Open Side Menu Search Icon

    Index Downloading...

    The Watchtower, July 15, 1948

    Download: PDF — The Watchtower, July 15, 1948

    The Watchtower—1948

    it

    7?S®SF5f

    :< -•

    [p

    ,?''P

    •1

    / /?■

    jf'

    U’

    V41 m. ’S'*

    .f-

    US

    •7"-

    Arin&jffigng Jehovffisl&ijdomOB

    J't

    4V

    ■r-

    They shall know that I am Jehovah?

    -ZzfhJri 35.15.

    Vol. LXTX

    Semimonthly

    No. 14

    JULY 15, 1948

    ■>i

    «.

    J.

    CO NTENT8

    “Our Common Salvation”______

    Good Wishes Fulfilled............

    How “Common”? .................

    Contending for the Faith .....

    Something of Which to Be Reminded 217 Angels Not Exempt from Fulling to

    Destruction .......................

    Politics and Demonism _______

    Divine Foreknowledge and

    Human Destiny .............

    Jotham Becomes Powerful A Letter...................................

    .....222

    .....223

    .... 224

    “God’s Ministers” Testimony Pebiod .. 210

    “Watchtower” Studies ..

    “Awake!” _________________________

    Twrr

    PUBLISHED SEMIMONTHLY BY

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

    Ofjtcebs

    N. H. Knobb, President Grant Suiter, Secretary

    "And all thy children shall he taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” - Isaiah 54:13.

    THE BIBLE CLEARLY TEACHES

    THAT JEHOVAH Is the only true God, from everlasting to everlasting, and Is the Maker of heaven and earth and Giver of life to his creatures; that the Word or Logos was the beginning of his creation and his active agent in creating all other things; and that the creature Lucifer rebelled against Jehovah and raised the issue of His universal sovereignty;

    THAT GOD created the earth for man, made perfect man for the earth and placed him upon It; that man yielded to unfaithful Lucifer, or Satan, and willfully disobeyed God’s law and was sentenced to death; that by reason of Adam’s wrong act all men are born sinners and without the right to life;

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

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

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

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

    ITS MISSION

    THIS Journal la published for the purpose of enabling the people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed in the Bible. It publishes Bible Instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah’s witnesses and all people of good-will. It arranges systematic Bible study for its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid in such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public Instruction in the Scriptures.

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

    Notice to Hubscribers: Remittances should be sent to office In your country in compliance with regulations to guarantee sate 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.

    Offices Yearly Subscription Rate

    America (U. S.), 117 Adams St., Brooklyn 1, N. Y. *

    Australia, 7 Beresford Rd., Strathfield, N. S. W.

    British west Indies, 21 Taylor St, Port of Spain, Trinidad *

    Burma, 39 Signal Pagoda Road, Rangoon Rs. 3/8

    Canada, 40 Irwin Ave., Toronto 5, Ontario *

    England, 34 Craven Terrace, London, W.2

    India, 167 Love Lane, Bombay 27 Rs. 3/8

    Jamaica, 151 King St., Kingston

    Newfoundland, Post Box 521, St. John’s *

    New Zealand, Q. P. O. Box 30, Wellington, C. 1

    Philippine Republic, 104 Roosevelt Road, San Francisco del Monte, Quezon City 2 pesos

    South Africa, 623 Boston House, Cape Town

    T. Hawaii, 1228 Pensacola St., Honolulu 34 *

    West Africa, 71 Broad St, Lagoa, Nigeria

    Translations of this journal appear in many languages.

    ALL SINCERE STUDENTS * OF tHe BIBLE who by reason of infirmity, poverty or adversity ore 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 & required by the postal regulations.

    Printed in the United States of America

    Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Brooklyn, N, V., under the Act of March S, 1819,

    “GOD’S MINISTERS” TESTIMONY PERIOD

    Because the Testimony Period during the month of August is entitled “God’s Ministers”, that does not exclude any of our Watchtower readers. To be one of his ministers does not mean to be an ordained graduate from some sectarian religious theological seminary, it simply means to be one of his servants, spreading the gospel of his King and kingdom. You can be one of such by taking part with all of Jehovah’s witnesses during August in spreading his message by word of mouth and by printed page. The special offer for the month will be the combination of the book “The Kingdom Is at Hand” and the new booklet Permanent Governor of All Nations, on a contribution of 35c. Anyone willing to minister God’s message to the people can easily and quickly learn to present this offer from door to door with success and have the rare joy of singing God’s praises to all nations. Experienced ministers-stand ready to help any desiring to start out in this ministry during August, and your request to us by card will move us to put you in touch with the needed personal help and instructions. All participating in this midsummer Testimony Period should submit their report when August closes.

    “WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

    Week of August 22: “ 'Our Common Salvation,’ ” fl 1-19 inclusive, The Watchtower July 15, 1948. Week of August 29: “Contending for the Faith,” fl 1-18 inclusive, The Watchtower July 15, 1948.

    “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 Scrip-turally called “Armageddon” and lovers of life in 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.

    ffieVWCHTOWER

    ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM

    Vol. LXIX July 15% 1948 No. 14

    “OUR COMMON SALVATION”

    "Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.”—Jude 3, Am. Stan. Ver.

    JEHOVAH is the God to whom salvation is to be I ascribed. If all men but looked up above their ordinary pursuits and recognized that fact and acted in harmony with it, there would be the start of a great difference in earth’s affairs for human salvation. Certain American religionists have raised the prayer: “Savior of the world, save Russia.” The fear because of which they raise this prayer shows they are not saved themselves. They may mock at the suggestion, but, just the same, they stand faced with sudden destruction at the battle of Armageddon. Who will be saved, how can we be saved, from the wreckage of this world when its annihilation comes in the 'Tattle of that great day of God Almighty”? That is a realistic question now. In considering it we should disregard all the mocking to which we can expect to expose ourselves for not following the ideas of worldly-wise mockers. But Jehovah God has provided for the salvation of those who ascribe the glory, majesty, dominion and power for a righteous new world to Him. His salvation will work, and that is what honest lovers of life and happiness want. It is the thing worth contending for against all mockers and subversive elements.

    2 Some of our readers may exclaim: ‘Oh, I’m sure I’m saved already; I am a good paying member of a religious organization.’ Well, granted that you are now in a saved condition, still you have to admit that your salvation is not at its completion. Not yet; not if you perceive the dangers, the temptations and the conditions on earth that destroy faith in the Savior. You may have a favorite religious organization. Now if, in the great turmoil ahead, this should go down, where will your faith be then? How will you keep from stumbling and slipping then ? Is your faith such that it will survive such an event? Or do your faith and your saved condition rest upon the solid foundation? To use the Bible expression, Is yours ‘the faith that Jehovah God once for all delivered to his holy people’? It is by God’s grace that we are saved through faith. If you have that

    1. What is the thing we want? and against whom do we contend for it? 2. What should we now determine regarding our faith, and why? faith and contend for it in order to hold it, it means your eternal salvation. If you do not have it, lose no time in. getting it. Then hold onto it till faith is fully rewarded. If we are all together in this effort, we are going to- share salvation in the new world together with all other faithful ones. We now need warning, and to warn us a disciple of the Messiah long ago wrote a letter, short but of the greatest importance today.

    3 The writer’s name is Jude, or Judah. He was named after one of the twelve sons of the patriarch Jacob, from whom the twelve-tribe nation of Israel sprang. When this Jacob of old became father to Judah, then, we read about Leah his mother, “she said, This time will I praise Jehovah: therefore she called his name Judah.” Hence the name “Judah”, or Jude, means “praise”, particularly with reference to Jehovah God.—Gen. 29:35, Am. Stan. Ver.

    4 Jude wrote his valuable letter about A.D. 65, or about thirty years after the death of Jesus of Nazareth.* In fact, he was a brother of Jesus. Not that Jude here tells us so, but he identifies himself as a brother of James, who was a brother of Jesus according to the flesh. (Matt. 13: 55; Gal. 1:19; Acts 15:13; Jas. 1:1) But Jude does not try to make capital of his being a fleshly brother of Jesus the Messiah, so as to get any glory for himself. There is a more important relationship to Jesus Christ than as a fleshly brother. It is a spiritual relationship. To this latter Jude points and confesses himself to be subject to Jesus. He does this in harmony with the Christian rule stated by the apostle Paul, that Christians henceforth know no brother according to what he is in the flesh. Though they had once known Christ according to the flesh, yet now, as God’s new creation, they know him no more in a fleshly sense. (2 Cor. 5:16,17) Accordingly Jude writes: “Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ, and the brother of James, to those who have been called, who are dear to God the Father and have been kept

    • See the book “Equipped for Every Good Work”, pages 264, 350-352.

    3, 4. Who wrote the letter? and how was he related to Jesus Christ?

    through union with Jesus Christ; may mercy, peace, and love be granted you in abundance.”—Jude 1,2, An Amer. Trans.

    ° It is not a self-degrading term for Jude to style himself as a “slave” of Jesus Christ. It shows humility upon his part, and how he is not seeking to glorify himself out of having been Jesus’ fleshly relative. But fleshly relationship carries little importance, for at one time, so John 7: 5 tells us, “neither did his brethren believe in him.” Only after Jesus’ resurrection did these doubting brethren believe upon him. To confess oneself as his “slave” counts more with true Christians than fleshly connection with Jesus Christ. Such slavery to him is a life-giving service, and is what makes us Christian brothers. It is what puts us all upon the same level. Just like slaves, we have been bought, yes, bought by Jesus by the value of his precious blood shed under the most painful circumstances. The apostle Paul reminds us of this when saying: “For a slave who has been called to union with the Lord is a freedman of the Lord, just as a free man who has been called is a slave of Christ. You have been bought and paid for; you must not let yourselves become slaves to men.” (1 Cor. 7:22,23, An Amer. Trans.) Besides being bought by our Master Jesus Christ for his everlasting service, for which he gives us everlasting life, we have been taken captive by his love and have willingly surrendered ourselves to him. As a slave Jude tried to please his Master Jesus Christ. He would try to please him by writing to fellow slaves what was most needful and profitable for them in serving Christ. Only after first mentioning his slavehood to Jesus Christ did Jude identify himself as a fleshly brother of James. He started his letter right.

    0 Jude’s letter is not addressed to any particular local congregation of slaves of Jesus Christ, and is therefore a general one. Yet the letter is very definite as to to whom it is directed, for it is addressed "to those who have been called”. To what have all these Christian slaves been called1? To a position higher and freer than that of the freest citizen of this world, freer than the greatest slaveholder or employer of the greatest number of industrial workers. So they have something of which to conduct themselves worthy. For this reason Paul writes to them: “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.” (1 Thess. 2:12) Slaves now of Jesus Christ, but also called by Jehovah God to the glorious kingdom of his Son in the heavens! This ordering of matters illustrates the wise rule of humility before glory. As Jesus said: “Whoever wants to hold the first place among you must be your slave.” (Matt. 20:27, An Amer. Trans.) What a wonderful salvation is in store for these Christian

    5 . In what way did he start his letter right, and why?

    6 To whom is the letter addressed? and why are they dear to God? slaves if they walk worthy of it to the end by loyally serving their Master to the death, despite having to bear all the reproaches that came upon him also! No wonder they are said to be beloved and dear to God their heavenly Father, and no wonder they are kept by him. He safeguards them because they are in union with his Son Jesus Christ and they are destined for membership with him in his kingdom. It is the heavenly Father’s good pleasure to give them the kingdom with Jesus if they prove their faith and obedience toward him to the end.

    GOOD WISHES FULFILLED

    1 Jude opens his letter with the wish that mercy, peace and love may be multiplied to these dear called ones. That good wish of nineteen centuries ago carries over to us today in this “time of the end”. If we speak for the remnant of “called” ones yet alive on earth, we can say that expressions of divine mercy, peace and love have been granted us in abundance. Of course, we experienced these things when we believed and consecrated ourselves to God and received his forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ. But we have experienced them in special ways since A.D. 1918. That year brought the end of World War I, but it found the remnant of Jehovah’s witnesses on earth quite neglectful of their service to him as slaves of Jesus Christ. Why? Because they had a large amount of fear of men of this world who used governmental measures and violent means to try to suppress and destroy their work of publishing the good news of God’s kingdom to all nations. The remnant were still under the religious idea that the “higher powers” to which all Christian souls must be subject with fear and awe were the secular rulers of this world. Hence if these rulers yielded to their religious prejudices and framed mischief by unjust laws to ban Jehovah’s witnesses and forbid their God-given gospel work, then they must comply. (Rom. 13:1) Besides this, there were other religious soils from which they had not gotten clean and which marred their organization and hindered their free service as witnesses of the Lord God.

    8 It was, therefore, a multiplying of his mercy to us when the God of salvation opened our eyes to see these sins and shortcomings and forgave us these unwitting transgressions after our confession. It was mercy on his part that he had not let the enemy destroy us, but kept us for Jesus Christ that we might further serve as slaves to him, carrying out his command for the end of the world: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matt. 24:14) He did not mercilessly hold

    7. Why did the remnant need mercy to be multiplied since 1918? 8. How did God multiply mercy, peace and love to the remnant? onto his displeasure and anger toward us for our general failure during the period of World War I. No; but he restored us to peaceful relations with him by forgiving us in our repentance and delivering us from the slavish fear of worldly men. He broke the power of the Devil’s Babylonish organization over us and opened up to us new and grander privileges of serving him within his free organization. He cleared out the disturbers and filled the company of his restored, reorganized people with peace to do their work unitedly. Out of love he cleansed us from Babylonish religious soils. He opened up to us more fully the meaning of his Word, revealing to us the fulfillment of its prophecies and feeding us spiritually with fresh truths that imparted new strength. He disclosed that the birth of his kingdom had occurred A.D. 1914, when he enthroned his Son Jesus Christ in the heavens and commanded him to rule in the midst of his enemies till he had destroyed them and brought in a righteous new world.

    8 Manifestly this turbulent, distressed world does not have the divine blessing and favor upon it. But Jehovah’s witnesses know they have God’s mercy, peace and love toward them in abundance. Thousands upon thousands of persons of good-will are beginning to realize this. Oh yes, persecutions are heaped upon these witnesses of the Most High God. Notwithstanding this, they have the evidences of mercy, peace and love such as religious Christendom and the rest of the world do not have. It is because of the evidences of the divine goodness toward these that Christendom and all the world hate and persecute them. But the people of good-will flock to their side. They too want to share in the good things that Jehovah God is showering down upon his faithful remnant of “called” ones. The remnant lovingly welcome these people of good-will, these “other sheep” whom the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ the Kling hunts and gathers. Together, the remnant and these “other sheep” rejoice that God’s kingdom long prayed for is now here and that shortly Jehovah’s King Jesus Christ will finish his rule amidst his enemies by wiping them out in the universal war of Armageddon. Thus, as one peaceful flock safeguarded by the Good Shepherd, the remnant and the goodwill “sheep” joy together in God’s love and mercy. The prayer of Jude’s letter has been abundantly answered upon them.

    HOW “COMMON”?

    10 Having together entered into these loving-kindnesses and benefits from on high, we need, more now than ever, to give heed to the faithful exhortation of Jude. He prayed that the divine mercy, peace

    9. (a) How does Christendom act toward them? (b) How do the “other sheep”?

    10. From writing on what subject did Jude change, and why? and love might increase toward us, and not decrease and finally cease. This is possible. Hence he writes: “Beloved, my whole concern was to write to you on the subject of our common salvation, but I am forced to write you an appeal to defend the faith which has once for all been committed to the saints.” (Jude 3, Moffatt) This indicates that Jude had been inclined to write in a general way about “our common salvation”. But by the spirit of inspiration God made Jude aware that something more forceful and rousing was needed than mere doctrine on the common salvation, something urgently needed to make that salvation sure to them, by God’s grace. What the circumstance was that inspired him to turn from explanation of the common salvation to stirring exhortation we shall see.

    11 First, however, what is this “common salvation”, and in what way is it common? This expression that Jude uses in the original Greek is one that occurs in the literary common Greek by non-Christian writers of his day. By them it meant “the safety of the state”.* But Jude uses the expression in a Christian sense and with no reference to the political states, in bilingual Palestine or elsewhere. He is writing to those called to the kingdom of God, which kingdom is not of this political, commercial, religious world. Hence the salvation has reference to that kingdom and is a salvation of those called to it. It is common, but not in the sense of being low-grade, ordinary, for the Kingdom is Jehovah’s capital organization through which he now rules the universe. The salvation is “common” in that it is shared equally and alike by all those in the group of called ones; it is shared in common by them all. Hence they are exclusively God’s kingdom-class and he has made them a nation separate and different from all the nations of this earth.

    12 They were foreshadowed by the nation of the twelve tribes of Israel, to whom Jehovah said by his prophet Moses: “If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” (Ex. 19: 5, 6) For lack of belief in Jesus the Messiah, the Israelites failed to realize that divine promise. As a people they failed, but thousands of individuals showed the required faith in Jesus Christ and were called to the kingdom with him. In God’s appointed time he called men and women with faith from among the non-Jewish peoples. He formed all these believers, Jew and Gen-

    • See A. Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, by A. T. Robertson, page 125, edition of 1923.

    11. What Is this “common salvation”, and how is it “common”? 12. (a) Who foreshadowed this new nation? (b) Who make it up? tile alike, into his new spiritual nation. The apostle Peter bears out this fact, saying to the called and chosen ones: “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (1 Pet. 2:9) This is the nation to which Jude now belonged and whose salvation he meant.

    “ Jude wrote at a time when the Good Shepherd had not yet begun to gather the “great multitude” of “other sheep” who were foreseen in the Revelation to the apostle John. (Rev. 7:9-17) Jude was not writing about a salvation that is common to this great multitude or to other faithful ones of mankind. While this present-day multitude of “other sheep” are not included in the “common salvation” of which Jude wrote, nevertheless these dear ones of mankind have good prospects of eternal life before them. All the rest of the Bible is full of divine assurances, promises, and prophecies that they do. Their hope is one of eternal life in the new world as much as that of the remnant of the “little flock” is. But they are not of the spirit-begotten class who are called to the Kingdom and heavenly glory with Jesus Christ. In consequence of this their hope is one of life unending on this earth brought to a global paradise condition by the kingdom of Jesus Christ with his called ones. God’s kingdom is the means for blessing them. Their salvation is dependent upon the Kingdom. The King Jesus Christ died to save them as well as his little flock of called ones, for “he is himself an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world”. (1 John 2: 2, An Amer. Trans.) This is a salvation which the Devil begrudges them. He is now trying to cheat them of it. Their salvation is a precious part of the faith once delivered to the saints in Jude’s day, and it must be unremittingly contended for until the prize is gained by these “other sheep”.

    14 For a “common salvation” we must have a “common faith”, and that we do have, unlike Christendom with her hundreds of religions. (Titus 1:4) The “faith” is the sum of beliefs concerning Jehovah God and his kingdom as delivered to us by Jesus Christ and his inspired disciples. It is based upon the ancient Hebrew Scriptures, to which Jesus constantly made reference to support what he taught, and also upon the teachings which Jesus gave as the Son of God sent down from heaven. It is the gospel or good news concerning God’s “own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”.—2 Tim. 1: 9,10.

    13. How la salvation for “other sheep” related to common salvation? 14. What Is the “common faith”?

    “ This is the gospel faith that was delivered nineteen centuries ago to the saints “once for all”, and for that reason there is no other gospel. There will never be another gospel given. What has been delivered to us remains the faith, because it is sufficient to accomplish God’s good purpose. It is the good news that Jehovah God had in his prophetic view in the garden of Eden when he said that ‘The Seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the Serpent, who had started sin upon this earth’. The Devil would like to turn the heirs of salvation aside from the true faith of the gospel by counterfeiting the true and foisting a false gospel upon God’s people. There was danger, said the apostle Paul, that some Christians would be removed from God’s favor to “another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed”.—Gal. 1:6-9; 2 Cor. 11: 3, 4.

    18 The Devil would like to make us let go our grip on this precious faith and give it up. In all earnestness, then, we have to struggle and wrestle and contend against the shams and diversions ■with which the Devil tries to win us away. It is a “precious faith”, well worth contending for, because it leads to everlasting salvation. (2 Pet. 1:1) By a sham gospel the adversary wilily tries to adulterate our faith and confuse us and make us be conformed to this world’s beliefs and ways. This leads to self-deception and destruction. The Devil makes it his business to add to or take away from the written Word of God so as to bring contradiction into it, confuse our understanding, and turn us to the philosophies of unbelieving “wise men” of this world.

    17 There is but the one gospel which was once for all delivered to God’s holy people, the one delivered in purity by the Lord Jesus Christ and his inspired apostles and disciples. Hence the way for us to contend for the true faith is to hold fast to that original gospel in its purity; to go back always to it in cases of doubt or dispute; and to measure any new, foreign suggestions by means of it as the canon or straightedge of faith. That means to go back to the written Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation. If we let this slip from us, there is no escaping destruction. “God . . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, . . . How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the holy [spirit], according to his own will!” —Heb. 1:1,2; 2:3,4.

    15. How la It a faith delivered “once for all”?

    16, 17. Why must we contend for this faith? and how do we?

    18 It goes without saying that the remnant of God’s called ones must earnestly stand in defense of the faith against all invasion attempts by the Devil and his agents. When we resist what these enemies of the faith have to offer, persecution is raised to make us compromise with the world and its encroachments upon our faith. Now that Jesus Christ has begun his heavenly rule in the midst of all his enemies, including those on earth, we live in the days of the coming and presence of the Son of man. To indicate the great difficulty we would have in holding fast the pure faith in this time of struggle for world domination, Jesus said: “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Not any more faith than in the days of Noah before the flood. (Luke 18:8) If we consider the sore persecution that has come upon the upholders of true, unadulterated faith since A.D. 1914, this is a time of struggle and

    18. How did Jesus and Revelation show faith would be tested now? testing. Indeed, it began when the witnesses of Jehovah were taken captive by the Devil’s visible organization during World War L To mark this as a time of special proving of our adherence to the true faith, Revelation, chapter 13, describing that organization as a wild, vicious beast, says: ‘^Whoever is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes: whoever kills with the sword, by the sword must he be killed. This is what shows the patience and the faith of the saints.” —Rev. 13:10, Moffatt.

    18 Now the Good Shepherd’s “other sheep” as well as the remnant of “saints” must show good endurance and unbreakable adherence to the faith once for all delivered to the saints. As we cling together in the Lord, we strengthen and uphold one another to do so. Beholding our steadfastness, others take courage to adopt this glorious faith, and the number of “other sheep” goes on increasing.

    19. How do the “other sheep” take courage to adopt this faith?

    CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH

    THIS twentieth century is not the first time that an enemy has filtered in trained workers into another nation to undermine that nation, weaken it, overturn it and bring it under control of the enemy. Those are the tactics that God’s enemy, Satan the Devil, began using in the first century against God’s “holy nation” in the midst of a hostile world. All the consecrated members of this holy nation are called to God’s heavenly kingdom with Christ. They are heirs of a “common salvation” to that kingdom. God keeps his holy nation for Jesus Christ, and He will save the nation to the Kingdom. But certain individuals that were once members of the nation will not share in that “common salvation”. This is due to those individuals themselves. They may now, in common with other called ones, be holding a hope of final salvation, yet that is no certain guarantee that they will see that hope realized. Our being now in a saved condition is no reason for imagining we cannot be moved, forced or drawn out from that place of refuge and thereby not make our salvation eternal. The adversary is opposed to God’s purpose of saving a holy nation unswervingly devoted to Him. He uses various means to bring about the destruction of as many as he can of those in that saved condition, to the reproach of God. One of his tactics is to introduce slyly in among the ranks of the holy nation persons that will serve his nefarious purposes. This makes it necessary for those who want to make their salvation a fully realized thing to contend earnestly for the faith that saves, once for all delivered to God’s saints.

    1. Do all in Une for the common salvation gain It? and why?

    2 Contention, or standing up in defense, is forced upon God’s people. God permits it to test the integrity and devotion of his holy nation to him. We have to contend thus, or stand up in defense, not only in our congregations against any infiltered enemies, but also in our preaching the gospel from house to house. Testing by this method is good for God’s people, to make them strong and immovable. Explaining why he exhorts the people of God to contend for the apostolic faith, Jude says: “For some people have sneaked in among us—their doom was foretold long ago—godless persons, who turn the mercy of our God into an excuse for immorality, and disown our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”—Jude 4, An Amer. Trans.

    ’ Until Jude wrote his letter, about A.D. 65, some thirty years after Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, there had been plenty of time for foreign elements, persons with devilish designs, to worm their way in among God’s people. Even the Hebrew Scriptures had warned that such enemy agents would steal their way in. About ten years before Jude’s letter (or about A.D. 56) the apostle Paul had warned of the same thing, saying: “I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” (Acts 20:29,30) Jesus had pictorially described the same enemy movement. He gave the parable of the tares, in which the Devil sows the bearded darnel seed, or “children of the wicked one”, in among the good seed, or “children of the

    2. Why does God let contending for the faith be forced upon us?

    3. How was the sneaking Ln of such godless men foretold? kingdom”, and does so stealthily by night when men are sleeping. (Matt. 13:24-43) The result has been the corrupt organization of Christendom, with its tremendous falling away from the faith once for all delivered to the saints nineteen centuries ago.

    ‘ Now we are thirty years past the momentous year A.D. 1918. Bible prophecy, made plain by the spirit of God in the face of world events in fulfillment, indicates that then the reigning King Jesus Christ came to the temple of God for judgment work. Malachi 3:1-5 foretold that this judicial Messenger of God would cleanse the temple of all foreign, injurious elements, just as Jesus Christ did when he came to the typical temple in Jerusalem. To be sure, Christendom and her religious systems have not been cleansed since A.D. 1918, but have grown more corrupt and worldly, have supported a second world war, and now approve the preparations for a third. But look at the witnesses of Jehovah, the most hated and persecuted minority group in all the earth. Their irrepressible zeal for the gospel service of God proves they are consecrated to Him as followers in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. The recent history of their faith, organization and activities proves they have undergone a continuous purification from all soils of this world and a purging of their ranks from undesirable elements. Even the heavy persecution against them has served to purify their ranks and to sever them farther apart from this world. By their fearless zeal in God’s service they show His spirit has been poured out upon them. It is the King and Judge, Christ Jesus, at Jehovah’s temple, who has been thus purifying the remnant of God’s holy nation. It is evident proof that he did come to God’s spiritual temple in the spring or Memorial season of A.D. 1918.

    5 Honest men love a clean organization. God’s purpose is to have now on earth a clean organization of his people, to which his Good Shepherd can assemble the "great multitude” of “other sheep”. Hence God orders those who bear the vessels of his temple for use in his service to be clean from all Babylonish or worldly contamination. (Isa. 52:11; 2 Cor. 6:17) Having now sent his Messenger-Judge to the temple for the cleansing of those worshiping at it, Jehovah God promises that his temple class shall be kept pure. The enemy forces shall never again defile it. However, droves of "other sheep” are now being gathered to the side of the remnant, and they are joining these in ‘serving God day and night at his temple’. (Rev. 7:15) The Devil would like to infiltrate injurious, evil-designing individuals among them. With Jesuitic craftiness he would like to work them in among the Theocratic organization of God’s people, to start a work of defilement from within.

    4. Who show a purification since A.D. 1918, and how?

    5. Despite this purification, why may we not relax our guard?

    Even with God’s promise to keep his organization clean, even with his angels on duty to gather out of His kingdom-class all offenders and workers of lawlessness, there is a need to watch. Our reigning King has cast Satan the Devil out of heaven down to the earth, where he now has great wrath and makes war against the remnant and their great multitude of good-will companions. He is out to injure, disrupt, destroy. (Rev. 12:12-17) So we dare not relax our guard among our local groups, for the Devil is still trying his old tactics. All the strict means for straining out or debarring enemy agents and keeping him from gaining a foothold among us must be kept raised up and ever applied.

    • Those who now slip in through some craftiness will not succeed in subverting or undermining and defiling the organization as a whole, although they may do injury locally with some individuals. But even this is to be regretted and to be guarded against jealously. Let persons who do slyly get inside know that doom was foretold for such kind as them long ago, and the Lord God will speedily execute it now through his angels. From the start these persons do not sincerely fear God. They do not seek admittance into the organization with the clean desire of learning about him to serve him and worship him. They do not look at the organization and its members with pure eyes and chaste motives. Peter describes them as "having eyes full of adultery [or, an adulteress], and that cannot cease from sin; enticing unstedfast souls; having a heart exercised in covetousness.; children of cursing”. Or, as a modern translation renders Peter’s description: "They have eyes for nobody but adulterous women—eyes insatiable in sin. They lure unsteadfast souls. Their hearts are trained in greed. They are accursed!”—2 Pet. 2:14, Am.Stan. Ver., margin; and An Amer. Trans.

    ' Worldly men have been heard to say, Til propose immoral relations with this girl and that, and the first girl that refuses me, I’ll marry her as a faithful girl.’ The Devil tries to corrupt God’s organization by insinuating persons of such a mind in among the Lord’s pure-hearted people, to try to lure and entice unsteady souls into pleasurable sin. These evil-minded persons see the grace and mercy that God has extended to his people in forgiving their sins through Christ’s precious sacrifice. They observe that among God’s consecrated people are those who were once fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, men of unnatural vice, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners, such as are named by the apostle Paul at 1 Corinthians 6:9,10. So they think that if God forgave a person for fornication, adultery, sodomy, and such things, in the past, he will be gracious and merciful enough to forgive a

    6, 7. (a) Will those sneaking in succeed? and how do they look at the organization? (b) How do they reason on God’s mercy toward sin? person if he intentionally and willfully goes after such sinful things again. They think they can go in for a season of enjoying the pleasures of sin whenever they like or feel the urge. All they have to do is to go through a form of repentance and good behavior and ask God’s forgiveness, taking advantage of his grace. Thus they can continue among God’s people, until the next time that they want to seek further indulgence in sin among the Lord’s people, if they can persuade others by false, impure reasoning to yield to their subtle advances.

    8 Such persons are guilty of “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness”. They pervert the grace of our God into immorality. They overlook the fact that, although the apostle told the consecrated believers, “Such were some of you,” he also added, “But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God.” (1 Cor. 6:11) They do not appreciate that God was gracious and merciful to us in washing us from our sins in Christ’s blood, not for us to yield to the cravings of our fallen flesh and go back to the former filth and uncleanness now and again, but for us to pursue determinedly the way of righteousness henceforth. The faithful person that appreciates this purpose of the grace and mercy of God will not pervert it presumptuously. He will contend for the faith once delivered to the saints by indignantly resisting the advances and suggestions of ungodly persons who creep in among us unawares. We know we are the slaves of Jesus Christ bought with blood for the service of God, in obedience to the example of our Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Hence if we yielded unsteadily to ungodly persons and took up the service of sin for the selfish pleasure of our flesh, it would be denying, yes, disowning Jesus Christ as Master and Lord. True to the faith once delivered, we refuse to do this. By this course we have part with Christ in vindicating Jehovah’s name.

    SOMETHING OF WHICH TO BE REMINDED

    ’What Jude now shows those who share in the hope of “our common salvation” is that this salvation is not yet a closed matter, all sealed up and delivered to us beyond loss and failure. He points out that, despite our being now in the saved condition, we of the remnant can fail of “our common salvation”. How? By nut contending for the faith. Just succumb to the enticements of the ungodly persons who pervert God’s grace into an excuse for immorality and worldliness and whose course disowns our Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Jude has already stated that such impious persons had their doom foretold long ago; but how? By the historical record of the Bible. It tells us of such kind of persons in connection with

    8 How do we contend for the faith against such men, and why? 9. How can we fail of salvation, and how does Jude remind us?

    God’s people in ancient times and of the sentence of destruction that He executed upon them. These were precedents or types of what God will do in like cases now. Let such persons of today know definitely that, before they ever start within the Lord’s organized people into which they have sneaked for unclean, selfish purposes, they are doomed. Let them read their doom, and also let us read how it is possible to fail of final salvation by yielding to such doomed ones, as we quote Jude’s words:

    qNow I want to remind you, though you know it already, that he who brought the people safely out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed the ones who did not believe, and the angels who neglected their responsibilities and abandoned their homes he has put in everlasting chains to be kept in darkness for the judgment of the great Day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns which like them indulged in immorality and unnatural vice stand as a warning, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”—Jude 5-7, An Amer. Trans.

    10 Egypt was a type of this world, where our Lord Jesus was impaled as “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”. (Rev. 11:8; John 1:29, 36) Jehovah God saved the Israelites and the mixed multitude of good-will people out of Egypt. Before ever he did so, they killed the typical passover lamb and sprinkled its blood on the doorways and ate its flesh roasted with fire that night. Their firstborn of man and animal were saved from the death that struck all the firstborn of Egypt not partaking of the benefits of the passover lamb. The next day the Israelites and mixed multitude marched out of Egypt and later marched through the Red sea, God saving them all from death or re-enslavement by destroying all the heavily armed Egyptian pursuers in the midst of the sea. Then the command of God their Savior was that they should not return to worldly Egypt again. (Ex. 13:17; Deut. 17:16) Note, now, what those dramatic events prefigured: Those whom God saves from this world recognize Jehovah as God and Jesus Christ as the passover Lamb whose blood buys them out of thi? world. They confess, “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.” (1 Cor. 5:7) They have been thus saved from this world, but with the understanding that they should never return to it and its sinful bondage.

    11 However, does this initial salvation from Satan’s world mean we are unalterably saved to everlasting life in the new world without any possibility of failure now? Not if those Israelites with their mixed multitude are a true illustration. God, one time their Savior, destroyed a million or more of them in the wilderness. Why? Because these “believed not”, yielded to temptation and rebelled.

    10. What was forbidden to Israel after salvation from Egypt? and why’ 11, 12. How did they show our final salvation is not yet certain?

    12 The apostle Paul uses the same illustration to warn us here at the end of the world that our being saved from this world at the beginning of our Christian career is no final proof that we shall share in the "common salvation” when the new world begins. He emphasizes that Israel as a whole experienced a common salvation from Egypt and as a nation the Israelites finally entered into the Promised Land of milk and honey, but that hundreds of thousands of individuals perished before entry into the Promised Land was made. Paul states the reason for their failing to attain the final salvation into the land of promise: “Still most of them disappointed God, for they were struck down in the desert. Now these things happened to warn us, so that we should not long for what is evil as they did. You must not become idolaters, like some of them, for the Scripture says, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to dance.’ Let us not practice immorality, like some of them, twenty-three thousand of whom fell dead in one day. Let us not try the Lord’s patience too far, as some of them did, for they were killed for it by the snakes. You must not grumble, as some of them did, for they were destroyed for it by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as a warning to others, but they were written down to instruct us, in whose days the ages have reached their climax. So the man who thinks he can stand must be on his guard against a fall.” (1 Cor. 10:1-12, An Amer. Trans.) Whether we are of the remnant of called ones or are of the “great multitude” of “other sheep”, we must all be on guard. We must contend for the faith.

    ANGELS NOT EXEMPT FROM FALLING TO DESTRUCTION

    13 We are men, made a little lower than the angels. (Ps. 8:5; Heb. 2:9) Yet, because angels are free moral agents like ourselves and mortal, they are not free from all possibility of falling to their destruction. Their having access to God and beholding the face of our heavenly Father is a blessed privilege that they have, but even from this high estate in life they can fall. Why, right now there are angels that once enjoyed the light of the favor of Jehovah God and the light of the knowledge of his purpose but that are now under sentence to destruction. What false step led them to this terrible result? It was their departing from the clean, holy condition in which God created them and departing from the responsible place in his heavenly organization to which he had assigned them. They were created holy spirit creatures, perfect and glorious; they had the opportunity for eternal life in heaven before them. That was their beginning, their original or first estate. They were not amphibious creatures, meant

    13. (a) Why are angels subject to falling? (b) What is thblr habitation? to live partly in heaven as spirits and partly upon earth as humans. The invisible heavens were their home, their habitation, where they should live righteous lives in God’s service in full harmony with their holy beginning.

    14 How did angels with such a favorable start come into their present “everlasting chains to be kept in darkness for the judgment of the great Day”? As in the case of other creatures since, they did not choose to continue in the righteousness of their original estate. They yielded to Satan the Devil after he rebelled against Jehovah God and brought sin into this world. In the ancient world before the Flood, and particularly during the six hundred years of Noah’s life before that catastrophe, they decided to mix in directly with the wickedness of mankind. Says Genesis 6:4: “There were giants in the earth in those days.” Such giants were those fallen angels, in the Devil’s service.* They did not keep their position of responsibility to God but went over to the service of His enemy. In pursuance of this, they left heaven, which is the home of spirit creatures, and transferred their home to this earth. They did so by materializing in visible human flesh as “giants”, to domineer over wicked humankind. They wanted close fleshly associations.

    15 For joining Satan’s rebellion, God sentenced them to destruction with Satan. The Flood did not destroy them with mankind, for then they merely dematerialized their giant fleshly bodies and returned to their proper home or habitation in the spirit world. But they did not return to their original estate of righteousness inside God’s universal organization, with responsibilities laid upon them by Him and enjoying the light of His approval and counsel. No, but God has restrained them with chains that have held them since he sentenced them until now, “everlasting chains”. These are not chains such as we humans know, but are God’s powers of restraint by which he has kept them “in darkness” respecting his arrangements and purposes. In this restrained condition and under sentence of destruction they are kept in reserve until Almighty God executes his judgment against all of Satan’s organization in this great day. Then their sentence of destruction will be executed. (Rev. 20:1,2; Mark 1:23-27) So angels fell to destruction. We could yet do so.

    14 The Lord God is decidedly against fornication and sodomy, and on this account fiery destruction poured down upon Sodom and Gomorrah, more than 450 years after the Flood. Two angels of God materialized in flesh and went to Sodom, a city in which there were not even ten righteous persons, but only

    • See the 64-page booklet entitled “Angels”.

    14. Why did they leave their first estate and their habitation? IS. In what are they restrained, and reserved to what?

    16. Particularly for what sin were Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed? Lot, who had moved in with his wife and two daughters. The angels went to Sodom, not to indulge the passions of the flesh with the wicked population, but to inspect the city’s moral conditions and to rescue Lot from the destruction overhanging the place. By close personal observation these angels found that the Sodomites had “given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh”. The men not only delivered themselves to fornication with women but also went after relations with flesh other than female flesh, namely, the flesh of men, besides, no doubt, the flesh of brute beasts. (Lev. 18:22-25) The two angels turned in for the night at Lot’s house, and then, the record says: “They had not lain down to rest before all the townsmen, the inhabitants of Sodom, beset the house, young and old from every quarter, shouting to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to visit you to-night! Bring them out to us that we may rape them.’” They lusted more hotly for male flesh than for female, for they refused Lot’s offer of his own daughters for the purpose of intercourse in order to protect the two angels appearing as men. (Gen. 19:4-9, Moffatt) That capped the climax, and the next morning, at sunrise, fire and sulphur rained down upon Sodom, Gomorrah and near-by cities. Lot and his daughters escaped to Zoar just in time.—Gen. 19:10-30.

    17 Like the angels that left their proper habitation in the invisible heavens, the inhabitants of all those burned-up cities went after the satisfaction of the flesh. It brought sudden destruction upon them by means like fire bombs dropped from airplanes in World War H. They suffered the punishment of 17. How is the fire with which they were punished eternal?

    “eternal fire”. Its being called “eternal” does not mean the sulphurous fire still burns at those city sites today. In fact, the charred ruins of those cities lie under water, according to the latest maps of Palestine, which represent Sodom, Gomorrah and Zoar as lying beneath the waters of the southern end of the Salt (Dead) sea, just below the peninsula that juts into the sea.* So the meaning is that the fire resulted in eternal destruction to those cities. That is the meaning of the “lake of fire burning with brimstone” described in Revelation 19: 20; 20:10,14,15; 21: 8. The Sodomites, etc., were not tormented eternally in that fire. They are “set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire”.—Jude 7; Am. Stan. Ver.

    18 For whom are they an example of warning? Peter answers: “Unto those that after should live ungodly.” (2 Pet. 2: 6) Let those who sneak in and try to defile God’s holy organization beware. Those Sodomites were destroyed for burning with desire to defile the flesh of Jehovah’s holy angels. So these impious, ungodly persons are under doom to eternal destruction just as complete as if accomplished by fire and brimstone. May all of God’s sincere people take warning and not consider even momentarily the enticements of such doomed persons who sneak in with devilish cunning. In the hope of eternal salvation to be realized in the new world may we all resist such persons and so avoid their fate, by defending and contending earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to God’s saints.

    • See The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible, 1945 edition, page 62, Plate X.

    18. Who should take warning, and what course should they follow?

    POLITICS AND DEMONISM

    POLITICIANS have always required worldly religion and used it as their handmaid. From the time of ancient Babylon and ancient Egypt on down to this very hour the visible ruling factors of all worldly nations have had their “wise men”, astrologers, soothsayers and other demon-controlled religionists at hand for counsel and advice. Such rulers have always called for “more religion”, whether it was a so-called “state religion” or an ecclesiastical religion. To this very day the rulers in the Occident continue advocating more religion, saying that ‘the religion of your individual choice is all that is necessary, whether that religion be Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or Mohammedan. Any one of these meets the requirements, just so you have religion.’ Even in the United States where separation of church and state is constitutionally required the president and the governors of the forty-eight states say: ‘We must have more religion; otherwise the government of the United States cannot stand.’

    Without an exception, however, the religionists of Christendom have always opposed the real and true servants of Jehovah God and Christ Jesus. Their opposition shows that the religion they have proceeds from the same source as Babylon’s religion of old time, namely, from Satan the Devil, “the prince of the demons,” who is the chief adversary of God and Christ and all who follow Christ. Note, now, some of the Scriptural proof upon this point.

    Nimrod was the founder of Babel or Babylon, and, as its dictatorial ruler, he made religion the leading factor of his government, in opposition to Jehovah God. The brief account at Genesis 10: 8-10 reveals that fact. As to ancient Egypt, the king Pharaoh set himself up as a mighty one and was worshiped as a god by his servile subjects. When the Israelites were held slaves in Egypt, Pharaoh set himself in full opposition to the servants of Almighty God. Moses and Aaron appeared before this political ruler and delivered the message of Jehovah God to him, and to back up the message they performed certain miracles. But the account at Exodus 7:11, 12 tells us: “Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like maimer with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods/’ Those magicians and sorcerers were the visible representatives and mediums of Satan’s demons, influencing and inducing the king Pharaoh to put himself in direct antagonism to the Almighty God. Each time Jehovah’s appointed servant appeared before Pharaoh he called upon the sorcerers, magicians, and representatives of the practice of demon religion, to appear before him and perform their powers, until they at last had to admit they were outdone. —Ex. 8:7, 18, 19; 9:11.

    Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king who destroyed Jerusalem in 607 B.C., had his demon mediums or representatives always on hand to give advice, whether out on military expeditions or at court. (See Ezekiel 21:21-23; Daniel 1:20; 2:2.) Those demon representatives were in complete opposition to Jehovah God and his servants. This is proved by the fact that God gave to his servant Daniel wisdom and power to tell the king’s dream and to explain to Nebuchadnezzar its meaning, but those practitioners of demon religion were unable. “Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king; but there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; as for thee, 0 king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.” (Dan. 2:27-30; 4:7) With such words Daniel exposed the demons as false gods whom the astrologers, magicians and soothsayers worshiped, but proved that Jehovah is the true, living God.

    …