The Watchtower, January 1, 1967

Download: PDF — The Watchtower, January 1, 1967

The Watchtower — January 1, 1967

Source: jw.org

Contents

Where Is God?

“They Followed Him”

Modern Unwillingness to Hear God’s Message Leads to Calamity

The Report of Those Sent to Harvest

Have You Read Your Copy?

Cooperate as a Flock with Servant Leadership

Do You Remember?

Questions From Readers

Announcements

Where Is God?

Where Is God?

WAR in Vietnam. There soldiers and civilians die alike. The religious people pray for help. But where is God?

In Iran floods kill forty-two. Epidemics strike densely populated areas of the Congo, and thousands suffer and die. The religious people cry to heaven for mercy and help. Doctors respond in great numbers. Emergency agencies rush in aid. But where is God?

Two world wars have scarred this generation. Jews have been massacred by the millions. Christian witnesses of Jehovah have suffered in concentration camps and died. Crime is on the increase. Morals have broken down. These deplorable conditions prompt many to ask: If God is, then where is he?

Just because some claim that God is nonexistent, that does not make it so. We must look in the right places for things, even for God. Not having found Him does not alter the fact that God lives, that he is! It may be that many people have been looking in the wrong places for him.

People down through the ages have been accustomed to picture their gods as having the same needs as humans. This is because their gods were of their own invention, based solely upon an imaginary foundation. So the Chinese built joss houses in which they housed their gods; the Arabians constructed mosques; the Japanese designed shrines and the people of Christendom built churches. But do they find God in these structures?

The Christian apostle Paul quite frankly told the Athenians that “the God that made the world and all the things in it, being, as this One is, Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in handmade temples.”​—Acts 17:24, 25.

Think about those inspired words: We are not going to find God in handmade cathedrals, temples, churches, shrines or in other physical edifices of worship. The Great Creator of the universe is not to be confined to lifeless human structures, no matter how lavish they may be. King Solomon, at the time of the dedication of the temple he had built in Jerusalem, prayed: “Will God truly dwell upon the earth? Look! The heavens, yes, the heaven of the heavens, themselves cannot contain you; how much less, then, this house that I have built!” (1 Ki. 8:27) Solomon wisely recognized the relationship of God to earth and buildings.

Moreover, has it not become apparent that many religious institutions today have turned away from the Bible and have become increasingly worldly, even centers for promoting social or political issues? How can God be found by going to these places?

Some religious leaders today in these institutions deny the very existence of God. A modern Jewish rabbi, a leader of a synagogue, quite boldly admits he is an atheist. Is this man capable of leading his parishioners to the true God? Are those who go to his place of worship going to find God? Hardly.

And many religious leaders, among them Protestants and Catholics, deny the Bible to be the inspired Word of God. Some clergymen, bishops and other prelates make light of the Bible account of Adam and Eve, discredit the Scriptural record of the Flood, scoff at the “virgin birth” of Jesus Christ, his resurrection from the dead, and so on ad infinitum. How can these men inspire faith or even point to God when, by their own admission, they themselves have no faith in God or his Word?​—Jas. 3:11, 12.

GOD LIVES AND IS NEAR!

Nevertheless, the apostle Paul refreshingly assures us that God lives, that “he himself gives to all persons life and breath and all things” and that “he is not far off from each one of us.” (Acts 17:25, 27) Yes, God lives, as his prophet stated: “Are you not from long ago, O Jehovah? O my God, my Holy One, you do not die.” (Hab. 1:12) How unreasonable it would be to accept God’s sun, rain and the air we breathe and then say he does not exist or is dead! Instead, we should do as Jesus Christ said: “Prove yourselves sons of your Father who is in the heavens, since he makes his sun rise . . . and makes it rain.” (Matt. 5:45) And not only has the true God given us sun, rain, life and breath, but he has given us all things. Jehovah the Creator lives and is not far off.

But where is he? Jesus Christ said he is “in the heavens.” So God’s dwelling place is in heaven: “The heavens are my throne.” (Matt. 6:9; Isa. 66:1) Solomon stated that God is above the earth, that the heaven of heavens themselves cannot contain Him. How, then, can he be “not far off from each one of us,” as the apostle said?

God is near because knowledge about him can be obtained near at hand, in his Word, the Holy Bible, the Only Book through which we can come to know him, with everlasting life in view. There we learn why the earth is filled with woe, why even God’s servants are persecuted, and when it will end.​—John 17:3.

God is near because God dwells with his people on earth. Not that he dwells personally in people. How could he, if the heaven of the heavens cannot contain him? But by means of his holy spirit or invisible active force, God motivates them to a living hope and to a course that is pleasing to him. He sustains them when they undergo trial. The apostle Paul reveals this fact, in these words: “Do you not know that you people are God’s temple, and that the spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16) “For we are a temple of a living God; just as God said: ‘I shall reside among them and walk among them, and I shall be their God, and they will be my people.’”​—2 Cor. 6:16.

So, it can be said that the dwelling place of God in earth is also with his anointed people, people who have his spirit and bring forth the fruitage of his spirit, which “is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control.”​—Gal. 5:22, 23.

So if anyone is interested in knowing where God is, the first thing to do is to determine who God’s people are. There, in their lives, in their work, in their conduct, you will find the spirit of God at work. There you will find God.

“They Followed Him”

“They Followed Him”

“He said to them: ‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once abandoning the nets, they followed him.”​—Matt. 4:19, 20.

1. Because those to whom Jesus spoke, as recorded at Matthew 4:19, 20, at once abandoned their fishing nets, what questions logically come to mind?

THERE must have been something about this man walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee to make four hardworking fishermen leave their occupation and follow him. Had these fishermen ever seen or heard of this man before? Did they know who he was? Indeed they did! They were well prepared to go when the call came: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” How was this?

2, 3. (a) who did John the Baptist say Jesus was, and how could he have known this to be true? (b) How did John identify Jesus to two of his disciples, and how did Andrew identify Jesus to his brother?

2 This man, Jesus, had been baptized the preceding year (29 C.E.) by John the Baptist. At that time John saw the holy spirit coming down out of heaven and remaining on this Jesus. So later he told his hearers: “I have borne witness that this one is the Son of God.” (John 1:34) John spoke right, for the record tells us: “After being baptized Jesus immediately came up from the water; and, look! the heavens were opened up, and he saw descending like a dove God’s spirit coming upon him. Look! Also, there was a voice from the heavens that said: ‘This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved.’ Then Jesus was led by the spirit up into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, then he felt hungry.” (Matt. 3:16-4:2) Now three temptations were cleverly put before Jesus by Satan. However, Jesus Christ remained true to his heavenly Father and finally said: “Go away, Satan! For it is written, ‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’”​—Matt. 4:10.

3 Now after this experience Jesus came walking toward John the Baptist, and it was quite natural for him to point to Jesus and say: “See, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!” The next day two of these Galilean fishermen met Jesus. How? That day “John was standing with two of his disciples, and as he looked at Jesus walking he said: ‘See, the Lamb of God!’ And the two disciples [of John] heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.” Fisherman Andrew was one of the two that said to Jesus: “Rabbi, . . . where are you staying?” “And they stayed with him that day.” Andrew then “found his own brother, Simon, and said to him: ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means, when translated, Christ). . . . When Jesus looked upon him he said: ‘You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).” The next day Jesus desired to depart for Galilee. “So Jesus found Philip.” He was from the same city as Andrew and Peter.​—John 1:29, 35-44.

4. With whom did John’s disciples wish to get acquainted, and why?

4 From this we see that John’s disciples wanted to get acquainted with Jesus and did. At least two of the fishermen, to whom Jesus later said, “I will make you fishers of men,” met him first at the Jordan River. Many people knew what John had said about Jesus, that he was the Son of God, the Messiah. It was quite natural, then, for them to want to hear what Jesus had to say. Let us travel a little while with Jesus and see what he does after first getting acquainted with Andrew and Peter and Philip and other disciples.

5. How did Jesus manifest his glory to his disciples at Cana in Galilee?

5 Jesus left the upper Jordan valley and came to Cana of Galilee, where a marriage feast took place. The mother of Jesus was there and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to this wedding celebration. It so happened the wine ran short, and here Jesus performed his first miracle, turning water into wine. This miracle was “the beginning of his signs, and he made his glory manifest; and his disciples put their faith in him.” (John 2:1-11) All these things had happened during the first six months since Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River.

6. What does the Bible record say Jesus did at Passover time of 30 C.E. in Jerusalem?

6 Now it is Passover time in the spring of the year 30, and Jesus goes to Jerusalem. In this holy city he showed his indignation toward those who were turning the house of his God into a business place. “He found in the temple those selling cattle and sheep and doves and the money brokers in their seats. So, after making a whip of ropes, he drove all those with the sheep and cattle out of the temple, and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. And he said to those selling the doves: ‘Take these things away from here! Stop making the house of my Father a house of merchandise!’ His disciples called to mind that it is written: ‘The zeal for your house will eat me up.’”​—John 2:13-17; Ps. 69:9.

7. (a) What interesting information did Jesus relate to the Pharisee Nicodemus? (b) What is next reported as taking place in Judean country?

7 Then one night Jesus received a visitor, Nicodemus, a Pharisee who was anxious to hear what this teacher from God had to say. Among other things, Jesus pointed out that “God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life. For God sent forth his Son into the world . . . for the world to be saved through him.” (John 3:16, 17) He further showed that faith in the true God is necessary and that the one “that does what is true comes to the light, in order that his works may be made manifest as having been worked in harmony with God.” (John 3:1-21) After this most interesting night meeting “Jesus and his disciples went into Judean country, and there he spent some time with them and did baptizing. But John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim.” “When . . . the Lord became aware that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John​—although, indeed, Jesus himself did no baptizing but his disciples did—​he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.”​—John 3:22, 23; 4:1-3.

8, 9. How did John the Baptist testify that the followers of Jesus must go on increasing, and what important message did Jesus now begin proclaiming?

8 The people and religionists observed this great activity because now Jesus’ disciples were baptizing and John the Baptist was still baptizing. But they observed many more were now following Jesus. In fact, some of John’s disciples said ‘all were going to Jesus.’ John very carefully explained that he was not the Christ but that he was sent forth in advance of the Christ. Then John made a very significant statement, which showed his real, true love for Jesus, the Christ or Anointed One: “He that has the bride is the bridegroom. However, the friend of the bridegroom, when he stands and hears him, has a great deal of joy on account of the voice of the bridegroom. Therefore this joy of mine has been made full. That one must go on increasing, but I must go on decreasing.”​—John 3:25-30.

9 Jesus did increase his disciples and many Jews were following him. “Now after John was put under arrest Jesus went into Galilee, preaching the good news of God and saying: ‘The appointed time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near. Be repentant, you people, and have faith in the good news.’” (Mark 1:14, 15) Matthew confirms this, for he says: “‘The people sitting in darkness saw a great light, and as for those sitting in a region of deathly shadow, light rose upon them.’ From that time on Jesus commenced preaching and saying: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.’”​—Matt. 4:16, 17.

10. How did Jesus show the people in the synagogue of Nazareth what his work on earth was to be?

10 Now John’s public work was done. He had announced the one who must go on increasing, and after John’s imprisonment Jesus immediately took up the message concerning God’s kingdom. Then he went to Nazareth and read his commission from Isaiah, the sixty-first Isa chapter 61, to all in the synagogue on the sabbath day. “So the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed him, and he opened the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘Jehovah’s spirit is upon me, because he anointed me to declare good news to the poor, he sent me forth to preach a release to the captives and a recovery of sight to the blind, to send the crushed ones away with a release, to preach Jehovah’s acceptable year.’ With that he rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were intently fixed upon him. Then he started to say to them: ‘Today this scripture that you just heard is fulfilled.’”​—Luke 4:17-21.

11. Up to this time, how many were doing the work Jesus was carrying on, and so what reasonably would be the next step?

11 Not being accepted in his own territory, he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. “And he was teaching them on the sabbath; and they were astounded at his way of teaching, because his speech was with authority.” (Luke 4:31, 32) By this time in Jesus Christ’s ministry there must have been many very attentive listening disciples, learners, but none as yet were called to do the work Jesus was doing. He was carrying on a real teaching program, instructing his disciples to be ready to take on responsibility. Now the time came to select and train certain ones for future work. Whom did Jesus choose first?

DID THEY KNOW WHO HE WAS?

12. (a) How does Matthew 4:18-22 relate the call of Jesus to certain ones to follow him? (b) What was the response of these men?

12 So Peter and Andrew and their companions had gone back to fishing. While Jesus was walking alone along the Sea of Galilee near Capernaum, well after Passover of 30 C.E., “he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, letting down a fishing net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he said to them: ‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once abandoning the nets, they followed him. Going on also from there he saw two others who were brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. At once leaving the boat and their father, they followed him.” (Matt. 4:18-22) There was not the slightest hesitation to respond on the part of these four fishermen. Like the prophet Isaiah, centuries previously, in their hearts they said: “Here I am! Send me.” (Isa. 6:8) They were ready to go because they knew who Jesus was. This was not the first time they had seen him or heard his word.

13. (a) How could Andrew, Peter, James and John be sure of who Jesus was? (b) What thought-provoking questions now can be asked?

13 Remember, Andrew and a companion stayed with him one evening, almost a year before, and Peter met him when Andrew his brother said to Peter: “We have found the Messiah.” They could have been some of his disciples who were at the marriage feast in Cana. If not with him, surely they heard about Jesus’ cleaning out the money changers in the temple at Jerusalem the following Passover season (30 C.E.). The news about his reading Isaiah’s prophecy at Nazareth a little while before now and his being run out of town surely got to their ears. Without doubt they listened to his teaching with authority at Capernaum. These four disciples knew who he was and were ready to follow him. They did not go into this new work as ministers of God without knowing what Jesus was preaching and without believing the kingdom of the heavens was at hand! They were ready and anxious to get into the ministry, as every man and woman should be today who has heard the Word of God and believes in the kingdom of God as the only hope for mankind. Do you have knowledge of God’s Word and faith that qualifies you to be a minister? Have you responded to the call to service? You should if you have studied God’s Word and associated with Jehovah’s witnesses for a year or more.

14. How had these first disciples of Jesus been prepared for taking up the call to follow Jesus?

14 Many men and women today have seen the light of God’s Word and, in effect, they have abandoned their nets and have followed him. Peter, Andrew, James and John stayed with Jesus in the full-time ministry because these men loved the truth and saw the great need to do the work Jesus was doing. They had listened with ears anxious to hear when John the Baptist told them to repent and be ready for Messiah’s coming. Now they had come to know the Messiah and believed that he was the one sent by God and was the Son of God. They had traveled with him from time to time, but now at the Sea of Galilee the big opportunity came. The question then was, Would they answer the call as Isaiah did and say: “Here I am! Send me”? They did, and we today are grateful for it because we have their fine example to follow.

15. Who else was now called to follow Jesus, and what was his occupation?

15 Jesus was still looking for sincere men even though these four fishers definitely accepted the call to be his followers. While Jesus was in Capernaum he saw a man “named Levi sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: ‘Be my follower.’ And leaving everything behind he rose up and went following him.” (Luke 5:27, 28) Later Levi (or, Matthew) spread a big reception feast for Jesus, and reclining at the table with him were many other tax collectors. His disciples were there too and Jesus used this opportunity to give a fine witness to all present. He said: “I have come to call, not righteous persons, but sinners to repentance.”​—Luke 5:32.

16. Outline the next important selecting work Jesus had to do, and how do we know this was a very serious work?

16 Now, after a year and a half of preaching and teaching his disciples and after attending his second passover since his baptism, Jesus selected from his many disciples twelve to be his apostles. He made this matter of selecting men for such an important position a subject of prayer, and Luke tells us: “In the progress of these days he went out into the mountain to pray, and he continued the whole night in prayer to God. But when it became day he called his disciples to him and chose from among them twelve, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas, and James the son of Al·phae΄us, and Simon who is called ‘the zealous one,’ and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who turned traitor.”​—Luke 6:12-16.

17. How much time was involved in selecting the twelve apostles, showing what to be necessary for them?

17 How interesting all this information is! It took Jesus well over a year and a half to select these twelve men as his apostles. He had gathered many disciples around himself, many followed him, many put faith in him, but out of all of these, after a year and a half of work, he decided on twelve men that he taught, called and prepared for a special work. He did not appoint them to this work of apostleship on his first calling them to follow him, even though they at once left their fishing or tax collecting work. First the implanting of knowledge was necessary!

18. In our day, what view should we take of those with whom we study the Bible?

18 So it is today. Jehovah’s witnesses find many persons in their house-to-house work who become interested in the message of God’s kingdom. Studies in the Bible are often started and conducted in the homes of the people, sometimes for a year or much longer. A Christian teacher should not be discouraged because some do not make their minds up to walk in the footsteps of Christ Jesus in a short period of time, say a year. Consider, if you are an active Christian, how long it took you to make up your mind to go from house to house in the ministry. If you are not an active Christian, ask yourself, ‘Am I a Christian?’ Maybe you are one in name only and, of course, then you do not even deserve the name.

19. What better work than the fishing industry did Jesus have in mind for the disciples?

19 In the case of the four fishermen, they already had a profession. It was fishing for fish in the Sea of Galilee. They probably were doing a very good business. James and John were working with their father Zebedee and they had hired men. So if they hired men to work along with them they must have had a big thriving business. But despite this fine, lucrative business, the two sons of Zebedee left their father and followed Christ. They wanted to be Christians! (Mark 1:19, 20) The fishing business is a very healthy, out-of-doors occupation. As for pleasant surroundings, what could be better than the Sea of Galilee? But Jesus had something much better in mind. That is why he told Peter: “From now on you will be catching men alive.” (Luke 5:10) Jesus wanted live men, devoted men, to handle the message he had. They must truly love his Father in heaven, just as he did, and his followers must love one another.​—John 13:34, 35.

20, 21. (a) What opportunity was Jesus now opening up to his followers? (b) How could these followers learn about this wonderful gift?

20 Jesus Christ was starting the Christian work, and these twelve men in their turn must make disciples of Jesus Christ, instructing them in Christ’s teaching. He was opening up the only way of everlasting life for all mankind. At his last Passover celebration, the one he kept with his disciples, and at which time he introduced the Memorial of his death, he said, in his final prayer: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.” (John 17:3) What a comprehensive statement! To get everlasting life for oneself it is necessary to take in knowledge, and get understanding of the works and purposes of Jehovah God and his Son, Jesus Christ. Where can you get such knowledge? In God’s written Word, the Holy Bible. It takes time to read the Bible, but much more time to study it. It even takes more time to be a teacher. That is why these men at once abandoned everything and followed Jesus so as to be his full-time disciples and learn about God and Christ Jesus and so prove to be better teachers.

21 Now, after he had chosen the twelve apostles, Jesus continued to give them more knowledge of God and to show them the course of life that all men must faithfully follow if they would gain everlasting life. His twelve apostles along with great crowds of people who followed him heard his sermon on the mount, as recorded in the fifth to the seventh chapters 5-7 of Matthew. This was sound teaching.

TRAINING AS EVANGELIZERS

22. Why did the apostles stay close to Jesus, and what was Jesus’ primary interest as far as these men he had chosen were concerned?

22 The apostles always stayed close to Jesus Christ now as learners, taking in knowledge, asking questions, observing the miracles he performed, traveling from city to city with him, always listening with open hearts and minds so as to take in the good news. Jesus knew that the apostles needed special training for their future work and that the best way to give it to them was to send them out on a speaking tour. After their tour, all on their own, and preaching the good news to others, “the apostles gathered together before Jesus and reported to him all the good things they had done and taught. And he said to them: ‘Come, you yourselves, privately into a lonely place and rest up a bit.’” (Mark 6:30, 31; Luke 9:10) While Jesus was primarily interested in the twelve apostles and getting them ready to handle the great work that lay ahead of them, still he kept on making disciples of many others and with good success. Continually great crowds of people were coming to him. At one time he spoke to and fed 5,000 people on the northeast side of the Sea of Galilee.​—Matt. 14:14-24; Mark 6:30-44.

23. (a) What caused those who heard Jesus speak to be amazed? (b) What were those who listened called upon to do, and is the same thing true in our day?

23 By the year 32 C.E., around the time of the festival of tabernacles in Jerusalem, people were truly amazed at this man, Jesus, because, “when by now the festival was half over, Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. Therefore the Jews fell to wondering, saying: ‘How does this man have a knowledge of letters, when he has not studied at the schools?’ Jesus, in turn, answered them and said: ‘What I teach is not mine, but belongs to him that sent me. If anyone desires to do His will, he will know concerning the teaching whether it is from God or I speak of my own originality.’” (John 7:14-17) So those people listening had to make decisions either to accept the message as from God or reject it. The same is true today. Some hearers put faith in Jesus’ words and make progress and prepare themselves to preach the same message, namely, “The kingdom of the heavens is at hand.” The least one can do is tell others what one hears about God, in one’s daily conversations with other persons. All of us can do that much, can we not?

24. (a) After two years, how many disciples could be sent forth to preach by Jesus? (b) By 33 C.E., how many had full faith in Christ? (c) What did Jesus promise his disciples, to ensure further instruction and guidance?

24 In two years’ time after Jesus began preaching, many more Jews had enough knowledge to go from house to house and preach. Luke tells us: “The Lord designated seventy others and sent them forth by twos in advance of him into every city and place to which he himself was going to come. Then he began to say to them: ‘The harvest, indeed, is great, but the workers are few. Therefore beg the Master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. Go forth. Look! I am sending you forth as lambs in among wolves.’” (Luke 10:1-3) His apostles and these seventy disciples, totaling eighty-two teachers, knew that for them to go out into the world and preach as they were now instructed to do would bring upon them many problems, persecution and trials, but they had faith in Jehovah and his Son, Christ Jesus, to take this forward step. These ministers sent to preach still had the time and opportunity of learning more from Jesus. The cry to Pontius Pilate to kill Christ would not be heard until the Passover of the year 33 C.E. By that time, though, there were at least 120 who had full faith in Christ Jesus, and forty days after his resurrection Jesus gave to them through the apostles the orders: “Do not withdraw from Jerusalem, but keep waiting for what the Father has promised, about which you heard from me; because John, indeed, baptized with water, but you will be baptized in holy spirit not many days after this.” (Acts 1:4, 5) Surely they would get further direction as to what they should do now that Jesus had died upon the torture stake and had been resurrected from the dead and had ascended to heaven. These 120 disciples, eleven of the original apostles and 109 other disciples, were awaiting in an upper room in Jerusalem for some sign from Christ Jesus. The sign came! “They all became filled with holy spirit and started to speak with different tongues, just as the spirit was granting them to make utterance.” (Acts 2:4) These now spoke fearlessly about the things they learned in but a few years because they followed Jesus. As for Peter himself, he certainly would be made a fisher of men.

25. At Pentecost, how many embraced the word and were baptized?

25 On that day of Pentecost Peter stood up and raised his voice and spoke to a great crowd of people, thousands. When he finished, 3,000 embraced the word heartily and were baptized. Undoubtedly many of these three thousand had listened to Jesus and had been taught by him. Jesus was well known throughout Jerusalem, Judea, Galilee and all the land of Palestine, for he was a great preacher of truth.

26. What timely questions are asked for our consideration?

26 The life Christ led brought results. His preaching produced ministers of God. What has your ministry for God produced? Have you been a good student of the Scriptures and a hearer of the Word and thus equipped yourself to be a good teacher? If you call yourself a Christian, you should be doing what Jesus did or the disciples did. The early Christian congregation showed zeal for God and his kingdom and walked in Jesus’ footsteps. How many men and women of the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant faiths today believe like Christ Jesus’ followers? How many have ears even to hear? How many preach that the kingdom of God is at hand?

27. Describe the events leading up to Saul’s conversion and what he did after becoming a follower of Christ.

27 In his zeal for the Jews’ religion Saul, a Jewish Pharisee, “breathing threat and murder against the disciples of the Lord,” opposed the work of the Christians. He was stopped by blindness on his way to Damascus by the heavenly resurrected Christ Jesus. Jesus chose this man, the worst persecutor of Christians, to be his follower and be used ‘to bear his name to the nations as well as to kings and the sons of Israel.’ Ananias, a Christian, was sent to the house where Saul was suffering blindness, and at Christ Jesus’ direction he laid his hands on Saul “in order that you [Saul] may recover sight and be filled with holy spirit.” Saul “recovered sight; and he rose and was baptized.” He spent some days with the disciples at Damascus and, when he learned the truth and understood what his work was to be, “immediately in the synagogues he began to preach Jesus, that this One is the Son of God.” He had the spirit of the prophet Isaiah, when he said: “Here I am! Send me.”​—Acts 9:1-22.

28. How did Paul help a jailer, who had him and his companion under guard, to become a believer in Jesus?

28 Once Saul appreciated the truth he started to preach and kept at it. It was not a spasmodic matter with him. One time when he was traveling with his missionary companion Silas, he ordered a demon to come out of a bothersome girl. He caused an uproar and both these Christians were jailed after being beaten. During the night they prayed and praised God with songs, and the prisoners heard them. Then suddenly a great earthquake occurred and the jailer feared that all his prisoners had escaped, but Paul assured him that such was not the case. Then Paul spoke to the jailer on what to do for the jailer to get saved. Here is what happened: “They spoke the word of Jehovah to him together with all those in his house. And he [the jailer] took them along in that hour of the night and bathed their stripes; and, one and all, he and his were baptized without delay.” (Acts 16:32-34) Any circumstance was a good occasion for Paul (the onetime Saul) to speak the word of Jehovah, and he got results.

29. What requirements for life today are the same as in the days of Christianity’s beginnings?

29 Please observe that the jailer and his family, after hearing the word of Jehovah, “without delay” took their stand for the truth. As far as one’s becoming a Christian is concerned, things are no different today. A person must dedicate himself to the service of Jehovah God as Paul did and as the jailer did; then become baptized and take up Christian activity, if he wants everlasting life. Just as Paul walked in the footsteps of Christ Jesus and as the eleven other apostles chosen by Jesus did, so we must prove ourselves faithful to God’s real worship. We cannot be like Judas Iscariot, who became a betrayer and put material gain first. We, today, must prove ourselves just as faithful as all the early disciples of Christ Jesus in taking up the ministry. This good news of the Kingdom would not have been spread throughout the world today if it had not been for Christians like these.

[Picture on page 8]

“Be my follower”

Modern Unwillingness to Hear God’s Message Leads to Calamity

Modern Unwillingness to Hear God’s Message Leads to Calamity

1. (a) What advantages do people have today when it comes to hearing the truth? (b) Yet what mood are most people found to be in?

WHAT an advantage the world of mankind has today with the Word of God printed in many languages and distributed to the ends of the earth! And, in addition, Jehovah’s Christian witnesses of today are anxious and willing to come into the homes of the people of all nations and help them study and understand their own Bibles. But by far those people in Christendom are just like the people in the prophet Isaiah’s day; the more you speak to them about the goodness of God and the gift he gave to mankind in his Son, Christ Jesus, the more they prefer not to understand. Even though they see and hear Jehovah’s witnesses again and again, they refuse to get any knowledge. They do not want to! So, like Isaiah, true Christians preaching the only worthwhile message, “The kingdom of the heavens is at hand,” will “make the heart of this people unreceptive, and make their very ears unresponsive, and paste their very eyes together, that they may not see with their eyes and with their ears they may not hear, and that their own heart may not understand and that they may not actually turn back and get healing for themselves.”​—Isa. 6:10.

2. Was the situation similar in Jesus’ time on earth?

2 When Jesus was on earth preaching, he said the same thing about the people of his day: “The heart of this people has grown thick.” (Matt. 13:13-15) A few, like the apostles, listened and did something about it, and “they followed him.” The twelve apostles, the seventy evangelizers, and the 120 at Pentecost, and Paul and thousands of other Jews became active Christians in those early days of Christianity. These delighted to do the will of their God Jehovah and walk in the footsteps of Christ Jesus. But how about the millions upon millions of so-called Christians today? Are their ears and eyes shut?

3. (a) Looking at Christendom today, do we find the faith in God’s Word Jesus had? (b) How do many feel about the Bible’s moral code?

3 Christendom of this twentieth century says that it is the follower of Christ Jesus, but do you believe it is? Listen to, and read, if you will, about the so-called representatives of Christ Jesus. They certainly do not show the faith in the Word of God that Jesus showed. Today many of the leaders of Christendom want to speak of their own originality and are drawing the greater number of people away from the faith in true Christianity, the faith that Jehovah God lives and faith in God’s Son, Christ Jesus. They try to make the great message that Jesus taught concerning the kingdom of the heavens as of no account. And as for the Bible’s moral code, they would make it as no guide for man today. The Pensacola Journal of Friday, December 3, 1965, reported: “The winds of change sweeping through the Roman Catholic Church are also buffeting the house of Protestantism. Frighteningly for many Protestants, the basic tenets of the Christian faith are being questioned​—not by hard-core atheists but by theologians. For want of a better phrase, the new school of Christian humanism has become known as the ‘God is Dead’ movement.”

4. What does it appear that some theologians think about God?

4 We would like to ask: How can these theologians say that they are Christians, or even represent Christianity? Or, for that matter, how can there be a religion if there is no God or if God is dead? Some theologians think that by the flip of the tongue they can kill God, get rid of him, and wipe out the Bible, God’s Book, where we learn what men have said to God and what God has said to them. Christian men and women with faith in their Creator, God, will not agree with Thomas J. J. Altizer, associate professor of religion at Atlanta’s Emory University, a Methodist-owned school, who says, as also reported in the Pensacola Journal of December 3, 1965: “We must recognize that the death of God is a historical event.”

5, 6. (a) What interesting information does Webster’s New International Dictionary present for consideration by those who would do away with God? (b) What does the same source say in defining “God”?

5 Such theologians strongly encourage men and women who at one time may have had faith in God and in his beloved Son, Christ Jesus, to discard the Bible and make up their own religion, develop their own belief and do this without a God. They had better call it something other than religion, because Webster’s New International Dictionary (1927 edition) says concerning religion: “The outward act or form by which men indicate their recognition of the existence of a god, or of gods having power over their destiny, to whom obedience, service and honor are due; the feeling or expression of human love, fear, or awe of some superhuman, overruling power, whether by profession of belief, by observance of rites and ceremonies, or by the conduct of life; a system of faith and worship; a manifestation of piety.”

6 Under the heading, God, this same dictionary says: “The Supreme Being; the eternal and infinite Spirit, Creator and Sovereign of the universe; Jehovah. ‘God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24).’” It also says: “A being of more than human attributes and powers; especially, a superhuman person, conceived as dominating nature . . . and to whom worship is due and acceptable.”

7, 8. (a) What should the “God is dead” theologians be honest enough to admit? (b) What might the adherents of such movement well come to worship and believe?

7 These theologians who think they have killed God by teaching their theory should admit they are no longer representing a religion and that they are trying to destroy the worship of all people toward the true God of the universe. They have nothing to worship except themselves, and they surely are no gods. So if there is nothing to worship, there is no religion.

8 If anyone is going to practice religion he must believe in God; otherwise it is not a religion. Why not close down all the churches that have ministers who believe God is dead, because they surely do not want their parishioners to believe in God? Maybe their parishioners will turn to ancestor worship or self-worship, or perhaps they are gradually turning their minds over to the Buddhist religion, where people hope eventually to gain nirvana, the great nothing which they believe is God. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (1961 edition) defines “nirvana”: “The dying out in the heart of passion, hatred, and delusion. This emancipation involves a beatific spiritual condition and freedom from the necessity of future transmigration. Oblivion to care, pain, or external reality.” Are we to believe we came from nothing and go back to nothing?

9-11. (a) What view does one theologian take of some Bible accounts? (b) What conclusion does one reach by carrying such arguments to their logical ends? (c) How does the apostle Paul outline the Christian view for us to follow?

9 Many of the leading religionists of Christendom are trying to destroy all faith in the Great God of the universe and in his written Word. One example of this is an Associated Press wire of February 13, 1961. It attributes this statement to the auxiliary Episcopal Bishop of California, the “Right Reverend” James A. Pike: “He spoke of the ‘myth of the Garden of Eden,’ which he said has value in explaining what he called the ‘complicated truth’ of the nature of man but added: ‘Yet I do not know a single member of the Anglican Communion​—Bishop, Presbyter, Deacon or Layman—​who believes this story literally.’ Continuing, in a pastoral letter which he ordered all rectors and vicars of his diocese to read today, he described the virgin birth as a myth which churchmen should be free to accept or reject.”

10 If there was no creation of man and woman in the garden of Eden and the Great God of the universe, Jehovah, had nothing to do with putting man here, then there was no sin to be taken away by the second Adam, Jesus Christ. There was no need of a redeemer and the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. However, the apostle Paul did not agree with or teach this present-day skepticism. He was a great Christian evangelizer, a man of faith who said: “For, indeed, Christ, while we were yet weak, died for ungodly men at the appointed time.” (Rom. 5:6) He knew that mankind needed a redeemer to save them from sin and death. That is why he said: “Just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.” (Rom. 5:12) But he also preached: “I have hope toward God, which hope these men themselves also entertain, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Acts 24:15) Do you believe these things? If you do, you will not agree with clergymen who say that they know which parts of the Bible are myth and which are not. If Paul were here today he would say: “Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar.”​—Rom. 3:4.

11 Paul believed there was an Adam who violated God’s law in the garden of Eden, and he knew there was a need for a ransom sacrifice in order to take away the sin of the world, and he believed Christ Jesus was that one who did redeem man. So did all the apostles and the faithful followers of Christ Jesus back there 1,900 years ago. The question is, Do you?

12, 13. How do two clergymen view the Bible, as reported by newspapers in Ottawa, Canada, and Buffalo, New York?

12 What do some of your clergymen say? “A rector told the government of the Anglican church of southern England Thursday the Old Testament contains passages of ‘spiritual junk’ and ‘poison’ for the people. Reverend J. C. Wansey of Woodford, near London, called the attention of the Convocation of Canterbury to some of the lessons set down for reading in church for daily use and on Sundays.” (Reported from London by Reuters in the Ottawa Citizen of Friday, May 10, 1963.)

13 The Buffalo Courier Express of August 13, 1962, had a headline that read: “Minister Cites Need to Censor the Bible.” The article reads, in part: “London (AP). Dr. Leslie Weatherhead, former president of the Methodist Conference, would like to censor the Bible. In an interview with correspondents of three London newspapers, he said he would like to go through the Bible and ‘be very free with a blue pencil. . . . His main target was the Old Testament, which he described as ‘completely outmoded.’”

14. Give the substance of a report from the Dallas Morning News about the concern of many Protestant laymen regarding the Bible.

14 The lack of faith in the Bible on the part of the clergy of Christendom is very noticeable. Mike Engleman, editorial staff writer of the Dallas Morning News, expressed himself in his column on Tuesday, May 31, 1966: “Within the United Presbyterian Church is a new organization called the Presbyterian Lay Committee​—and behind it lies a fundamental worry of Protestant laymen throughout America: Is the Bible being stressed enough? Is there too much talk from the pulpit these days on social questions and politics, and not enough on the word of God? Declared one prominent Dallas Presbyterian layman recently: ‘Most ministers are so misguided, so completely off base and so full of liberal and humanistic thought that they are proving more worthless to their parishioners each day.’” He went on to say in this article: “Modern man today is taking the Bible apart, discarding what it wishes to discard in the Hebrew Scriptures, and in the Greek Scriptures and so they will adjust God’s moral code or law to please themselves.”

15-17. (a) To what extreme viewpoint have clergymen gone in their thoughts about morals and immorality? (b) What guiding principle in these matters does the apostle Paul give us?

15 This statement is so true. Prominent clergymen of Christendom are destroying the people’s belief in the Bible. Is it a myth to you and do you think the Bible’s code for moral conduct is outmoded? Are you gradually being weakened in your faith to a point where you will agree with such men as “Reverend” John W. Wood, a minister of the United Church of Christ, a body formed in the United States by a union of Congregational, Evangelical and Reformed churches, who said: “Homosexual love may reach a sacramental level and thus become as moral as heterosexual behavior. Is it proper for two of the same sex to enter the institution of marriage? This is an important question to which I must reply ‘Yes’”? (Toronto Star of June 15, 1963) Of course, the “Reverend” John W. Wood is in full agreement with the Archbishop of Canterbury in this matter of homosexuality. The Associated Press gives this report from London, with the headline: “Cleric Asks Homosexual Legalization.” “The Archbishop of Canterbury joined other members of the British House of Lords Wednesday in urging the legalization of homosexual practices between adult males.”

16 Of course, these clergymen of Christendom think that, if they can stamp the immoral acts of man in the law books as lawful, that will make it moral even though it is contrary to God’s moral law. The apostle Paul would not agree with the Archbishop, because Paul wrote: “What! Do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men . . . will inherit God’s kingdom.” (1 Cor. 6:9-11; Rom. 1:24-32; Lev. 18:22) Why do you not follow the advice in God’s Word? It says: “Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins.”​—Rev. 18:4.

17 The Associated Press dispatch from Vancouver, B.C., of May 11 informs us: “A bishop of the church of England has said he believes there are circumstances when sexual intercourse outside marriage is not immoral. Such a circumstance could occur with a couple seriously contemplating marriage, the Rt. Rev. Wilfred A. Westall, Bishop of Crediton, Devon, England, told an interviewer. He said he could not condone promiscuity. ‘I don’t think that just because a boy and girl have had premarital intercourse they are unfit for marriage.’” Of course, clergymen of Christendom with this view do not agree with the apostle Paul who said: “Neither fornicators . . . nor adulterers . . . will inherit God’s kingdom.” Paul constantly admonished Christians to “flee from fornication.”​—1 Cor. 6:18.

18. Whom should we look to for guidance in living upright lives?

18 There is plenty of evidence to read that shows that the clergy of Christendom are guiding the minds of the people away from the Word of God, the Bible. Here we find the teachings of Christ Jesus, which are the expressions of his Father’s will. Jehovah God the Sovereign Ruler of the universe knows what is the best course for man to follow. He created man and gave him the correct moral code to live by. By their not following God’s Word, look at the delinquent state men are in today.

19, 20. How was Isaiah’s day much like Jesus’ day and our day?

19 The situation is very similar to that existing in the prophet Isaiah’s day. Isaiah was a vigorous, faithful servant of God. He desired to prove his loyalty to his God when asked: “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah said: “Here I am! Send me.” Jehovah told Isaiah: “Go, and you must say to this people, ‘Hear again and again, O men, but do not understand; and see again and again, but do not get any knowledge.’” (Isa. 6:8, 9) Isaiah, by his preaching and continually going to the people, certainly proved to “this people” that they did not want to understand. They did not want to have ears that would listen. The people were too self-centered, too selfish to want to understand. People forced themselves not to hear. They did not want news that disturbed their way of life. So they kept their eyes shut and their ears deaf.

20 The same things were true in Jesus’ day. The Jews had become a delinquent nation. They were forgetting their God. John the Baptist tried to get them to repent. Some did, and Christ Jesus opened their hearts and minds to the truth. But it seems that the more he spoke to them about the real life the more people would close their eyes, and they would not hear. When there were loaves and fishes with which to feed them, multitudes followed Jesus; but, finally, even after Pentecost of 33 C.E. only three thousand showed faith in him. Jesus explained to his disciples what was happening due to his talking to the people:

21. What did Jesus say the attitude of people would be?

21 “This is why I speak to them by the use of illustrations, because, looking, they look in vain, and hearing, they hear in vain, neither do they get the sense of it; and toward them the prophecy of Isaiah is having fulfillment, which says, ‘By hearing, you will hear but by no means get the sense of it; and, looking, you will look but by no means see. For the heart of this people has grown thick, and with their ears they have heard with annoyance, and they have shut their eyes; that they might never see with their eyes and hear with their ears and get the sense of it with their hearts and turn back, and I heal them.’”​—Matt. 13:13-15.

22. (a) Nevertheless, did Isaiah or Jesus quit preaching? Will Jehovah’s witnesses today? (b) How do the majority of people feel about Jehovah’s witnesses’ calling at their doors?

22 What an obstinate people they were with such a fine teacher! But Jesus did not stop preaching, even as Isaiah did not. This prophecy is being fulfilled today, for this same situation exists with Christian witnesses of Jehovah. They still go from house to house, city to city, country to country declaring the good news of God’s kingdom, but not too many people have an ear to hear. Even so, Jehovah’s witnesses will do what Jesus said, preach the good news of the kingdom “in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.” (Matt. 24:14) A few people out of billions living are thirsting for truth and righteousness and are listening to the Word of God, and they believe. But the vast majority of mankind feel that this calling by Jehovah’s witnesses at their doors regularly is not worthy of their time, and they ‘hear with annoyance.’ The more Jehovah’s witnesses speak to them concerning the Word of God, doing this in all sincerity, the less the people want to hear.

“HOW LONG?”

23. How long will the people prove unresponsive to the preaching of Jehovah’s witnesses?

23 Jehovah’s witnesses have asked God in prayer: ‘How long must this unresponsive condition of the people toward the message of God’s kingdom continue on, for they do not have ears to hear and their hearts have grown thick?’ But they always get the same answer from God, namely, that the people will refuse to hear and soften their hearts till calamity comes, ‘until the cities crash in ruin and the houses have no inhabitants.’ So Jehovah’s witnesses keep right on calling despite the unresponsive ears.

24. What view do Christendom’s clergy have toward Jehovah’s witnesses?

24 Many, in fact, most, of the clergy, the priests, the bishops of Protestant, Greek Orthodox and Catholic religions, which make up Christendom, along with all the other so-called Christian organizations, have taken a definite stand against the work of Jehovah’s witnesses because they are so zealous in preaching God’s kingdom as the only hope for mankind. Listen to what Greece’s Orthodox Primate, Archbishop Chrysostomos, has to say about Jehovah’s witnesses: “The Greek Orthodox Church regard the members of this heresy as enemy No. 1. . . . We have repeatedly appealed to the authorities to intervene and prosecute or arrest those of them who engage in proselytism.” (New York Times, Monday, August 22, 1966) Talk of this kind by the leading clergymen, along with talk that God is dead and the Bible is a myth by the different divisions of Christendom, shows that they are trying to kill the preaching of true Christianity.

25, 26. (a) What personal questions are now asked of readers of this magazine? (b) What does Paul say on the matter of those preached to about the truth of God’s Word, and thus what can logically be asked of all?

25 Where do you readers stand? Will you listen to what the Christian witnesses of Jehovah have to say or will you make your ears unresponsive and paste your eyes together so you cannot see and your heart cannot understand the Bible? Just what kind of a Christian or person are you? Are most of you so self-satisfied with conditions in this world that you have no time to study God’s Word so as to hear what God has to say about present conditions and the future? Paul found an indifferent attitude like that in this day. He tried diligently to preach the good news to all sorts of people, but it seems the more that he did the more people would not listen. That is why Paul said to Jewish unbelievers: “The holy spirit aptly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your forefathers, saying, ‘Go to this people and say: “By hearing, you will hear but by no means understand; and, looking, you will look but by no means see. For the heart of this people has grown unreceptive, and with their ears they have heard without response, and they have shut their eyes; that they should never see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn back, and I should heal them.”’”​—Acts 28:25-27.

26 Is that the way most of the people want to be, not healed? Or do you want to know God’s will, be healed and gain life everlasting? If so, study your Bible with Jehovah’s witnesses.

27. Who is to blame for today’s situation in Christendom, and why?

27 The terrible situation existing in Christendom today is due to the clergy. They are responsible because they have turned the hearts and minds of their parishioners away from the true teaching of Jehovah God the Creator of man. Many religionists no longer believe in the need of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and now they are trying to make people believe that God is dead. Furthermore, they are trying to remove the fine high standard of morality set out in the Bible and make the Bible of no account. Is it any wonder, then, as Jehovah’s witnesses go from house to house, that they are having a hard time trying to establish the peoples’ faith in the Bible again? The majority of people today do not want to see the light of God’s message; so the people are pasting their eyes shut, and with their ears they no longer hear.

28. Why is it important that Jehovah’s witnesses continue preaching the Kingdom good news?

28 What are Jehovah’s witnesses going to do about it? Quit? Slow down? Not at all! Their eyes are not pasted shut and they have heard the call, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” From 1919 C.E. till now over a million of Jehovah’s witnesses have responded, and “they followed him.” It is very important that Jehovah’s witnesses continue to declare this good news of God’s kingdom, because, when the full end of this system of things comes, “this people” who do not hear will have put themselves in such a definite position against God that “they may not hear, and that their own heart may not understand and that they may not actually turn back and get healing for themselves.” (Isa. 6:10) They do not want to be healed, even if healing were offered to them on a golden platter. Christendom has hardened its heart against God. People want this world, and they think they can preserve it by loving and showing affection for the United Nations organization.

29. What is Satan the Devil’s purpose at this time, and who help him in this work?

29 The clergy of Christendom are helping to gather the kings of the entire inhabited earth together to the “war of the great day of God the Almighty.” (Rev. 16:14) The Devil, who is “the god of this system of things,” along with his demons will see to it that mankind in the great majority will line itself up on the side of the unholy organizations of the world and that he has gathered them together “to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon.” (Rev. 16:16) Surely those who refuse to hear the message of God’s kingdom and put faith in Jehovah God and his Word now are hardening their hearts so much that they will not be able to turn back, but will be completely destroyed when “the cities actually crash in ruins, to be without an inhabitant.” (Isa. 6:11) Why not break away from Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, and study God’s written Word?

30, 31. (a) How did one clergyman feel about certain kinds of emotional evangelistic preaching carried on in England? (b) What is it time for peoples of all nations to do?

30 The religious leaders of Christendom seldom agree among themselves as to how the wonderful message of Christ is to be presented to the people of Christendom. Even high-ranking church officials admit that evangelistic methods employed by some are not having much success. The New York Times of Wednesday, September 28, 1966, made this report: “Billy Graham Evangelism Deplored by Canterbury, Vancouver B.C., Sept. 27 (AP)​—The Rev. Dr. Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, said yesterday that the Christian church needs some updating, but not the type practiced by the Rev. Billy Graham. ‘The recent Graham crusade in England won some converts, yet it made no significant changes in basic English religious habits,’ Dr. Ramsey said after stepping off a plane from Kamloops. ‘The Billy Graham type of evangelism is not the kind we need in these trying times. We need an intellectual, thoughtful approach​—not bursts of emotionalism.’ Asked if the church is out of date, the Archbishop replied: ‘Not generally speaking. I have seen that in both Canada and England there are aspects that are antiquated, others that are virile and growing. In many cases, there is less conventional churchgoing yet stronger convictions among those who do go.’”

…