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    The Watchtower, July 15, 1947

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    The Watchtower—1947

    ^HeWATCHTOWEFL

    Published Semimonthly By

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

    Officers

    N. H. Knobs, President Quant 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 Clod’s law and was sentenced to death; that by reason of Adam’s wrong act all men are born sinners and without the right to life;

    THAT THE LOGOS was made human as the man Jesus and suffered death In order to produce the ransom or redemptive price for obedient men; that God raised up Christ .Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every other creature and clothed him with all power and authority as head of God’s new capital organization;

    THAT GOD’S CAPITAL ORGANIZATION is a Theocracy called Zion, and that Christ Jesus is the Chief Officer thereof and is the rightful King of the new world; that the faithful anointed followers of Christ Jesus are Zion’s children, members of Jehovah’s organization, and are His witnesses whose duty and privilege it Is to testify to Jehovah’s supremacy and declare his purposes toward mankind as expressed in the Bible;

    THAT THE OLD WORLD, or Satan’s uninterrupted rule, ended A.D. 1914, and Christ Jesus has been placed by Jehovah upon the throne, has ousted Satan from heaven, and now proceeds to vindicate His name and establish the “new earth";

    THAT THE RELIEF and blessings of the peoples can come only by Jehovah's kingdom under Christ, which has begun; that His next great act is to destroy Satan’s organization and establish righteousness completely in the earth; and that under the Kingdom the people of good-will surviving Armageddon will carry out the divine mandate to “fill the earth" with righteous offspring, and that the human dead in the graves will be raised to opportunities of life on earth.

    ITS MISSION

    THIS journal 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 address 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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    ALL SINCERE STUDENTS OF THE BIBLE who by reason of infirmity, poverty or adversity are unable to pay the subscription price may have The Watchtower free upon written application to the publishers, made once each year, stating the reason for so requesting it. We are 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, N. Y., under the Act of March S, 4879.

    “ALL NATIONS EXPANSION” TESTIMONY PERIOD

    The entire month of August is a special testimony period designated as above, and the theme of expansion will be forwarded as Kingdom publishers everywhere enlarge their witnessing activities to take in the extensive rural sections of territory. The favorable weather of this midsummer month in the Northern Hemisphere invitingly calls for concentrated work in the countryside, and the offer is worthy of our best effort. For the third consecutive month the featured presentation will be three bound books on a $1.00 contribution, this to include, if at all possible, the Bible handbook "Equipped for Every Good Work” and the revealing textbook on fundamental Bible doctrine, "Let God Be True", along with any other Watchtower bound-book publication. "Equipped for Every Good Work” will continue to be placed alone on a 50c contribution. By means of this offer during August the message of God’s established Kingdom will spread and expand in many nations. You, as a Watchtower reader, may share in the expansion work. A postcard or letter will bring us to your aid in putting you in touch with others near you active in this work, or in instructing you how to proceed. Please report your work accomplished during August, that the record of expansion in all nations may be complete.

    “AWAKE!”

    This magazine stepped into the field of public service at the Glad Nations Theocratic Assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses in August of 1946, and is published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc. It answers the rousing call for fearless information, not because we have entered the atomic age, but because the world is fast asleep near the brink of that universal war Scnp-turally called “Armageddon” and lovers of life m security need to be awakened to the real sense of the news and the pressing issues upon which to decide. Awake! is aimed to help them make a right decision that leads to life unending in the now-close New World of righteousness. It is a magazine of 32 pages devoted to news and information of world import, gained from world-wide sources. Its make-up is of fine appearance. Its leading articles, without compromise toward commercialism, politics and religion, present the straight facts, without fear to publish the plain truth. Much variety of interest is also provided in shorter articles of educational and instructive value. Under the heading “Thy Word Is Truth”, each number of Awake! offers a moderate-length discussion of Bible teachings of importance. A final section, headed “Watching the World”, makes note of the latest world news before going to press and gives the pith of all news items, uncolored, undistorted, concise. Awake! is published on the 8th and 22d of each month. A year’s subscription of 24 issues is $1, American money; individual copy, 5c; mailed anywhere,

    “WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

    Week of August 24: “Endurance That Wins,” fl 1-20 inclusive, The Watchtower July 15,1947. Week of August 31: “Endurance That Wins,” fl 21-40 inclusive, The Watchtower July 15,1947.

    ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM

    Vol. LXVIII July 15, 1947 No. 14

    ENDURANCE THAT WINS

    “Do not then cast away your freedom of speech, the which hath a great recompense. For of endurance ye have need in order that, the will of God having done, ye may bear away the promise."

    —Heb. 10:35,36, Rotherham.

    complain against God because of the conditions amid which we carry on our uncertain existence. Being such as we are, so condemnable because of our imperfections and sins, it has been a divine mercy to us to enjoy even the briefest of existence. God’s endurance of reproach and opposition to His own supreme self at the hands of enemies in heaven and earth has been with loving-kindness and mercy toward mankind in sin and imperfection. (2 Pet. 3:9,15) In justice to himself Jehovah God will not endure this for all time. He will in his wise time, after his purpose has been realized, use his almighty power to bring this wicked reproach and opposition to its fitting end. By that time he will have distinguished himself beyond equaling for his endurance of so much, and will win his point in the long-drawn-out controversy.

    4 The apostle Paul points to both the endurance and the mercy of God and says: “Hath not the potter power over the clay; of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What [then] if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As he saith also in [Hosea], I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.”—Rom. 9:21-26; Hos. 2:1, 23, margin.

    6 Men are of the earth, earthy, like the clay of which a potter shapes his vessel, destroying it if it turns out unsatisfactory; and so we have no grounds for complaint against Jehovah God, who is the Creator, . supreme in his universal sovereignty and also i almighty. While he endures his opposers for his । appointed times, he holds wrath against them or

    4, 5. How does Paul’s Illustration of a potter illustrate God’s endurance and his mercy*

    JEHOVAH is the great example of endurance. This is true in a broader sense than meaning that he lives on without an end, as stated at Psalm 102:12: “But thou, 0 Jehovah, wilt abide for ever; and thy memorial name unto all generations.” (Am. Stan. Ver.) Aside from existing, he has endured in an exemplary way in matters where his keenest personal feelings and dignity are concerned. He has restrained himself where there is the greatest cause for provocation and for taking action against the provokers.

    2 With hurt feelings toward God, many sorrowful or indignant men have asked: Why has Almighty God permitted wickedness ? Why did he ever permit all this evil ?’ But with honor and respect toward God the question might better be put: Why has Jehovah God endured all the wickedness of these past six thousand years ? How has he been able to endure it with such longsuffering and forbearance?’ Endurance of wickedness there has surely had to be exercised on his part, because such wickedness has brought great reproach upon his name and has tried to block his good purpose and to destroy and to pervert all his good works. He of all persons in the universe has been undeserving of such misrepresentation, infamy and reproach to be heaped upon him, while his having omnipotent power made him always able to put a full stop to it at any time and relieve himself. For a most wise reason Almighty God has endured all this which has seemingly hurt his good name and his universal sovereignty.

    ’ By such exemplary endurance of all this at the hands of his foes, Jehovah has displayed himself as perfectly unselfish. If the complainers think they have been hurt by the reign of wickedness, wrong and oppression upon earth, then what about Jehovah God in view of all the outward hurt and reproach it has meant to his name and sovereignty in heaven and in earth? We today, who are the distant descendants of the criminal sinner Adam, have no just cause to

    1, 2 How is Jehovah God the great example of endurance?

    3 In all this endurance how has God shown himself unselfish?

    appoints them to an eventual expression of his wrath and thus sets them apart as “vessels of wrath fitted to destruction”. The final destruction of the last surviving ones of such “vessels of destruction” will bring to a full end his time and need of endurance. His destruction of them shows that they lose and he wins. But during this period of his endurance he goes ahead with his glorious purpose and shows mercy upon certain human vessels. These he sets aside for the opposite of destruction, namely, everlasting life, and that in glory. Notwithstanding the wickedness all round about them and against them, he prepares these vessels to everlasting glory and defeats the purpose intended by the wickedness of his great opposer, Satan the Devil, and all his fellow opposers. These particular human vessels that are under preparation for the riches of divine glory are Jehovah’s people, “the children of the living God.” He bestows mercy upon them to make them his people, his children. The glory to which he brings them forth as his children is the glory of his heavenly kingdom under his “King of kings”, Christ Jesus. To this kingdom will go the glory of vindicating Jehovah’s universal sovereignty and blameless name and destroying completely all the wicked “vessels of wrath”.

    8 Under this heavenly kingdom others of humankind will live upon whom Jehovah God has had mercy, from the first martyr Abel onward and including an unnumbered multitude of persons of good-will living on earth during this twentieth century. Not all of humankind have turned out to be “vessels of wrath” worthy of destruction. That speaks well for Almighty God in enduring so long. It proves that his endurance has not been in vain but results in covering him at last with unsurpassable glory. His mercy is proved to be not misspent, but works out toward producing (1) a glorious kingdom family in the heavens under Jehovah’s beloved Son Jesus Christ and (2) a recovered and perfected race of human creatures on a paradise earth, all inheritors of everlasting life.

    T This beautiful result of six thousand years of divine endurance will exhibit itself as a full answer to the Devil’s boastful challenge. By corrupting Adam and Eve in Eden and turning them away from perfect obedience to Jehovah’s universal sovereignty, Satan the Devil falsely charged that God could not exercise his sovereignty toward this earth and could not put on earth men and women that endure temptation and keep integrity toward Him. To permit such an endurance test Almighty God must allow time for the seditious and wicked activities of Satan the Devil toward angels and men. He must let the reproaches and false charges stand without a full and

    6 . How will God’s mercy prove to have not been misspent?

    7 . Why must God permit an endurance test before showing wrath1 2 conclusive answer till his fixed time for it. Then, when he has the uncontradictable answer as furnished by the faithfulness and integrity of his devoted servants and has brought forth his promised kingdom despite the all-out opposition of Satan’s organization, Jehovah God will show his long-pent-up wrath. He will make known his all-conquering power over Satan and his organization by utterly destroying them at the oncoming battle of Armageddon.

    8 We have entered the “atomic age” of human science. We are unmistakably in this world’s “time of the end”, concerning which time Jesus’ bracing words should constantly ring in our ears, namely: “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” (Matt. 24:13) This, above all times, is no place for wrong notions upon the subject. If we hope to win eventual salvation, then, without the exception of a single one of us, we must submit to a hard test of endurance. We cannot escape it. According to the principle upon which God now proceeds, we must expect it, face it, and go through ■with it. God has not spared himself from enduring unpleasant things that he could blot out instantly if the leading issue of universal sovereignty and of creature integrity were not pressing for an eternal answer. This whole world under its seditious god, Satan the Devil, is ranged up in opposition to God and to the vindication of His name and sovereignty by His kingdom. Unavoidably that means that everyone who seeks after God and consecrates himself to God’s side of the issue and undertakes to serve him, has this world under Satan arrayed in continual opposition to him.

    9 Every such one must steel himself to endure that wicked opposition and to bear it as long as this world stands and until it goes down in defeat at Armageddon before God. To be his victorious ones that overcome the world by their integrity, there is nothing else to do than to hold on doggedly to the end of the test. We cannot afford to disappoint ourselves by the self-pleasing idea of an end of the test of endurance tomorrow or “just around the corner”, in order to get it over with in a hurry. In comparison with Jehovah’s six thousand years of endurance, what is our short time of test? As to this matter of pleasing oneself Jehovah’s beloved Son set the example for us to copy. In harmony with prophecies written long beforehand, Jesus Christ chose the course of enduring with God. We read: “Even the Christ did not please himself! On the contrary, as Scripture says of him—‘The reproaches of those who were reproaching thee fell upon me.' Everything, remember, in the Scriptures was written beforehand for our instruction, so that through patient endurance and the encouragement to be gained from the Scriptures we may hold fast to our hope. And may God, the giver of all patience and encouragement, grant you a Christ-like spirit.”—Rom. 15: 3-5, The Twentieth Century New Testament.

    10 We could please ourselves by escaping such reproaches and oppositions or by getting out from under them as soon as we should like. But if we appreciate being in under those reproaches and oppositions on the side of Jehovah God and bearing up under them for the vindication of his side of this issue, it will nerve us to endurance. Just for that we are glad to be in there under the endurance test no matter how long it lasts. Pleasing ourselves means pleasing the Devil’s world, but to please God with all the lasting power of our minds and bodies is what we want. In order to do so, we must turn to the sacred Scriptures which the God of endurance lovingly caused to be written for our present needs. All those Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, testify continually to the unceasing antagonism between the Devil’s world and God and his people. To be with God and on his side puts us directly in the line of fire of the opposition forces. There is no other alternative. But what an honor to be opposed for His sake! As long as this world keeps standing and fighting, we must make ourselves understand that endure reproach and hardship we must, to the end!

    A NEEDED QUALIFICATION

    11 We do not have to turn long through the pages of the Bible to find that the most prominent persons that have qualified for everlasting life in the righteous new world have had to manifest steadfastness on God’s side. Even to carry on as one of Christ’s apostles this qualification was needed. In arguing that he did not come behind others whom the Corinthians looked upon as apostles, Paul said to them: “Although I am nobody, in no case did I prove inferior to the most eminent apostles. The signs that mark a true apostle were exhibited among you—in circumstances constantly calling for endurance—by signs, by marvels, and by miracles.” (2 Cor. 12:11, 12, 20th Cent. N. T.) Paul was not the one to seek for an early release from his duties as a minister of God’s Word because it meant hard work and trialsome experiences. He did not quit the ministry demanding a pension on which to retire from activity, because of having served over a term of years or having reached a certain age. Instead of looking for early retirement, to lean back in ease upon his past record, he paid his own way to keep going in the blessed ministry of God’s Word. Despite the burdens of the work, he prized it so much that he tried not to bring any reproach or blame upon this ministry as if it

    10. Why do we not want to please ourselves in this connection?

    11, 12. How did Paul show in himself the qualification all of us need? were a work for selfish interests, and so he did not burden the Christian congregations financially.

    12 Anything to carry on in God’s service and to make his service impressive for good effect upon people’s minds! this was the apostle’s motive, expressed in these words: “I put no obstacle in the path of any, so that my ministry may not be discredited ; I prove myself at all points a true minister of God, by my great endurance, by suffering, by troubles, by calamities, by lashes, by imprisonment; mobbed, toiling, sleepless, starving; with innocence, insight, patience, kindness, the holy spirit, unaffected love, true words, the power of God; with the weapons of integrity for attack [with the right arm] or for defence [with the left arm], amid honour and dishonour, amid evil report and good report, an impostor, but honest, ‘unknown’ but well-known, dying but here I am alive, chastened but not killed, grieved but always glad, a ‘pauper’ but the means of wealth to many, without a penny but possessed of everything.”—2 Cor. 6:3-10, Moffatt.

    13 A young person, starting out as a Kingdom publisher in a Christian company, or as a full-time pioneer publisher, or in some other form of Christian ministry, needs to keep in mind what he may expect and then determine to go through with it in order to measure up to his privileges of the ministry. Paul was not asking the young Timothy to do only as he said, but to do as he did, when he said: "Love of money is a source of all kinds of evil; and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith, and have been pierced to the heart by many a regret. But you, Servant of God, must avoid all this. You must aim at righteousness, piety, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Run the great race of the faith, and gain the enduring life. It was for this that you received the call, and for this that, in the presence of many witnesses, you made your great profession of faith.” (ITim. 6:10-12,20th Cent. N.T.) Having made a great profession of the faith or belief before many witnesses, Timothy had already carried on quite an activity of publishing the gospel message publicly and from house to house with Paul. But he must keep on in this ministry, not turning aside to gain money or other kind of selfishness by which he could pursue a sheltered life of ease. Gaining the prize of lasting life in heaven to which he was called depended upon his taking the hard way in this world, because it is the right way.

    14 At all times we need exhortation on this vital matter of steadfastness. Lest there be any weakening among the brethren, they must be regularly encouraged to hold on to the truth and to the precious service of truth-spreading. The missionary servants of God in the early church, in their calling back upon

    13. What must a young person in the ministry determine to do?

    14. Lest there be weakening by us. what is regularly needed9 the companies of God’s consecrated people, found it needful to set the issues before the brethren and to show them what was required of them to make good and succeed for God’s vindication. Describing what Paul and Barnabas did on their back-calls upon the young companies, Luke writes: “After preaching the gospel to that town and making a number of disciples, they turned back to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to hold by the faith, and telling them that ‘we have to get into the Realm of God through many a trouble.’ ”—Acts 14: 21, 22, Moffatt.

    15 It takes time to perfect the test concerning us. And if we cannot hold on and remain true and faithful during a short-term season of storm and trial, how can we expect to hold on and abide loyal for all eternity in the new world? Wait, wait, wait! seems to have been God’s rule with liis servants of old for a test of their continuance of faith. In the end, though, it did not prove to be a vain wait. As a member of the then visible governing body of the church the apostle Paul wrote, and, as a world-wide publishing agency, we are pleased to repeat his words of exhortation, saying: “We earnestly desire each one of you to show the same diligence for the full completion of the hope to the end; in order that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patient endurance are inheriting the promises. For God having promised Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, ‘Surely, blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee’; and so, having waited long, he obtained the promise.”—Heb. 6:11-15, The Emphatic Diaglott.

    16 Abraham was already seventy-five years old when God called him out of Ur of the Chaldees to go into the Promised Land. He was about 125 years old when he received that oath-bound confirmation of God’s original promise to him. This was immediately after Abraham went as far as God let him in offering up his beloved son Isaac, who was now about twenty-five years old. (Gen. 22:1-18) Fifty years was a long wait in a strange land, but Abraham held on yet fifty years longer, until he died, when 175 years old, as a sojourner in that strange land. In all that time he was faithful as a witness and prophet of Jehovah God. (Ps. 105:9-15) His faith and endurance are held up as a pattern to all the children of God ‘who want to enter the promised blessings through Jesus Christ, the Seed of Abraham.

    17 Since the ending of the seven “times of the Gentiles”, in 1914 (A.D.), we as Jehovah’s witnesses of today have come a long way over thirty-three years of time. We have passed through two world wars, with violent efforts each time by the Devil to destroy 15, 16. What is God’s rule with his servants, as in Abraham’s case? 17. Why not quit because a postwar period with affliction is ahead? us by bitter persecutions, this last time by using fanatical mobs and Nazi and Fascist rulers egged on by religious clergymen. A postwar period now stretches before us, of how long a duration we know not. Because of persisting in our stand for Jehovah’s kingdom by Christ as the hope of all men of goodwill, we may be sure further tribulations await us, come a third world war or not. Because the time stretches on indefinitely, with the certainty of new afflictions from godless masses as well as religious masses, should we faint and think this thing is endless and the reward an illusive will-o’-the-wisp? No! That would never vindicate God’s sovereignty or honor his name, and he would not be justified before this world in- conferring upon us the prize. The watchword is still that of unwavering endurance in doing God’s will. In the past he has borne us up through severe afflictions, with confiscation of our property, bonds, imprisonments, concentration camps and tortures, bringing us through triumphantly with glory to his name and cause. Through the time that yet remains for the perfecting of our test he can do the same. His exhortation remains fitting for our day, which says:

    18 “Call to mind those early days in which, after you had received the Light, you patiently underwent a long and painful conflict. Sometimes, in consequence of the taunts and injuries heaped upon you, you became a public spectacle; and sometimes you suffered through having shown yourselves to be the friends of men who were in the same position as yourselves. For you not only sympathized with those who were in prison, but you even took the confiscation of your possessions cheerfully, knowing, as you did, that you had in yourselves a greater possession and a lasting one. Do not, therefore, abandon the confidence you have gained, for it has a great reward awaiting it. You still have need of patient endurance, in order that, when you have done God’s will, you may obtain the fulfillment of his promise.”—Heb. 10: 32-36,20th Cent. N. T.

    18 When we consecrated to do God’s will we did not care that we were yet in this wicked world, but we wanted to do His "will because we no longer cared to do the world’s will and be conformed to it. Now, God must be letting this old world remain for a while longer because he yet has a work to do in it before its destruction. As long as he has work to do amid it and we are consecrated to do his will, then we want to be engaged in that work till it is finished. Our consecration to His work was not till any time this side of the world’s end at Armageddon. It was for ever; and, happily, God’s work for us will not end with Armageddon’s battle. However, it is only after we

    18. What exhortation by Paul remains fitting for our day?

    19. Why not engage In God’s work to only a point this side of Armageddoa 9 have done what work is to be done during this present evil world that we shall enter into a realization of the grand things He has promised to his consecrated people. Serving God is, in fact, its own reward. But, in addition to the simple privilege of his work, there is a time for further rewarding us with the long-hoped-for things of his promise, after the completion of God’s “strange world’ at this end of the world.

    20 At times of weariness we may ask: Glow shall we stand up and last any longer ?’ By loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength is how. Our love of him we express by keeping his commandments. It is written: “Love suffers long.and is kind. . . . covers all things; believes all things; hopes for all things; endures all things. Love fails not at any time.” (1 Cor. 13:4,7,8, Diaglott) Unless it is out of love of God that we endure, our bearing up under burdens and afflictions does not mean devotion to him and does not have the effect of deepening our love for him. It is for some other cause and does not count with God. But what was not Jesus able to do out of love for God his Father ? and what can we his followers not do and endure out of love for God our Father and his?

    THE FACTORS OF JOY AND HOPE

    21 As we look at Jesus we mark that he did the will of God gladly, and not with grief. His joy at doing the divine will constituted inward strength to him. He knew better than anyone else the truth of the Scripture: “The joy of Jehovah is your strength” (Neh. 8:10, Am. Stan. Ver.), and hence we must look to Jesus: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” By looking to Jesus as the perfect illustration of what to do when the running in the race-course to everlasting life seems rough, grueling, lengthened-out and almost exhausting, it gives us a new infusion of strength to pace onward closer to the prize, with fresh joy at our privilege. “Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”—Heb. 12: 2, 3.

    22 Jesus, who from the start of his public ministry on earth had the vision of the tree of torture clearly before him, was able to go straight forward despising the thought of it, because of the joy of God’s service that was set before him, joy of witnessing to the truth of God’s Idngdom down till the tree and then the joy of rising from the dead and ascending to God’s right hand, there to see God’s work through to its finish and to vindicate Jehovah’s name by

    20. How can we stand up and endure any longer in this test?

    21. Why must we look unto Jesus?

    22 What was the joy that sustained Jesus? means of the Kingdom. By his endurance as a man on God’s side he held on to his right to everlasting life, yes, immortality, and he said for his hard-pressed followers at the end of the world: “It will be by the endurance you exhibit that you will secure your lives.” Or, otherwise said: “Hold out stedfast and you win your souls.”—Luke 21:19, 20th Cent. N.T.; Moffatt.

    23 What Jesus bids us do we can do. And as we hold out steadfast we will keep our minds, not on the physical painfulness of the sufferings and the mental grief of the reproaches, but on the reasons why we should be joyful. A person having knowledge of Jehovah God and of the great issue concerning his good name and sovereignty is strong. And having God’s holy spirit or active force upon him to make up for his weaknesses, he is fliade still stronger for keeping at God’s service with the right attitude of mind. “Walk worthily of the Lord,” writes the apostle, “pleasing him in all things; bringing forth fruit by every good work, and increasing in the exact knowledge of God; being strengthened with all strength according to his glorious power, for all patience, and endurance with joy.” (Col. 1:10,11, Diaglott) There is secret strength in our knowing for whom we are privileged to undergo hardship and persecution. Anything undergone for the sake of honoring God’s name and upholding his cause is a reason for a joy such as no man can take away from us. This explains why the apostles, after being beaten at the behest of the Jewish Sanhedrin for bearing witness to Jehovah God in Jesus’ name, “departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.” This rejoicing counteracted the sting and shame of the beating and made them strong to keep up the ministry, so that “daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ”.—Acts 5:40-42.

    2* The hope that God has set before us serves as another sustaining power in our lives. It is unquestionably because of this fact that Satan the Devil stirs up the world to ridicule our hope. Our Scriptural hope is that a righteous new world will be created by God’s kingdom with Christ Jesus at his right hand, and if we gain God’s final approval we shall be rewarded with everlasting life in that new world. Our hope is in God’s deliverance of us from this old world and its misguided servants. This hope we must build up more and more by continuing in the way of God’s approval, holding on to that way although in it we must run the gantlet of affliction from this world. Then we shall be able to glory in suffering for His cause and, as the world says, thrive

    23 . How can we be joyful and strengthened unto endurance?

    24 How do we build up our hope so as to glory In tribulations? upon persecution. The world marvels at the faithfulness of the witnesses of Jehovah God, because it does not know or see how we can do what the apostle writes, namely: “We boast in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we triumph also in afflictions, knowing that affliction works out endurance; and endurance, approval; and approval, hope; and this hope is not put to shame, because the love of God has been diffused in our hearts, through that holy spirit which has been given to us.”—Rom. 5:1-5, Diaglott.

    25 In order to exert and build up powers of endurance we must be thrown into afflictions. The Devil stoutly claims that God’s servants and witnesses have no powers of endurance, and he takes great pains to prove his argument. But the servants devoted to God and seeing that his vindication is tied in with their holding out under affliction, know they will gain his approval by doing so. Endurance by us will work out divine approval, and Having his approval we can hope for the realization of the promises he has made, whether that realization be seemingly delayed or not. The deferment of the hope to future time does not make our heart sick and weaken our staying powers. (Prov. 13:12) We must endure to keep that hope, for endurance brings the consciousness that we are pleasing God. This hope plays an important part toward our ultimate salvation, because it holds us true to our course in God’s service and buoys us up under afflictions. “For by our hope have we been saved, but hope beheld is not hope, for what one beholdeth why doth he hope for? If, however, what we do not behold we hope for, with endurance are we ardently awaiting it.” (Rom. 8: 24, Rotherham) As we thus wait out the time, not actually seeing the glorious things hoped for, we can, nonetheless, now enjoy the sense of Jehovah’s approbation of us. We know we have him with us amid the test of our faith. We have his word assuring us of that, and we must depend and rely upon it.

    28 We must never think this waiting period is just a waste of time. But as we wait and bear up under the things that try us there are changes that go on in us, and, if we undergo the experience rightly, it is a change for the better, winning us greater favor with God. It is therefore something to be glad for rather than to be glum about. Under the proving of us we have the occasion or opportunity for exercising the same fine qualities that the faithful ones of old time, and especially our Exemplar Christ Jesus, showed which so won Jehovah’s smile of satisfaction and good-pleasure. Is that not to be rejoiced over? Says the disciple James: “Greet it as pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter any sort of trial, sure

    25 . Why muM we be thrown into afflictions? and how are we sa'ed by hope'*

    26 . Why is not this waiting period a waste of time for us? that the sterling temper [or testing] of your faith produces endurance; only, let your endurance be a finished product, so that you may be finished and complete, with never a defect.” (Jas. 1: 2, 3, Moffatt) That makes it certain that the period of test will not be quickly over, but that we shall have trial after trial, keeping us repeatedly exercising the right qualities and awakening new ones as, all the while, we lean hard upon the Lord God for wisdom and guidance. Thus under the continuing trial we gain a many-sided experience and a well-rounded-out understanding of how to take things, and we are matured and perfected in obedience and trust toward God. We prove our dependableness toward God; and the dependable ones are the ones of whose integrity Jehovah God can be sure for all eternity.

    27 No wonder that James broke out with the exclamation: “Blessed is he who endures under trial; for when he has stood the test, he will gain the crown of life which is promised to all who love him.” (Jas. 1:12, Moffatt) If, then, we appreciate the eternal values to be gained, far be it from us to shirk the tests of endurance. Be it rather our consistent way of acting to enter into them with the best of what we have, and adding to ourselves also all that we can in order to come through successfully. We know what the issue is, and that our failure would bring reproach upon God’s name; and so we must exercise self-control and hold ourselves steady and not back out by making a bargain with God’s enemies. Selfcontrol and endurance go hand in hand, and both of these are necessary to our being godly, fully committed to God’s will and purpose. “For this very reason,” says Peter, “do you contrive to make it your whole concern to furnish your faith with resolution, resolution with intelligence, intelligence with selfcontrol, self-control with stedfastness [or endurance], stedfastness with godliness, godliness with brotherliness, and brotherliness with Christian love.” (2 Pet. 1:5-7, Moffatt) Remember that this is no new method by which God is dealing with us. The faithful Christians before us, including our Captain Jesus Christ, and also all the “cloud of witnesses” of old times before Christ, all of whom were not privileged to live in our wonderful day of fulfillment of prophecies, all of them were dealt with the same way, with provings of their constancy to God. They all have shown us what to do under our present test.

    28 Not just for historical purposes, then, was the record of the exploits of faith and devotion of God’s servants preserved in his Word. Seeing that his approval of them is recorded in his Word, we can count all of them happy because of holding out under test. “Brothers, as an example of the patient endur-

    27 What will we furnish In order to come through successfully?

    28 Who are the happy ones of old? and how can we become counted among the happy** ance of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We call those who displayed such endurance happy! You have heard, too, of Job’s endurance, and have seen what was the Lord’s purpose in it all, for the Lord is full of pity and compassion.” (Jas. 5:10,11, 20th Cent. N. T.) The Lord’s purpose in Job’s sufferings as in those of all the other speaking prophets of Jehovah was the vindication of his name and universal sovereignty. Because of continuous steadfastness, they had part in vindicating him and proving the Devil a liar, and we can become counted among the happy ones by following their example. There must be some to uphold Jehovah’s side with integrity during this twentieth century, just as those spealdng prophets did in ancient centuries, and happy are we to be the ones to do it!

    THE WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT

    29 In order to serve as one of the aids to help us through our season of trial, our provident heavenly Father has furnished us his written Word. It is worth repeating, that “through patient endurance and the encouragement to be gained from the Scriptures we may hold fast to our hope”. Only God’s Word has to have its roots deep within us so as to draw out from us by such strong roots a proper response at all times, pleasant or unpleasant. We do not benefit at all by being like that stony ground described in Jesus’ parable of the sower, by having on top or on the outside what appears to be good receptive soil for God’s Word but underneath having a stony, selfish heart of unbelief that is unyielding and not letting God’s Word take a real hold of us. Jesus foretold the certain outcome to those who are like that, saying: “These are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness ; and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.”—Mark 4:16,17.

    20 Anyone, therefore, that receives the gospel word with any acceptance should not delude himself about it. He is taking to himself something that will draw upon him the heat of affliction and persecution if he lives up to it and holds on to it. But if he keeps on appreciating the value of what he is receiving, then he will not merely accept it with gladness but also count it all joy when he encounters trials of persecution and tribulation for holding fast God’s Word and talking it to others. The persecution will not wilt and destroy his fruitfulness, but he will steadfastly endure the scorching heat of the enemy’s fire. He will keep right on holding forth fruit for the

    29 . What does God’s Word supply us toward endurance? and why should we not be like stony ground toward its seed?

    30 . What should we not be deluded about when receiving the Word? and why be like good ground toward it? sustenance of others who hunger for food from God’s Word. He has no stony heart of hypocrisy, but is like the good soil Jesus described, saying: “As for the seed in the good soil, that means those who hear and hold fast the word in a good, sound heart, and so bear fruit steadfastly. No one lights a lamp and hides it under a vessel or puts it below the bed: he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.” So, if you know positively that you have the true seed, then bring forth the good fruit and hold it forth to others. If you have the true light, then let it shine, and let those visiting or coming in touch with you enter as into a house of light.—Luke 8:15,16, Moffatt.

    INCREASE

    31 The enemy’s purpose in persecuting is to break down the obedience of God’s people to His universal sovereignty and to prove that they cannot hold out in their integrity. It is defeated by keeping on bringing forth to others the Kingdom fruits and letting the light of God’s truth shine out to the hungry, bedark-ened people. Now that we have emerged from the hideous years of combined Nazi-Fascist-Vatican collaboration for world domination, we rejoice to see that the fiery persecutions that were blow-torched against Jehovah’s witnesses, notably from the time of Hitler’s concordat with the pope in 1933, failed to destroy them or to prevent their fruitfulness and increase. Our joy at these faithful ones that have endured that terrific period of 1933-1945 is like the apostle Paul’s when writing to his Christian brethren at Thessalonica, Greece.

    32 Religionists at Thessalonica had rioted against Paul and also tracked him to Berea to stir up a riot there too. The persecuted apostle wrote to those who had to stay behind in Thessalonica among such persecutors and said: “Brothers, it is our duty to be always thanking God about you. This is but right, considering the wonderful growth of your faith, and because, without exception, your love for one another is continually increasing. So much is this the case that, of our own accord, as we move among the churches of God, we speak with pride about the patience [endurance] and faith which you have shown in spite of all the persecutions and troubles that you are enduring. These persecutions will vindicate God’s justice as a judge, and as the result of them, you will be reckoned worthy of God’s kingdom, for the sake of which you are now suffering.” (2 Thess. 1:3-5, 20th Cent. N.T.) Notwithstanding the sufferings at enemy hands those Thessalonian Christians grew in Christlikeness and in numbers. How was that possible? Because they remained steadfast and obeyed the Lord’s orders and endured.

    31 . At what recent defeat of the enemy's purpose do we now joy?

    32 How and why did Paul joy over those at Thessalonica ’

    83 The same thing accounts for the emergence of Jehovah’s witnesses from the crucible of persecution during World War II, with newly interested ones added to their ranks and with undimmed faith and hope and with unquenched zeal for further service as His witnesses during this postwar era. To continue on in this way, they know, means to feel further the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy concerning the end of the world: “And ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake”; and that refers to the nations now that have survived World War II, communist, democratic, Roman Catholic, Protestant, heathen. The suppressing of Nazi-Fascist types of government over certain nations does not mean that Jesus’ words cease to apply. As the Scriptures warn us, all political nations are part of the same world, and it is the same world today as it was before the global war. Because it is done for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ, his faithful footstep followers are resolved to go on in the course of service that focuses the hatred of all nations and of all men upon them. They know that in this world any international popularity is not the mark of true Christianity. Hence they are not troubled at unpopularity. They have a good conscience toward God, because their conscience is educated according to his Word, and they well understand that to suffer with intelligent conscience toward God is what draws his approval and reward although all the world hate. (1 Pet. 2:19-21) Like Moses, they 'endure, as seeing him who is invisible’, Jehovah God their Judge and Rewarder. —Heb. 11: 27.

    FOR SALVATION OF OTHERS

    34 Primarily for the sake of God’s vindication we faithfully and uncomplainingly put up with hardship, privations and persecutions. But there is another unselfish reason why we submit to these things with inward joy and remain in the ministry of the Kingdom truth. It is that we may pass along the Kingdom tidings to others and that more publishers for God’s kingdom may thus be raised up and be trained for this same ministry. We must do more than just pray that the Lord of the harvest, Jehovah God, will send forth more laborers into the harvest because it is great and the laborers are few. (Matt. 9:37,38) Those whom Jesus told to pray thus .were persons that he sent out actively into the field work. Hence he must have meant that all those actively at work in God’s service should at the same time pray that the Lord of the harvest would bless their work to the extent of raising up more publishers of the Kingdom. The prayers should be by the workers; work should accompany prayers. The

    33. Why Is international hatred still ours, and why do we go on?

    34. With what objective do we submit to such things, and why pray0 apostle Paul made that point very plain to his fellowworker, the young man Timothy, saying: “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses [while Timothy accompanied Paul in his witness work], the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”—2 Tim. 2:1-3.

    85 A soldier cuts loose from the free and easy life of the non-military civilian. After that fashion Timothy back there, and we today, must concentrate on the fight in obedience to our Superiors, the Higher Powers. To please them with a good fight for the faith of the Kingdom gospel, we must not entangle ourselves with the affairs of those who are not in the Lord’s army and not in the fight, but, in fact, on the opposing side. And like a hard-working farmer, who plows, plants, weeds and hoes, we must work on and wait for the fruitage in due time. Only if we work will there be fruits of which to partake deservingly. (2 Tim. 2:4-7) In striving for mastery in the games so as to win the crown men must practice stern selfcontrol and set aside useless weights and entanglements.

    36 Finishing our earthly course successfully to Jehovah’s vindication and winning the prize he reserves for us depends, from the start on, upon our steadfast continuance throughout the full length of the course. We cannot, therefore, hold out to the end if we hobble ourselves with hindrances and load ourselves down with things not serving the cause of righteousness and bringing sufferings upon us for such things. Even when stripped of such things, the requirements of us are still exacting enough to call for all that we can muster of fortitude. “Therefore,” we are instructed, “also we having such a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, laying aside every encumbrance, and the close-girding sin, should run with patient endurance the course marked out for us, looking away to the Leader and Perfecter of the faith, Jesus, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Like Jesus, we should not magnify, but minimize, the sufferings to be borne, as being a cheap cost for the joyous prize.—Heb. 12:1, 2, Diaglott, interlinear.

    37 Because we love God and the men who are inclined to seek after him, we can gladly put up with many things in order to reach them with the good new’s of salvation. For preaching God’s Word the foes may bind us. But God’s Word cannot be bound, neither the speaking of it for the salvation of others. In bonds for having preached the gospel, the apostle

    35. Why must we conduct ourselves like soldiers and farmers?

    30. How should we and can we run the race-course to the prize?

    37 What cannot be bound9 and for whose benefit do we endure9 told Timothy the unselfish reason why he was so willing to encounter trial and trouble: “I endure hardship, even to chains, as a malefactor; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I undergo all things on account of the chosen people, so that they also may obtain that salvation which is in Christ Jesus with glory aionian. True is the word; For if we died with him, we shall also live with him; if we endure patiently, we shall also reign with him/’ (2 Tim. 2:8-12, Diaglott) Because it was for the direct benefit of the devoted people of God, this apostle was glad to undergo these things. He was wiling to bear the brunt of the enemy’s assault, if he could spare his brethren the direct suffering or could foil the enemy’s intentions by benefiting the brethren with his Christian ministry. Said he: “I Paul am made a minister; who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil [or, fully to preach] the word of God.”—Col. 1: 23-25.

    38 Seeing, then, that others stand to profit from our steadfast continuance in God’s service to their eternal salvation, we are under that added urgency to keep on, never quitting until done. We can fittingly take to ourselves this further instruction written to Timothy: “Make these things thy care; be occupied in them; so that thy progress may be manifest in all things. Attend to thyself and to the teaching; continue in them; for by doing this thou wilt save both thyself, and those who hear thee.” (1 Tim. 4:15,16, Diaglott) Our minds, therefore, should be settled on this vital fact: By being quitters we do not help ourselves or anybody else to salvation. By continuing on, regardless of what there is to face and bear, we

    38. How do we ‘save ourselves and those who hear us*? keep ourselves constantly in line for salvation and we can directly help others unselfishly to salvation and we can be a forceful example of strength to them to that end.

    39 “Stick to your work.” (1 Tim. 4:16, Moffatt} We thank the great God of endurance for that admonition through his apostle, and this admonition we will follow. We are in this work to win. If we peter out just because the time continues on somewhat longer than we confidently expected years ago we shall fail when we are within close reach of the promised reward. The reward is there, without any question. Also the service is present with us, and the extending of it farther into the postwar era should not dampen our enthusiasm. ’

    40 So may our eyes not grow weary with watching for the war of Armageddon to begin, bringing destruction to the Devil’s organization, Babylon. In view of all the telling signs round about us, may we look ahead in faith. May we gird up the loins of our powers of endurance, and may we stick to the post of watchmen who must sound out the Lord’s warning. May we daily be able to report to the Lord as did the watchman of old: “And he cried as a lion: 0 Lord, I stand continually upon the watch-tower in the daytime, and am set in my ward whole nights.” Then, after a faithful watching and crying out of the signs of the times, we shall, some ardently desired day, have our eyes blessed with the vision of the Lord’s victorious war-chariots riding into view and our ears will be set tingling with the freedom-sounding announcement : “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the graven images of her gods are broken unto the ground.” (Isa. 21: 8, 9, Am. Stan.Ver.) Till then, no quitting on our part, by God’s grace! Continuance at our posts of service day and night, and endurance to the triumphant end! be our watchword.

    39. Why should we ‘stick to our work’?

    40. To what post will we constantly stick, and with what watchword"'

    ASIA AND THEOCRATIC EXPANSION

    MORNING at Hong Kong on April 8 was dark and dreary. Heavy clouds hung low over the city and surrounding hills and there was slight evidence of precipitation on the streets. But already multitudes of people were on the move. Hundreds of men were running along the streets pulling their rickshas. The harbor was full of activity. Motor-powered boats and junks with their one huge sail were plowing through the waters; myriads of small craft and sampans powered by women with long oars were weaving about between the ferries, ocean liners and other large craft. Yes, the women of China do as much work as the men, if not more, especially on the small harbor boats, where it is common to see coolie men and women working side by side, often the women carrying their babies on their backs while loading or unloading trucks and carrying heavy bundles from boats to wharves. Coolies running down the roadsides carrying their huge burdens are passed by great modern motor transport. Here is the contrast of East and West. Here the most modern and most primitive methods are side by side.

    But the time had come for our world travelers, N. H. Knorr, president of the Watch Tower Society, and his secretary, M. G. Henschel, to leave all of this behind. And there they stood at the airport waiting for the heavy clouds to rise so that the pilot would be given permission to take off. It was a wait of more than an hour until the ceiling rose sufficiently to permit the pilot to see a mile ahead, and then the passengers boarded the two-engine plane of the Philippine Commercial Airline. When the plane took off there was no apparent hurry to gain altitude as is usually the case at Hong Kong, but the plane hugged the water because by staying low the pilot could keep his bearings and better observe the islands and thus avoid the high hills hidden in the clouds. For many miles after the take-off for Bangkok the plane headed in the wrong direction, away from Siam. Finally the plane gained a good altitude and broke through the clouds. There was no longer a danger of hitting a mountain. After communicating with the radio station at Hong Kong the pilot got on his course and headed toward the southwest.

    We had been over this route once before on the way to Manila, so when the cloud formation began to break below us we tried to see if we could tell where we were. Two hours had passed, and there below us was the shore line of the big Chinese island of Hainan. Then there were more clouds, and the next time we saw land it was Indo-China’s mountains. And there was the twisting Mekong river, which separates Indo-China from Siam. The skies were quite clear now and as we flew on over Siam we could see the thousands of rice paddies for miles and miles around. Its being the dry season made everything brown-looking except for a green spot here and there that looked like an oasis in the desert, indicating there was a group of farm houses or a village and water supplies. As we came in lovr over the airport near Bangkok we got a clearer picture of the rice paddies and of men using their water buffalo or oxen to plow the fields in preparation for the planting season. They moved very slowly; but it seems there is never a hurry in the East. If a thing isn’t done today, tomorrow will be all right, or the next day.

    Our brethren were at the airport to meet us, and after we went through the usual formalities of the Siamese customs officials we were on our way by car into the city. We passed the small canals filled with beautiful water lilies and green vegetables used for food by the Siamese. Lined up alongside these muddy canals were the woven bamboo and palm shacks which house the rice farmers. Then we came to the huge war memorial and were soon in Bangkok. Here we found many more brethren who had come from many parts of the land to attend the convention. We were not able to stay at the Society’s depot as before because many of the brethren were there, so we were taken to the heart of the city where the brethren had engaged a room at a large hotel operated by the Siamese government.

    …