty of blasphemy and libel against Jehovah God. Its armed opposition to the coming thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ is also bluntly stated by John, thus showing it guilty of sedition against the Universal Sovereign, earth’s Creator. But beware: Just as those guilty of crimes are accustomed to turn around and accuse innocent ones of the very crimes of which they are guilty, so it may be expected in this postwar period. The united powers of this royal-colored “beast” will turn attention away from its guilt by accusing Jehovah’s witnesses of libel, blasphemy and sedition. Why? Because Jehovah’s witnesses are consecrated to His side of the controversy over the universal domination and are under his command in the Bible to expose the blasphemy of the world organization and to expose also its fight against God. Such work of exposure the world-organization “beast” will condemn as seditious libel and conspiracy. The woman (organized religion) riding the “beast” will join in the condemnation of God’s witnesses, for we read: “And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs [witnesses] of Jesus.”—Apoc. 17:6, Douay Version.
” Mindful of God’s faithful servants of bygone centuries who were subjected to like false charges of libel and sedition, we will not fear the enemy’s accusations and the actions based on them. We will look upon such accusations as an opportunity and reason for us to bear the name of Jehovah Go'd and of his Christ before the United Nations, and kings, governors, judges and clergy, for a witness against all of them. We shall view our wrongly accused position as an opportunity to share with Jesus Christ the King in the vindication of his heavenly Father’s name by standing fast for the supremacy and sovereignty of Jehovah God, even if it be to imprisonment or a death permitted at enemy hands. By all legal and Christian ways we will continue to fight for our God-given rights and liberty to preach his Word, all of it, offend whom it may. In 1914 Jehovah’s kingdom by Jesus Christ was established in the heavens, and we will continue to preach it to all nations, that men of good-will toward God may turn from the seditious course of this doomed world to the course of loyalty to Jehovah’s sovereignty.
40 To the judges who try our cases we will recommend the advice of the Pharisee doctor of the law, named Gamaliel, to the Jewish Sanhedrin of his day: “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: 34-39) The politicians and judges who are wise will refuse to use their public office to serve religious interests against Jehovah’s witnesses. In the controversy between Bible truth and religious error they will allow freedom of speech, press and assembly, taking their cue from the Roman deputy Gallio in Corinth, Greece, concerning whom we read: “Before Paul could open his lips, Gallio said to the Jews, ‘If some misdemeanor or rascality were involved, Jews, you might reasonably expect me to listen to you. But as it is only a question of words and titles and your own law, you must look after it yourselves. I refuse to decide such matters.’ And he drove them away from the court. Then they all seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio paid no attention to it.”—Acts 18:14-17, Ar. Amer. Trans.
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