The Watchtower, March 15, 1947

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They shall know that I am Jehovah’

-Ezekiel 35:15.

Vol. LXV111 Semimonthly No. 6

MARCH 15, 1947

CONTENTS

Reasons tor the Resurrection Hope .... 83

‘A God of the Living”

First-Fruits of Those Asleep in Death .. 85

Forefathers and Daniel.....................

“Anastasis” and Its Meaning _________

“A Better Resurrection”..................

The Religious Racket.......................

Elijah, Exposeb of Baalism.............

Gilead’s First International Class

Graduates.......................................

“Shining in the Kingdom”

Testimony Period _______________________

Memorial Celebration .......................

“Watchtower” Studies____________

National Assembly of

Jehovah’s witnesses -------------

..88 .. 88

.. 91

.. 91

.. 94

< ■,

WBJ»

Published Semimonthly By

WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY 117 Adams Street • - Brooklyn 1, N.Y., U.SA.

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; ihat 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-will. It arranges systematic Bible study for Its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid in such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public instruction in the Scriptures.

It adheres strictly to the Bible as authority for Its utterances. It is entirely free and separate from all religion, parties, sects or other worldly organizations. It is wholly and without reservation for the kingdom of Jehovah God under Christ his beloved King. It is not dogmatic, but invites careful and critical examination of Its contents in the light of the Scriptures. It does not indulge in controversy, and its columns are not open to personalities.

Notice to Subscribers: Remittances should be sent to office in your country in compliance with regulations to guarantee safe delivery of money. Remittances are accepted at Brooklyn from countries where no office is located, by international money order only. Subscription rates in different countries are stated below in local currency. Notice of expiration (with renewal blank) is sent at least two issues before subscription expires. Change of addrest when sent to our office may be expected effective within one month. Send your old as well as new address.

Please address the Watch Tower Society in every case.

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Translations of this Journal appear in many languages.

ALL SINCERE STUDENTS OF THE BIBLE who by reason of infirmity, poverty or adversity are unable to pay the subsenption price may have The Watchtower free upon written application to the publishers, made once each year, stating the reason for so requesting il We are glad to thus aid the needy, but the written application once each year i required by the postal regulations.

Printed in the United States of America

Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Brooklyn, X. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879.

“SHINING IN THE KINGDOM” TESTIMONY PERIOD

April, set aside as “Shining in the Kingdom” Testimony Period, will close the four-month-long subscription campaign for the magazines The Watchtower and Awake! Seeing that both these magazines are published in many languages, those of many nations wanting to let shine the light of God’s kingdom as reflected on the pages of said magazines will be able to offer them both together along with two premium books published by our Society. They will continue to make this joint offer at the regular subscription rate of $2.00, realizing that this special offer concludes with this final month of April. At the coming of spring north and of autumn south of the equator many readers of these magazines may feel the urge to join in for the finish of the campaign in a brilliant flash enlightening multitudes of people of good-will. To such we say: Write us without delay and let us help you get in touch- with veteran Kingdom publishers as well as supply you with other necessary instructions for service. Kindly furnish us with a service report at the end of April.

MEMORIAL CELEBRATION

The time for observing the Memorial this year will be after sunset or after 6 pun., Standard Time, of Sunday, April 6. Each company of Jehovah’s witnesses should meet that night at an announced hour, both those of the anointed remnant and all persons of good-will. Before those of the remnant partake of the Memorial emblems, some competent brother should present a brief speech extemporaneously or read some pertinent paragraphs from the most up-to-date Watchtower articles on the subject. As shown in the February 15, 1947, issue of The Watchtower both emblems should be served together, seeing that the partaking of the broken unleavened bread and the red wine together show forth the one thing. All companies meeting together in observance of the Memorial will please report to this office, stating the total attendance and indicating the number of partakers. Song and prayer should close the observance.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of April 20: “Reasons for the Resurrection Hope,” T 1-21 inclusive, The Watchtower March 15, 1947.

Week of April 27: “Reasons for the Resurrection Hope,”

•J 22.-42 inclusive, The Watchtower March 15,1947.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

At the Cleveland assembly, the president of the Society, N. H. Knorr, told the brethren of the plans for a convention in California in 1947, following his world tour. We are now pleased to say that this wiR be held in California, with assembly in Wrigley Field, August 13 to 17, inclusive, Los Angeles being the city. Brethren making plans to go should arrange their vacations accordingly. Later announcement will be made as to rooming and other information. This notice now will aid those who plan to attend the California assembly to make their arrangements well in advance.

JfeVWfCHTOWER

ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM

Vol. LXVIII

March 15, 1947

No. 6

REASONS FOR THE RESURRECTION HOPE

"Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day.”—Acts 24:21.

JEHOVAH gives solid reasons for humankind to hope in resurrection of the dead. The first reason is his own word that such a thing shall take place. If the Almighty God puts his own word at stake on this matter, then who is there to claim that even this miraculous thing could be impossible for him? Another reason is that, having given his word, he has taken steps looking to the resurrection of the dead. He will not reverse himself. Having begun, he will carry matters through to a completion. No intelligent creature, Satan the Devil or anyone else, will be able to turn God’s hand back. His almighty power will support his word and vindicate it. His word will never be flung back into his face unfulfilled, but will be established as the truth.

2 Jehovah God has given typical illustrations to demonstrate his power to raise the dead. He has also given an actual case of raising the dead to an endless life. For our assurance he provided many witnesses to the truth of these typical and actual cases of resurrection, and we have their record. Why, then, should the resurrection be thought unbelievable? We remember the man who, long ago, stood before a Roman court and its unbelieving judge, King Agrippa, and said to him: “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” And then this man testified that he had in a marvelous way seen the one that had actually been resurrected from death. Yes, he had actually conversed with him. Before that he had fought viciously against believers in this resurrection case. Hence he had to be given direct evidence in order to be convinced. His example should help out those today who incline to think resurrection unbelievable.—Acts 26: 8-23.

3 In pleading his case in court this resurrection witness said: “Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:

1. What two solid reasons are there for us to hope in resurrection? 2. What do we have also to testify to the truth of the resurrection?

3. What is the purpose of presenting facts about resurrection? that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.” For saying this, Festus, then sitting with King Agrippa, called the witness raving mad. For trying to pin him down to believing that the Jewish prophets foretold the resurrection King Agrippa charged the witness Paul with trying to make him a Christian. (Acts 26:24-28) Some readers of this magazine, The Watchtower, may likewise claim we are trying to make Christians out of them, but our purpose is to present the facts regarding the resurrection and then to let whosoever will be comforted thereby.

4 In the very last book of the Bible Jehovah God has given a revelation describing in symbolic language the resurrection of dead humankind; but from the very first book of the Bible onward he has pointed to the resurrection and given reasons for hoping in it. When Jehovah God gave his Edenic promise in the hearing of Adam and Eve, who had come under the penalty of death, he pointed to a certain resurrection upon which the future resurrection of mankind would be based. To the great Deceiver, Satan, whose work could be undone only by resurrection of the dead, God the Judge said in pronouncing sentence: “Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed . . . and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Gen. 3:14,15) Later prophecies by Jehovah God made plain that this bruising of the heel of the woman’s seed meant or included the killing of the seed, Christ. Hence if such bruised Seed is to bruise and crush the head of the Serpent, Satan the Devil, who still lives a most active life, it must be after Christ the Seed of God’s woman had been raised from the dead and thus recovered from the bruising of the heel. To the faithful followers of the Seed of the woman the apostle Paul writes: “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” (Rom. 16:20) This, too, must mean the resurrection of these from the dead. In that way

4. How in Eden did God point forward to the resurrection?

Satan’s work against them may be fully undone, nullified.

“ About 1,656 years after Jehovah’s Edenic promise a global flood washed out the life of every living creature on earth, except eight humans and the lower animals with them in their big covered float or ark. At that time a whole world died. When Noah and his seven family members stepped out of the ark after the subsidence of the flood it was as if they had come back from the dead. Before the flood what person, lacking faith in God, would have said that these eight in that ark would come out of such a world cataclysm alive ? The apostle Peter connects the case of these flood survivors with resurrection, saying: “Once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.”—1 Pet. 3: 20-22.

0 Peter mentions baptism as the antitype or figure like that experience of salvation in the ark. He does not mean baptism in water for repentance. The water baptism of that ancient ungodly world killed it off, but the ark was the means of salvation for Noah and his family. Hence the baptism that Peter means is the baptism of the seven fellow survivors unto Noah in the ark. Noah is evidently a typical picture of Jesus Christ. So, those who want to be saved to eternal life must be baptized unto him within God’s ark-like arrangement. They must become submerged in obedience under the leadership of Jesus Christ in order to gain eternal salvation. Simply the cleaning of themselves up morally in the flesh will not do this. But what gains salvation for them is their gaining a clean conscience toward God by the benefit of Jesus’ life-giving sacrifice. Jesus Christ himself was submerged by a baptism into God’s will. Thereafter he did not seek to live according to his own will. Since he submitted to the divine will even down into death Jesus Christ lives today only by reason of being resurrected. In like manner his faithful followers, who go down into death in obedience to the will of Jehovah God, gain life again only by resurrection. This is because their Leader Jesus Christ himself was the first to be resurrected from the dead by Almighty God’s power. So to such Christians it is written: “And as God raised the Lord to life, he will raise us also by his power.”—1 Cor. 6:14, A?i Amer. Trans.

5 How does Peter connect up the flood of Noah’s day with the resurrection? C. To what baptism here does Peter refer, making necessary the resurrection?

“A GOD OF THE LIVING"

T Abraham the Hebrew was the one that God chose 427 years after the flood to be the outstanding man through whom the Seed of God’s woman should come. The promise that God gave Abraham for his faith and faithfulness certainly depends upon God’s power of resurrection for its realization. God’s covenant-promise to Abraham said: “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 12: 3) By the time the blessing of all families of the earth should be due so many of such families should be dead and in their graves. How, then, could they all be blessed unless the omnipotent God exercised his power of resurrection at his appointed time? Although foreseeing the need of resurrection, yet also knowing his own miraculous power, Jehovah God made his promise to Abraham of such breadth as to sweep in all families. It was not an impossible, ridiculous boast, but an adequately backed-up promise. Abraham was but a prophetic type of Jehovah. In reality, therefore, it is in Jehovah that all families of those that bless Him will be blessed with eternal life. Jehovah is a God of the living.

8 There is no questioning that Abraham believed in God’s power to raise the dead and in his purpose to do so. Jehovah had revealed himself to Abraham as “the Almighty God”. When Abraham and his wife Sarah were practically dead as far as power to produce children is concerned, God miraculously made their dead reproductive powers to live and function again in order to bring forth their promised son Isaac. “And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” “Whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” (Rom. 4:19-21,17; Gen. 17:1; 21:1-7) In connection with this son Isaac came the tremendous test of Abraham’s faith in Almighty God’s power to raise the dead from the graves. His faith in resurrection helped him to meet successfully the test of his absolute obedience to God. In this instance his obedience called for him to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac on Mount Moriah. With Isaac lying bound upon the wood on the altar Abraham was about to strike him dead with a knife, when God’s angel stopped his hand, stopping thus the human sacrifice.

7 . What promise did God first make to Abraham? and upon what does it depend for realisation?

8 . What miracle was required for the birth of Isaac? and what helped Abraham to meet the test in sacrificing Isaac ’

God released Isaac from the altar of sacrificial death and provided a ram to be offered up instead.

’ In receiving his son Isaac from the altar Abraham was acting out a living drama depicting how God would receive his only begotten and beloved Son Jesus Christ from death as a human sacrifice. The apostle Paul, pronouncing this a prophetic figure of the resurrection of Christ, says: “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.” (Heb. 11:17-19) That the seed of God’s woman, bruised at the heel by the Serpent, was prefigured here by Isaac is indicated by the promise that God gave Abraham immediately afterward in which he said: “In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies [including bruising the Serpent’s head]; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”—Gen. 22:17,18.

10 As foreshadowed by Isaac, not only was the promised Seed, which is Christ, to be resurrected from the dead, but also God was to use this Seed in the resurrection of others in order that all the nations might be blessed. Thus God was establishing our confidence still further in a coming resurrection. Doubtless, too, the faith of Abraham in resurrection was strengthened, so that he looked forward to the day of this Seed of blessing, that is, to Christ’s day. That fact is certified by Jesus Christ himself. From his heavenly prehuman place he had observed the course of faithful Abraham and therefore was able to say to the Jews: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. . . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”—John 8: 56-58.

” Disbelievers in the resurrection, namely, Jewish Sadducees, were the ones that caused Jesus to show us a resurrection proof in the Hebrew Scriptures that we might doubtless have overlooked otherwise or not been positively certain on. In the Hebrew Scriptures this proof is found in the account of the angel’s appearance to the shepherd Moses at the burning bush near Mount Horeb. By the angel Jehovah said: “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Ex. 3:6) Jehovah made a similar statement to

9 . What prophetic drama was Abraham here enacting? and how does Paul confirm it?

10 Thereby, faith in what miracle was strengthened? and to what did Abraham look forward?

11 ,12. What resurrection proof in the Hebrew Scriptures did Jesus point out to the Jewish Sadducees, and why?

Jacob after his grandfather Abraham had died and at the time of the dream of the ladder reaching up to heaven. “And, behold, Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac [still alive on earth]: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; . . . and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”—Gen. 28:13,14, Am. Stan. Ver.

12 Not that the Hebrew Scriptures did not contain other proofs just as good of the coming resurrection, but likely because the Sadducees used a part of the law of Moses (Deut. 25: 5-10) to try to ridicule the resurrection, Jesus used a part of the same law of Moses to prove it. (Ex. 3:6) He said: “But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the place concerning the Bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the G od of Jacob. Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.”—Luke 20: 37, 38, Am. Stan. Ver.

13 For God not to be the God of a dead Abraham, Isaac and Jacob he must resurrect them from the dead. He had not already done so, for Jesus said that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the faithful prophets were yet to be seen in the kingdom of God. (Luke 13:28) But God had unchangeably purposed to resurrect these faithful men of old through his Seed of the woman, and God’s purpose was so definite and sure of fulfillment that all these faithful ones, though then dead in the graves, lived to God and he could speak of being their God. Here was again a case where “God, who giveth life to the dead, . . . calleth the things that are not, as though they were”. In due time his power, equal to every call and need, will make them to be what he has called them. (Rom. 4:17, Am. Stan. Ver.) Hence every place in the Scriptures where he calls himself the God of men then dead in the grave is a proof of the sureness of the resurrection.

FIRST-FRUITS OF THOSE ASLEEP IN DEATH

14 Another proof foreshadowing God’s purpose to overpower the “gates of hell” and deliver the dead is his law concerning the spring first-fruits of the grain harvest. Moses recorded it. “And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring the sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath [next day

13. How. then, 1b Jehovah a God of the living when bo many are dead? 14. What law recorded by Moses at Leviticus 23 foreshadowed the resurrection? after passover] the priest shall wave it. And in the day [Nisan 16] when ye wave the sheaf, ye shall offer a he-lamb without blemish a year old for a burnt-offering unto Jehovah. . . . And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor fresh ears, until this selfsame day, until ye have brought the oblation of your God."—Lev. 23: 9-14, Am. Stan. Ver.

15 The apostle Paul calls our notice to this law as showing the performance and the date of the most important resurrection, the first of its kind and the foundation of all future resurrections. In his vigorous argument on resurrection as a certainty Paul triumphantly exclaims: “But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; then they that are Christ’s, at his coming.” (1 Cor. 15: 20-23, Am. Stan. Ver.) In harmony with his being the first-fruits of those asleep in death, Jesus Christ was raised from death on Nisan 16, the very day on which the Jewish high priest offered the sheaf (or omer) of barley grain to Jehovah God at the temple in Jerusalem. According to God’s law the offering of the first-fruits was followed by the gathering and eating of the after-fruits. Hence if Jesus is the first-fruits of those asleep in death, it denotes resurrection for such other sleepers afterward at the divinely appointed time.

16 On the fiftieth day from his resurrection came the feast of Pentecost, when the first-fruits of the wheat harvest were offered to the Lord God at the temple. (Lev. 23:15-21) On that day of Pentecost the consecrated followers of Christ became alive to God in a spiritual sense by the outpouring upon them of the holy spirit of God. On that same day, with the help of this outpoured spirit, the apostle Peter called public attention to another advance proof in the Hebrew Scriptures of the resurrection. Peter quoted King David’s prophetic statement in Psalm 16: 8-11 and said: “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul

15. Why did Paul properly call Christ the “firstfruits” of them asleep in death? and what does this term also Indicate?

16. What resurrection proof did Peter point out in the Hebrew Scriptures on the day of Pentecost? was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.” (Acts 2:27-32) The hell in which Jesus’ soul or existence was not left was the grave, and not an infernal fiery place of eternal torture of the wicked. Those in “hell” are absolutely dead, and not painfully alive in torments. From this unconscious death-state it was that God resurrected Jesus to life, as predicted in Psalm 16.

1T Some days after Pentecost the spirit-filled Peter gave another proof from the ancient Hebrew Scriptures that Jesus Christ was foretold to rise from the dead, hence another prediction of the resurrection. This time Peter stood before the Jewish Sanhedrin, which several months before had sentenced Jesus to death as a blasphemer. Peter was called upon to give answer on how he cured a beggar born lame from his mother’s womb. Said Peter, without mincing any words: “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12) Here Peter quoted from Psalm 118:22, and the way Peter applied it shows it foretold the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

18 The verse that Peter quoted, together with its surrounding verses, reads: “I will give thanks unto thee; for thou hast answered me, and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner. This is Jehovah’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which Jehovah hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, we beseech thee, 0 Jehovah: 0 Jehovah, we beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of Jehovah: we have blessed you out of the house of Jehovah.” (Ps. 118:21-26, Am. Stan. Ver.) Now, how did this prophetic scripture predict a resurrection? In that the builders’ refusing the stone meant the death of Jesus Christ and then the stone’s becoming the head of the corner meant Jesus’ being raised from the dead to heavenly glory and power.

10 On the tenth day of Nisan, four days before the Passover, of A.D. 33, Jesus rode in the style of former Jewish kings into the city of Jerusalem while the multitudes cried out in the language of Psalm 118. We read of this at Matthew 21:9-11: “From the throng in front and from those behind the cry went

17. What resurrection prediction did Peter quote to the Sanhedrin? 18. How did this scripture predict a resurrection?

19. How was Psalm 118 fulfilled at Jesus’ triumphal ride9 and how did he show what rejecting “the stone” meant? up: Save [or, Hosanna to] the Son of David! Blest is he who comes in the name of the Lord; Give him help on high! As he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, Who is this? The crowd answered, This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Torrey’s translation) Two days later Jesus was engaged in discussion with the chief priests and religious elders at the temple, and as a climax he quoted from Psalm 118. “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” (Matt. 21:42-44) In the parable of the vineyard which he had just given before these words of warning Jesus showed that the builders’ rejection of the stone meant lulling him violently. The Jewish religionists knew whom Jesus meant as the killers, for we read: “And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.”—Matt. 21:45.

20 Two days later the would-be “builders” of a Jewish religious kingdom did reject Jesus as a worthless, objectionable “stone” having no place in the Idngdom building. They had him arrested and then asked the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, to release to them a robber and murderer, Barabbas, rather than Jesus. 'When Pilate displayed Jesus to the mob with the challenging words, “Behold your King!” then, as we read in the record, “they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Cassar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.” (John 19:14-18) Thus Peter could afterward tell the Jews: “Ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and lulled the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.” (Acts 3:14,15) It is therefore proved Scripturally and factually that the builders’ rejecting of the stone included the putting of Jesus to death as if not fit to be king or head.

21 Correspondingly, the malting of the Stone to be the head of the corner included, yes, rested upon the

20. How do we prove factually that the builders’ rejecting the stone meant killing Jesus?

21. Upon what miracle did making the stone the corner*head rest? and why was It marvelous to the eyes? raising of the rejected Stone, Jesus Christ, from the dead. Only Jehovah God, the great Builder of all things, could do this. Psalm 118:23 had predicted that it would be “Jehovah’s doing”; and it was. On the third day of Jesus’ lying dead in “hell” Jehovah God sent prosperity to his Kingdom cause by saving his faithful Son, The Stone, from the dead and not leaving his soul in “hell”. In spite of the Bible prophecies that foretold it, even Jesus’ own disciples did not expect it. Hence his resurrection was “marvellous” in their eyes, and justly so, because it was God’s greatest miracle. It was the “working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places”.—Eph. 1:19, 20.

22 The making of the rejected Stone to be the Head of the corner did not stop with Jesus’ resurrection, but progressed to exalting him to heaven, to God’s own right hand as the King-designate of the promised new world of righteousness. This, too, was marvelous in the disciples’ eyes, for, just before he ascended to heaven, these disciples asked him about setting up his kingdom on earth among the Israelites. So his ascension amazed them. (Acts 1:1-11) On the day of Pentecost they began to understand, and Peter then explained the outpouring of God’s spirit by saying: “He is Jesus, whom God raised from the dead, and to whose resurrection we are all witnesses. So he has been exalted to God’s right hand, and has received from his Father and poured over us the holy spirit that had been promised, as you see and hear.”—Acts 2: 32, 33, An Amer. Trans.

23 In his first letter to Christians this same apostle Peter combines the prophecy of Psalm 118 with that of Isaiah 28:16, and accordingly this latter prophecy of Isaiah must find its fulfillment at Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation to God’s heavenly organization Zion. Note Peter’s words: “Coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house [of which Jesus is the Chief Corner Stone], . . . Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner.” (1 Pet. 2:4-7) Isaiah’s prophecy, which Peter here quoted and which is addressed to the “scornful men” of Jerusalem, who rejected the Stone Jesus Christ, reads: “Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jeru-

22. What did the making of the stone the corner-head also include? 23. How does Peter in his first epistle show Isaiah 28:16 implied a resurrection?

salem: . . . thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” (Isa. 28:14-16) In this prophecy of Isaiah, then, the promise of a resurrection lay implicit, the resurrection of the Chief One of Jehovah’s capital organization, Zion.

FOREFATHERS AND DANIEL

24 In view of the resurrection of the Sure Foundation Stone, Jesus Christ, what follows! This: the blessing of others out of all families and nations with a resurrection from the dead. This seems to be what is understood, though not directly so said, at Psalm 45:16, which reads: “Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou shalt make princes in all the earth.” (Am. Stan. Ver.) According to the Hebrew pronoun thy, in masculine gender, this is addressed to the anointed King of Jehovah, namely, Jesus Christ, whose faithful fathers according to the flesh included Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David, and others, all of whom died with faith in God and in his good purpose. So, then, for these dead men to step into the shoes of “children” of Jesus Christ and to be made “princes in all the earth” there must be a bringing of them back to life on earth by a resurrection. Since the King Jesus Christ is the One to whom they become “children”, their resurrection to life must be by virtue of his death for them and also by means of his power to raise the dead whom he redeemed by his sacrifice.

25 In such way his forefathers acquire life through him, and he becomes a direct Father to them. “And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isa. 9:6, Am. Stan. Ver.) The anointed King, Jesus Christ, left no doubt about the resurrection of his faithful forefathers to life. He told the Jews who disbelieved and rejected him: “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.”—Luke 13: 28; Matt. 8:11,12.

” One of those prophets, Daniel, whom King Darius made president over all the princes of the Medo-Persian empire, received a direct promise of a resurrection at the time of the kingdom of God by his” Messiah, Jesus Christ. After foretelling the “time of the end”, and the “abomination of desolation”, and the increase of knowledge on the Bible, and the “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time”, Jeho-

24. In consequence of the above, how, then. Is Psalm 45: 16 to be realized? 25. How did Jesus indicate to the unbelieving Jews that those faithful ones of old would be resurrected?

26. How was a resurrection promise directly given to Daniel? and why is it near of fulfillment? vah’s angel said to faithful Daniel: “But thou, go (thy way) toward the end; and thou shalt rest, and arise again for thy lot at the end of the days.” (Dan. 12:1,4,11,13, Leeser) At that time Daniel was about a hundred years old and, so, close to his death. He died after the third year of Darius’ successor, Cyrus. His rest during the twenty-four centuries since then has been in the grave, and not in any imaginary limbo. Hence his ‘standing in his lot’ in God’s due time means his coming forth from the tomb to life on earth as one of the “princes in all the earth”. Seeing that the time of unparalleled trouble is fast maturing and that we are in the time of the end with its increase of knowledge and its abomination of desolation, we can be sure Daniel will stand in his lot at no far distant date by the power of the resurrection. He will become thereby one of the “children” of the great “Prince of Peace”, who has been actively reigning at Jehovah’s right hand since A.D. 1914. The angel’s promise to Daniel is to our hearts a mighty proof of the resurrection.

” Having such things narrated to them in the inspired Hebrew Scriptures, and being descendants of faithful servants of Jehovah God who believed in the coming resurrection, the faithful Jews of Jesus’ day looked forward to a resurrection. Naturally they did not expect Jesus’ resurrection in their time three days from his violent death. Even the Pharisees held to a belief in the arising of the dead; and certainly they did not believe this because Jesus taught it. “For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.” (Acts 23:8) And so, in the court of Judge Felix, Paul said: “But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” (Acts 24:14,15,21) It is clear, then, that the use of this term resurrection was a regular thing among the Jews, years before Jesus was born.

“ANASTASIS” AND ITS MEANING

” Let us remember that the Hebrew Scriptures of the Bible began to be translated into the common Greek (or koine Greek) in the third century before Christ. This translation became known as the Greek Septuagint (LXX). Then the books of the Maccabees were written in Greek and completed, at least a half century (B.C. 64) before the birth of Jesus. The Greek-speaking Jews added these books of the Mac-

27. From what facts Is it clear that years before Jesus’ birth the term “resurrection” was a regular thing among Jews?

28. Why were the Jews In Jesus’ day familiar with the Greek word “anastasls”, and what does this word literally mean? cabees to the Greek Septuagint. The Greek word which is translated “resurrection” in English is the word “anastasis”. It occurs a number of times in both the Greek Septuagint and the book of Maccabees. It literally means “a standing up- again” or “a rising again”. This is the sense of the word at Lamentations 3:63, which reads: “Behold their sitting down, and their rising up [anastasis]; I am their musick.” Also at Zephaniah 3:8: “On that very account, wait thou for me, saith the Lord, until the day of my resurrection [anastasis] for a testimony. For this judgment of" mine is for the assemblies of nations; to admit kings, to pour out all the fury of my wrath on them. For by the fire of my zeal all this land shall be utterly destroyed.” (The Septuagint, by C. Thomson) The apostles of Jesus in their writings made many quotations from the Greek Septuagint, and were familiar with anastasis and used this word.

28 In the above-quoted verses from the Septuagint anastasis has no reference to the rising of the dead from the graves. But in the second book of Maccabees it is so used. In the passage which the Roman Catholic Hierarchy quote in support of their doctrine of a “purgatory"’ and offering masses for the dead we read: “And the noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, after having seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those-who had fallen [in battle]. He also, took a collection,-amounting to two-thousand silver drachmas, each man contributing, and sent it to Jerusalem, to provide a sin offering, acting very finely and properly in taking account of the resurrection [anastasis]. For if he had not expected that those who had fallen would rise again [verb: anaste-nai], it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead; or if it was through regard for the splendid reward destined for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, so that they might be set free from their sin.”—2 Macc. 12:42-45, An Amer. Trans.; also Catholic Douay translation.

30 We agree: those verses mention “resurrection”, but not a so-called “purgatory” of torments in fire and other things described in “The Divine Comedy” by the Italian poet Dante. Opposite from placing the dead in a purgatorial half-way station between heaven and hell, verse 45 above refers to the dead as being unconscious, like those who “fall asleep”. Their hope of life is not by getting out of a “purgatory” and going to heaven, but by ‘rising again’ from the death state in the graves. The ancient Jews believed in resurrection to life on this earth, but not in going to heaven to become spirits. The money collection

29. In connection with what does 2 Maccabees use the word “anastasis”? 30. Why does 2 Maccabees 12:42-45 not prove a “purgatory” or actual removal of sins of the dead by money collections? by Judas Maccabaeus for those fallen Jews brought about no change morally or religiously in the dead Jews found with amulets of idols under their shirts, but, as they went down into death, so they will return from the graves morally and religiously. Ecclesiastes 11:3 tells us: “If the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.” Without the blood of Jesus Christ, the most that Judas could have hoped to gain for those fallen Jews by means of the money collected was a typical atonement. It was a typical cancellation of sins against the Mosaic Law such as the living Jews gained by offering animal victims as atonement sacrifices for themselves. (Lev. 4:1-35) Thus viewed, even if the Roman Catholic Hierarchy do insist that the book of Second Maccabees is inspired and is part of the Holy Bible, it offers no support for a “purgatory” in which to torment human souls after death.

31 At 2 Maccabees 7: 8-14 we read regarding a J ewish mother and the torture of her seven sons: “So he also underwent the same series of tortures as the first suffered. But when he was at his last gasp, he said [to the king], ‘You wretch, you release us from this present life, but the king of the world will raise us up [verb: anastesei], because we have died for his laws, to an everlasting renewal of life.’ After him, the third was mocked, . . . And when he had departed, they tortured and maltreated the fourth in the same way. And when he was near his end, he spoke thus: ‘It is better to die by men’s hands and look for the hopes God gives of being raised again [verb: anastesesthai] by him; for you will have no resurrection [anastasis] to life.” (An Amer. Trans.; also Douay) These verses are of historical value. They show that the Jews of the second century before Christ had faith in a return of the dead to life on earth as human creatures. The verses also show the Jews believed that some men were so wicked and sadistic that God would not grant them an awakening from death by a resurrection.

32 In harmony with this belief, if the Jews of Jesus’ day judged a criminal so deep in wickedness as to have no show of a resurrection, they had the body of the executed criminal thrown into the deep narrow glen south of Jerusalem called Gehenna, or valley of Hinnom. Into the depths of this narrow gorge the carcasses of animals and every other kind of filth were thrown in order for the combustible parts thereof to be consumed by fire. Gehenna’s fires were kept burning day and night, and to speed up the fiery destruction brimstone or sulphur was pitched into the fire. Any dead animal matter that lodged on ledges of the gorge and so escaped the fire bred worms in

31. What does 2 Maccabees 7:8-14 show as to resurrection beliefs ?

32. For what purpose was Gehenna used, and what did it symbolize? the heat of the place. These worms then became the agents of destruction and did not die until they had consumed the decaying, putrefying matter. Historically, Gehenna was a place of destruction by fire or worms. Only the twisted religious imaginations connect up conscious torment of human souls with Gehenna. In the Bible, however, Gehenna is used as a symbol of everlasting destruction, annihilation, for those barred from a resurrection. Jesus with his own eyes looked at that Gehenna south of Jerusalem many times and knew its purpose and use. And so he and his disciples used it in their speech as a symbol of destruction without a resurrection, and never as a symbol of everlasting torment in fire and brimstone applied by devils. For example, Jesus said: “And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” —Matt. 10: 28, Am. Stan. Ver., marginal reading.

33 Gehenna is different from hell, Hades, or the grave, because there is no resurrection from Gehenna; it means destruction of the creature completely, soul and body. To show that Gehenna means the opposite of life, Jesus further said: “And if thine eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is good for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire.” (Matt. 18: 9, Am. Stan. Ver., margin) If the opposite of entering into life is being cast into Gehenna, then Gehenna does not mean torment but means death, extinction of life. Knowing the dreadfulness of this fate, Jesus cried woe to the hj’pocritical religious leaders: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye make him twofold more a son of Gehenna than yourselves. Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of Gehenna?” (Matt. 23:15,33, Am. Stan. Ver., margin) Being sons of Gehenna meant they were sons of destruction, doomed to destruction, to suffer the eventual fate of their father, the great Serpent, Satan the Devil. Christ Jesus as Judge will say to the modern-day counterparts of those hypocritical scribes and Pharisees: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matt. 25:41) The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ do not result in any benefit to such unreachable, irreformable wicked ones.

34 Although above we treated several verses of Second Maccabees, it is not to these uninspired apocryphal books that we look for our surest reasons for hoping in the resurrection of the dead. As demonstrated in the preceding paragraphs, God’s inspired

33. How is Gehenna different from Hades or hell? and why did Jesus cry out woe to religious hypocrites?

34. Where do we look for our surest proofs of the resurrection?

Hebrew Scriptures provided plenty of undeniable proof that, from the time of man’s surrender to Satan the Devil in Eden with death as the penalty, God made it his purpose to resurrect the dead from their graves by the Seed of the woman. Hence the faithful Jewish remnant in Jesus’ day hoped in the resurrection, and the Greek-speaking Jews among them used the term anastasis, meaning resurrection.

35 Reading the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, they found the verb which means to rise from the dead, and it is the verb from which the noun anastasis is drawn. In itself this Greek verb (anastenai) means to get up or rise again, and is so used at Isaiah 52:2, where Jehovah God says to desolated Jerusalem: “Shake thyself from the dust; arise [andstethi], sit on thy throne, 0 Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bonds of thy neck, 0 captive daughter of Zion.” (Am. Stan. Ver.) At Amos 9:11, where God speaks of the restoring of the royal house of dead King David through Jesus Christ, we read: “In that day will I raise up [transitive verb: anasteso] the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up [awasieso] his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old.”

33 It is when the Greek verb is used in connection with the dead that it means (transitively) “to raise to life”, or (intransitively), “to rise up to life”. For example, at Isaiah 26:19 we read: "The dead shall be raised up again [anastesontai], even they in the tombs shall be raised up: and they in this land shall • be filled with joy: for the dew from thee is healing for them; but the land of the ungodly shall fall.” (Septuagint) And when the prophet Daniel was given his resurrection promise the angel said to him: “But as for thee, come and go to rest, for still there will be days and hours to the final accomplishment. And thou shalt stand up anas t esei] for thy portion at the end of days.”—Dan. 12:13, Septuagint.

37 In the Latin translations of the Scriptures, which began to be made in the second century after Christ, anastasis was translated as rcsurrectio, which means resurrection. There are rare cases in literature where the one that rises to life is spoken of as himself resurrecting. This is because the ancient Latin translation used the word resurge for rising to life, and from this Latin verb comes our English word resurrection. In fact, today in English to resurge means to rise again or to be resurrected. On the other hand, the expression to raise to life or to resurrect is rendered in the Latin translation by the words to resuscitate. Hence when Jesus rose

35. How does the verb from which “anastasis” is drawn help to show the literal meaning of “anastasis”?

36. When this Greek verb is used in connection with the dead, what does it then mean?

37. How did the Latin translations render the expressions concerning the raising up and the rising again of the dead? from the dead he resurged. (Matt. 17: 9, 23; 20:19; John 20:9; Latin Vulgate) And when God raised up Jesus from the dead, God resuscitated him.( Acts 2:32; 13:33; Latin Vulgate) When Jesus spoke of raising up the dead at the last day, he spoke of resuscitating them.—John 6:39,40,44,54, Latin Vulgate.

38 The above study of words may have been tedious to some, but it has been necessary to help us to appreciate how the resurrection subject was understood and expressed in the various languages. It also helps us to understand the subject properly in our own tongue.

“A BETTER RESURRECTION”

89 For example, since we have taken considerable note of the coming resurrection of the faithful men and women of old, let us examine Hebrews 11:35. In the preceding verses of this eleventh chapter Paul briefly described the exploits of faith of ancient servants of Jehovah God, beginning with Abel and continuing down to Daniel and his three Hebrew companions in Babylon. Then the apostle writes: “Women received their dead by a resurrection [anastasis]: and others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance ; that they might obtain a better resurrection [andstasis].” (Heb. 11:35, Am. .Stan. Ver.) This shows that the ancient faithful ones had faith in the resurrection. Also, back there, “women received their dead raised to life again,” not just as a hope in view of a coming resurrection under God’s kingdom, but by means of God’s prophets in whom they exercised faith to call upon them for help. Thus the widow woman with whom Elijah lodged at Zarephath in the land of Zidon during the great famine received her dead son by a resurrection performed at the hands of Elijah. The Shunammite woman who had graciously entertained Elisha, successor to Elijah, received her dead boy back by a resurrection performed by means of Elisha. (1 Ki. 17:17-24; Luke 4:25,26; 2 Ki. 4:18-37) In fact, when Abraham unbound his son Isaac and took him down off the altar of sacrifice and offered up a ram instead, he in effect received Isaac back from death: “for he

38. Of what value has the above study of words been to us?

39. In ancient time how did some women receive their dead by a resurrection ?

considered that God was able even to raise men from the dead. Hence he did get him back, by what was a parable of the resurrection.”—Heb. 11:19, Moffatt.

40 The above were typical resurrections, foreshadowing greater ones to come. The “better resurrection” which the faithful ones of old wanted to obtain by refusing to accept deliverance by unfaithfulness, and by choosing to be tortured to death, will be “better” than those typical resurrections. How so? Isaac, who was figuratively restored from the dead, and the boys whom Elijah and Elisha raised to life were brought back to life during this old world under the control of Satan the Devil. They were brought back still unredeemed by Jesus Christ and subject to the condemnation of death inherited from Adam; and hence they were inescapably due to grow older in their imperfections and to return to the death state.

41 The ’‘better resurrection” of the faithful servants of God of ancient times will therefore be superior in these respects: It will be performed at the hands of Jesus Christ, who died and rose from the dead that he might lay the basis for the resurrection of mankind. (John 5: 25-29) It will be at a time when Jehovah God by Jesus Christ is reigning as King, and this resurrection will open to them the way to eternal life on earth under His kingdom. (Rev. 11:15-18) By obeying the Kingdom they may have the condemnation of sin completely removed and be justified to everlasting life in the new world. Also by reason of their past faithfulness and integrity to God until death they are just that much more advantaged than the rest of humankind who will be restored to life on earth. Also, the King Christ Jesus, making these resurrected faithful ones of old his children, will make them “princes in all the earth” to visibly represent his Kingdom toward the rest of mankind. (Ps. 45:16) In the case of all these in the “better resurrection” Jesus’ words will apply: “I am the resurrection, and the life: . . . whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”—John 11:25,26.

42 Further discussion of the resurrection, about other features, we reserve to a supplementary article in the next forthcoming issue of The Watchtower.

40. What kind of resurrections were such? and what were their limitations? 41,42. How, then, will the “better resurrection” be superior?

THE RELIGIOUS RACKET

TIE most cruel and seductive public enemy on record is the enemy that employs religion to carry on a racket, deceiving the people thereby and causing the name of Almighty God to be reproached, and thus making religion the greatest racket ever invented and practiced. There are numerous systems of religion, but the most subtle, fraudulent and injurious to humankind is that which is generally labeled “the Christian religion”. Why so? Because it has the appearance of being a worshipful devotion to the Supreme One of the universe. Thereby it easily misleads many honest and sincere persons. Carefully examined, what is called “the Christian religion” and what is real Christianity are diametrically opposed to each other. Most persons in the land of Christendom have been led to believe that the two things are one and the same, but through the general lack of knowledge of the facts great injury continues to be done to the people. No one will object that the greatest public enemy is that which operates with a righteous appearance but which is fraudulent, brings reproach upon God’s name, misrepresents God’s purpose, and then robs the people of their money, their peace of mind, theif liberty of speech and thought, and their opportunity of life everlasting in God’s new world of righteousness.

Under more than sixteen hundred years of the practice of the so-called “Christian religion” the world has undeniably reached that period described in the Bible in these words: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses [before Pharaoh in Egypt], so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.”—2 Tim. 3:1-5, 8, 9.

Please, now, do not confuse Christianity with this so-called “Christian religion”. This latter thing operates in the name of God and Christ but is wholly against Christ and his kingdom, the only hope of humankind. Religion labeled “the Christian religion” is a racket invented by Satan the Devil to defame the name of Almighty God and is practiced by men, some of whom are honest and are practicers of it because they have been induced to believe it is right, while others know that they are doing wrong and are working a fraud upon the people. These latter men are doubly dangerous to the interests of the human race. Because the name of Christ has been and is used to work a great fraud upon the people, the racket thus practiced is the greatest of all. So, then, what we here say is not an attack upon men, but is an attack upon the most subtle and devilish kind of fraud that ever existed.

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