The Watchtower, August 1, 1970

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The Watchtower — August 1, 1970

Source: jw.org

Contents

Thousands of Religious Buildings Closing in France

Why the Churches Are Closing

Why the Trinity Is Taught

Jehovah’s Name to Be Declared in All the Earth

None Like Jehovah in All the Earth

Jonah Preached in Nineveh

The Foreknowledge of God

Selective Exercise of Foreknowledge

Things Foreknown by God

Deep Appreciation for Jehovah’s Sacred Things

Questions From Readers

Announcements

Thousands of Religious Buildings Closing in France

Thousands of Religious Buildings Closing in France

EARLY this year French television viewers and newspaper readers could hardly believe their eyes and ears when they learned that thousands of churches and chapels in France, mostly Catholic, have shut their doors and that the buildings are either standing empty and falling into ruins or being used for a variety of surprising purposes.

Yet they had to bow to the facts, for this startling news came from a most authoritative source, none other than the French Minister of Cultural Affairs, Monsieur Edmond Michelet. Reporting on his disclosure, Paris Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche wrote the following, under the headline “18,000 Derelict Churches”:

“Eighteen thousand churches, chapels and oratories in France have been or are about to be abandoned. This frightening figure was disclosed by Monsieur Michelet during the TV program ‘Facing the Press.’

“This means that sooner or later over half of the places of worship in France are doomed to dilapidation and plundering. Not since the Wars of Religion [1562-1598], if then, have the churches suffered so much. Never a week goes by without one hearing of a church being closed and either converted for some profane use . . . or falling into disrepair and even being plundered. This is happening more and more frequently.

“In some depopulated villages, abandoned churches have been looted by passersby or specialized gangs. In the little Basses-Alpes village of Clignon-Haut, children were found to be dressing up in magnificent eighteenth-century embroidered copes [ecclesiastical vestments] left in the vestry.”​—January 18, 1970.

Deploring the acts of vandalism committed against religious buildings in France, a French provincial news magazine stated, under the title “18,000 Churches for Sale”:

“How many small rural chapels have been devastated! People started by taking away sacred objects, statuettes and taper stands. Then they began dismounting stained glass windows and fresco paintings. Finally they dismantled the sculptured stonework, the doors and the pews. Who worries? Who protests? Strangely enough, the ones who seem the most alarmed are laymen [not the clergy!].”​—Hebdo-St-Etienne, May 10, 1969.

Although the vast majority of churches closed in France are Roman Catholic, reports show that quite a number of French Protestant Reformed churches and even some Jewish synagogues have ceased functioning and are being used for some secular purpose. The Church of Scotland has had to close its church in Menton, on the French Riviera, and the Church of England has abandoned its churches in Hyères, near the Mediterranean coast, and in Évian, on the shores of Lake Geneva.

SEMINARIES, MONASTERIES AND CONVENTS

In addition to the thousands of churches and chapels abandoned throughout France, scores of other religious buildings are closing their doors or being sold and used for other purposes.

Even in such Catholic strongholds as Brittany, the seminary or training college for future priests in Quimper has had to close down. In Normandy, three big seminaries are being shut in Bayeux, Coutances and Sées. They will be replaced in October 1970 by a single training college in Caen. The huge Bayeux seminary has been training future priests since 1675, and the one in Sées was founded in 1653.

In the north of France, the seminaries in Cambrai and Arras are being closed down and, from October 1970 onward, candidates for the priesthood in these two dioceses will have to go to Lille. These examples, taken from the west and north of France, are typical of what is happening throughout the country. As one regional newspaper stated: “The North and West were the only regions which had not yet regrouped [their seminaries].”​—La Voix du Nord, March 14, 1970.

Furthermore, a great number of monasteries, convents and abbeys are closing their doors. Some of these religious institutions, such as Senanque Abbey in southern France, had been in existence for eight hundred years or more.

STRANGE NEW USES FOR RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS

Surprising indeed are the uses that some of these religious buildings are being put to after their deconsecration. In the Normandy city of Lisieux, a famous place of pilgrimage, the fifteenth-century church of “Saint Jacques” is now used for flower shows and concerts. The tourist who happens to stop by for a meal at the “Restaurant Henry” in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, a few miles inland from the Riviera, will learn with surprise that he is wining and dining in what used to be “Our Lady of Lourdes” chapel! Not far away, at La-Colle-sur-Loup, the restaurant “Chez Joseph” is housed in an eleventh-century monastery.

In Gazinet, near Bordeaux, a Catholic chapel has been turned into a jujitsu school organized by the local priest! Quite a few French churches have been converted into cinemas and museums, and others into such unexpected things as garages, cow sheds, a butter market, public shower baths, wine cellars and wine-tasting rooms, a theater rehearsal hall, and so forth. Seminaries and church schools are being used as State schools and even post offices. Protestant churches have been turned into garages, a locksmith’s shop and, of all things, a tobacco-drying loft! A synagogue in eastern France is now used as an auction room, and another as a warehouse for agricultural equipment.

Commenting on this state of affairs, an editorialist of a French left-wing news magazine wrote: “Of the five churches in Senlis [a town a few miles north of Paris], one is now used as a market, another is a garage, the third one is a cinema and the fourth, a dance hall. I realize religion must get modernized . . . but I cannot think that weekly dancing and selling vegetables are the best imaginable uses deconsecrated churches can be put to.”​—Le Nouvel Observateur, March 1, 1970.

Interestingly, just a few miles from Senlis, an ex-Catholic chapel is now being put to good use. It has been cleaned up and modernized by voluntary Christian workers and is now the Kingdom Hall of the Creil congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses!

Why the Churches Are Closing

Why the Churches Are Closing

THE previous article has informed you of a situation you may have been unaware of, but it has not dealt with the reasons why so many churches and religious establishments are closing in France.

WHY ARE THE SEMINARIES CLOSING?

Church authorities endeavor to explain away these shutdowns by saying that they reflect a necessary reorganization. Trying to justify the closing down of three big, long-established seminaries in Normandy, the Roman Catholic bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux stated: “A formula was sought which would make it easier to welcome young men who feel they have a calling for the priesthood.”​—Ouest-France, February 27, 1970.

But how can depriving two entire dioceses of their training schools for priests be said, by any stretch of the imagination, to facilitate things for young men there who wish to become priests? They will now have to travel to a third diocese whose spacious seminary is also being closed and transferred to another town, where the single seminary for the three dioceses will have to share a building with another Catholic institution. Would it not be more realistic to admit that dozens of seminaries are closing because there simply are not enough candidates for the priesthood?

Commenting on the regrouping of French seminaries, the provincial daily La Voix du Nord admitted that this had become necessary “mainly because of lack of candidates.” A parish magazine in Brittany quotes the local bishop as saying: “One of the bishop’s principal worries for the present, and even more for the future, is the drop in the number of candidates for the priesthood and holy orders. This is something general, not limited to France. All our institutions are affected and all vocations: contemplative, teaching, hospital and missionary.” Illustrating the bishop’s remarks, the magazine printed the following figures for the Quimper seminary:

Year Seminarists

1961 150

1964 103

1968 67

No wonder the article was headed “Quimper Seminary Is Closing Down”!​—Kemper, June-July 1969.

Showing just how serious the situation is, one of France’s most widely read news magazines stated recently:

“Every year since 1961, it [the Catholic Church in France] has been losing the total number of priests required in such average dioceses as Bordeaux, Nice or Clermont-Ferrand, because losses due to deaths [about 900 a year] or desertions from the ministry are far from being made up. . . .

“The French clergy, one of the most numerous in the world, with over 40,000 priests, is an aged clergy. . . . In 1975, one third of its members will be over 60 years of age. . . .

“In a confidential report to his counselors, Cardinal Alexandre Renard, archbishop of Lyons, revealed earlier this month the gravity of this crisis. Last October, only 475 young men entered the [French] seminaries, which is 41 percent less than the year before. For lack of students, the few remaining seminaries are now regional. The big gray barracks-like seminary in Issy-les-Moulineaux groups all the seminarists in the Paris area. . . .

“The way things are going, in less than a century, the clergy will have disappeared.”​—L’Express, January 5-11, 1970.

WHY ARE THE CHURCHES CLOSING?

The ecclesiastical authorities try to make out that the closing down of so many churches in France is a natural consequence of the shift of population from the small rural parishes to the towns and industrial cities where, they say, over a thousand new churches have been built during the past twenty-five years. This may be the reason why some small rural chapels have been shut down, but it certainly fails to explain why four out of five churches are closed in towns like Senlis, which has over 10,000 inhabitants! The real reasons lie elsewhere.

One is obviously the shortage of ministers. There are at least 18,000 Catholic parishes in France with no resident priest. A large number of priests have to minister to several parishes, and in many of these the church is opened only once a month or even less often, sometimes just for funerals or other special ceremonies. With the scarcity of priests becoming more and more acute, these days, when a priest marries or leaves his ministry for some other reason, the parish or parishes he was in charge of frequently have no alternative but to nail on the church door a notice saying “Closed until further notice,” and more often than not the “further notice” never comes!

But perhaps the most significant reason for so many churches closing down is the increasing decline of interest in the traditional religions. Catholics who for years thought they belonged to the infallible church of Christ have discovered that things they held sacred because their priests told them to do so are now said, by those same priests, to be unimportant or even harmful. Describing the effect these changes are having on many Catholics, L’Express wrote:

“Observances that were prescribed for generations of Christians are now considered to be out-of-date. By introducing the notion of change, the [Catholic] Church has also introduced the notion of relativity. Since the rules prescribed yesterday are no longer valid today, there is nothing to prove that today’s rules will be applicable tomorrow.”​—L’Express, October 14-20, 1968.

General disgust with the part played by the traditional religions in the wars and conflicts between and within the nations is also alienating the people from the churches. Speaking recently in Geneva, Switzerland, Eugene Blake, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, admitted this, saying:

“Religions do not always contribute to peace, and we have witnessed the frightful consequences of modern religious fanaticism linked with capitalism, colonialism, white racialism and ancient feudal or tribal customs. Let us face it, relations between India and Pakistan have been worsened rather than improved by the religious factor. Nor has religion’s role in Northern Ireland brought consolation to Catholics and Protestants.”​—Le Monde, April 2, 1970.

Since Eastern religions and the churches of Christendom have failed the people religiously and have even contributed to unrest and wars, it is understandable that they should reap what they have sown. The closing down of many of their churches is a sign that their days are numbered. Soon God will punish them for their crimes. (Read Revelation or Apocalypse, chapter 18, where the world empire of false religion is symbolically called “Babylon the great.”)

TRUE CHRISTIANITY IS NOT ON THE WANE

Let sincere persons take heart! True Christianity is by no means on the decline. It is flourishing as never before, as shown by the following press report printed by the selfsame French Sunday newspaper that announced the news about “18,000 Derelict Churches.” In an article on the “Peace on Earth” Assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses held near Paris last August, it stated:

“This afternoon . . . F. W. Franz will pronounce a closing discourse on the hope of a peace of a thousand years, a peace that will follow the battle of Armageddon and see billions of humans come back to life on a paradise earth. . . .

“Some will be tempted to shrug their shoulders. However, the greater number will be set thinking. The public discovered with astonishment that there are 30,000 ‘Witnesses’ in France, a million in the world, and that during the past twenty years they have grown to an extraordinary extent: some 700 percent. People can think what they will, but this phenomenon merits our attention.”​—Le Journal du Dimanche, August 10, 1969.

Yes, the growth, zeal and devotion of Jehovah’s witnesses, in striking contrast with the decline and fall of Christendom’s churches, are making many people have second thoughts about what they used to “describe as a sect.” (Acts 24:14, Jerusalem Bible) Recently, a French Catholic weekly wrote the following:

“Not long ago ‘good Catholics’ felt obliged to . . . get angry when a ‘Jehovah’s witness’ came to their door offering booklets and counsel.

“Today, the sight of these people who have the courage to act for their faith obliges us to think. Although he need not share their opinions, the Catholic is beginning to think and even to say: ‘Hats off’ to these men and women who are not afraid to face sarcastic smiles, name-calling and anger when they demonstrate their faith.”​—L’Ami du Peuple, February 15, 1970.

Some Catholics are saying: “The early Christians had no elaborate buildings, yet their communities were alive and faithful to Christ’s teachings.” (L’Express, December 22-28, 1969) Jehovah’s witnesses will be glad to help all sincere people to study the Word of God and will be happy to welcome them to their increasingly numerous Kingdom Halls, where they will find Christian communities that are truly “alive and faithful to Christ’s teachings.”

Why the Trinity Is Taught

Why the Trinity Is Taught

◆ A woman in Reidsville, North Carolina, began studying the Bible with Jehovah’s witnesses. After studying it only one month she called on her minister to ask him several questions, some dealing with the Trinity doctrine. Their conversation about the Trinity went like this:

“Did the apostles teach the Trinity?” asked the woman.

“No,” replied the minister.

“Then, did Jesus teach the Trinity?”

“No,” answered the minister again.

“Why, then, do you teach the Trinity?” she asked. The clergyman’s answer to this was that, since the church had adopted the teaching of the Trinity several centuries later, that was the reason why he taught it.

But the Bible says that ‘everyone that does not remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God.’​—2 John 9.

Jehovah’s Name to Be Declared in All the Earth

Jehovah’s Name to Be Declared in All the Earth

“From the sun’s rising even to its setting my name will be great among the nations.”​—Mal. 1:11.

1. What earth-wide situation calls for Jehovah’s name to be made great?

THERE is an urgent need for God’s name to be impressed upon the thinking of all nations of men. Today only a small minority of earth’s population appreciate the name JEHOVAH and worship the God who bears it. (Ps. 83:18) The vast majority have put God out of mind, or at best offer only token worship. Giving free rein to their own passions and being engrossed with selfish goals, they no longer care to keep in mind a God who stands for truth, love and righteousness. They have substituted their own puerile fancies, gods that fit in with their own human ideas, useless gods that manifest the same imperfect characteristics as those of their makers.

2. In what sense have nations forgotten God?

2 Even the so-called wise men of this generation, theologians, philosophers, psychologists, scientists, consider the pure truth of God’s holy Book, the Bible, to be beneath them, too childish to believe, its moral standard too circumscribing to their aims and conduct. Instead, they worship themselves. They think of man as the great inventor, the civilizer, the One through whom all future progress and blessings must come. The nations have indeed forgotten God, and soon now they must meet up with the calamity foretold.​—Ps. 50:22.

3. In what terms did the apostle Paul accurately describe the condition today among the nations?

3 Christ’s apostle Paul was inspired by God’s spirit to describe the situation that has developed in all nations: “What may be known about God is manifest among them, for God made it manifest to them. For his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable; because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor did they thank him, but they became empty-headed in their reasonings and their unintelligent heart became darkened. Although asserting they were wise, they became foolish and turned the glory of the incorruptible God into something like the image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed creatures and creeping things.”​—Rom. 1:19-23.

4, 5. Just how do nations today indulge in worship of corruptible man and the lower creatures?

4 Do today’s nations, with all of their modern progress, really do these things? Notice how in each nation the attempt is made to have all citizens recognize the state as supreme. And remember, each and every one of those national rulerships is the work of imperfect and selfish creatures, and is well known to be corruptible. Each has its own national emblem, this one a lion, that one an eagle, still another a dragon or serpent. To the state, as symbolized by a brute creature and as directed by sinful men, all citizens are called upon to do homage, to give unquestioning obedience, as though to an ultimate authority.

5 Forgotten is the fact that Jehovah God, the Creator of the sun and moon, and the Source of all the fresh air and water that continually revitalizes the whole earth, is the ultimate “Ruler in the kingdom of mankind.” (Dan. 4:25) Instead, imperfect humans are transformed into heroes and benefactors and given the praise and expressions of gratitude, omitting those that are properly due to Jehovah.

6. What are the evidences that the world’s professedly wise ones have become foolish?

6 In harmony with the above-quoted words of the apostle Paul, is it not obvious that the worldly-wise ones have become foolish? How empty-headed, how foolish to declare, as do some of their number, that “God is dead”! Or to claim that man and his earthly abode had no creator, but came into being through the interoperation of blind, unintelligent forces! How senseless to claim that man is master of his own destiny, when some slight weather development can throw his best-laid plans into wild confusion!

7. How has Jehovah served notice that he will positively meet and handle this situation?

7 For his part, the “One telling from the beginning the finale” foresaw these global developments and declared that he would meet the situation positively, in a manner that would magnify his own great Name, and bring joy and peace to those loving his Name. As powerful evidence of his foreknowledge, he caused to be written in the Bible the record of his dealings with the mighty empire of the Pharaohs of 3,500 years ago, and then gave assurance that this same record portrayed future history.​—Isa. 46:10.

EGYPT “IN A SPIRITUAL SENSE”

8, 9. Describe some notable features of Egypt and her rulers, and the general impression received by people living in the time of the Pharaohs.

8 Ancient Egypt had her god-ruler who was but a man, a descendant of sinner Adam. His empire had accumulated over the centuries so much of human wisdom that it is said that the Greeks borrowed most of their learning from this source. Militarily, Egypt was long noted and respected for her powerful army of horses and chariots. Her great public works were calculated to enhance the image of the state. They included vast tombs, an intricate canal system and lofty temples of religion.

9 The climate in which Pharaoh’s people lived was unique. Rain was practically unknown. The sun and moon shone out of cloudless skies. The river Nile, constantly fed by the heavy rainfalls of Central Africa, regularly inundated the land, its rich sedimentary deposits producing rich crops. These features of life in Egypt moved one historian to speak of Egypt’s “aspect of calm immensity,” her “character of serene fixedness.” It seemed that Egypt would be forever, that nothing could change.

10. What do students of the Bible gather from such texts as Romans 15:4 and Revelation 11:8?

10 There can be no doubt that Egypt portrayed something greater to come in the future, for the apostle Paul wrote: “All the things that were written aforetime [in the Scriptures] were written for our instruction.” (Rom. 15:4) Then, too, we have the curious allusion by the apostle John to “the great city which is in a spiritual sense called Sodom and Egypt, where [our] Lord was also impaled.” (Rev. 11:8) The context shows that such Egypt “in a spiritual sense” is the center of attention by “peoples and tribes and tongues and nations,” by an international conglomeration of peoples.

11. Why can Egypt, Sodom and faithless Judea be properly classed together?

11 Egypt and Sodom and the land of Judea (where Christ Jesus was actually impaled) all had something in common with the present international system of things known as Christendom.a They had forgotten God. Not so much because of faulty memory, but because they were anxious to blot him from their minds. They would rather forget the God who promulgated a universal standard of righteousness, for then their consciences would not smite them, continually reminding them of the full accounting that God declares he will make with all wrongdoers. They want to go on pleasing themselves, determining for themselves what is good and what is bad. As did Pharaoh, they say by their contemptuous course: “Who is Jehovah”?​—Ex. 5:2.

12. What, then, is foreshadowed by Egypt and her ruler, and what similar attitude is seen in shadow and modern reality?

12 Egypt “in a spiritual sense,” then, is a religious organization of selfish creatures who have come completely under the power of “the god of this [present wicked] system of things,” the greater Pharaoh, Satan the Devil. (2 Cor. 4:4) That false god during the centuries has set up numerous religious systems, each one designed to instill in its devotees belief in the permanence of their religious and political institutions. Despite the facts of history, Egypt “in a spiritual sense,” or Christendom, still deludes its subject peoples into belief that nothing will ever change, that “all things are continuing exactly as from creation’s beginning.”​—2 Pet. 3:4.

13. What comforting assurance does Jehovah give as regards all the ignoring of his name and sovereignty?

13 No actual damage comes to the great Creator by all this religious system’s ignoring him and banishing from mind his name. He could ignore it all and let men and nations take their headlong course toward destruction. However, in behalf of those who love his name and those who yearn for truth and righteousness, God mercifully purposes to assert his power on the world scene, thereby making a name for himself in the sight of all nations. (2 Pet. 2:7, 8; Ezek. 9:4) Rulers and ruled ‘will have to know that he is Jehovah.’​—Ezek. 38:23.

OTHER STRIKING CORRESPONDENCIES

14, 15. What striking correspondence is to be noted when comparing ancient Egypt and Satan’s religious organization of today?

14 The Pharaohs of ancient Egypt styled themselves “Son of the sun,” or light-giver and life-giver to all subject peoples. Ordinary mortals dared not stand up and look the Pharaoh in the face. Rather, on pain of death, they must avert their gaze and prostrate themselves on the ground as he passed by. His word, just or unjust, could doom any citizen who even merely displeased him.

15 Likewise, the “god of this system of things” is one who “keeps transforming himself into an angel of light.” (2 Cor. 11:14) His religious systems, including those of divided Christendom, promote the mysterious element and befog the minds of worshipers lest they discern his origin as a mere spirit creature who rebelled against the rightful supremacy of his Creator.

16, 17. How does Pharaoh’s claim to creation and ownership of the Nile River find application on a vaster scale?

16 God caused his prophet Ezekiel to reveal the attitude of the haughty Pharaoh and make record of this expression of that autocrat: “My Nile River belongs to me, and I​—I have made it for myself.” (Ezek. 29:3) Even so, “the ruler of this [wicked] world,” Satan the Devil, ever since he deceived Eve and led Adam into rebellion against God, has claimed the human race as his own preserve. (John 12:31) This representing of fallen mankind under symbol of the Nile waters is quite in keeping with Biblical symbolism, for under inspiration of God’s spirit the apostle John was moved to transmit this angelic explanation of one of his visions: “The waters that you saw . . . mean peoples and crowds and nations and tongues.”​—Rev. 17:15.

17 Yes, Satan claims the kingdoms and empires of humankind as his very own, and they surely do reflect his spirit and attitude. Jesus, when tempted in the wilderness, offered no contradiction when the Devil implied that he had the right to confer the rulership among sinful men on whoever would comply with his requirements. (Matt. 4:8, 9) Furthermore, the Bible indicates that the source of ruling power and authority in the kingdoms of men today is the great Dragon​—none other than Satan himself.​—Rev. 13:2.

18. Egypt’s dependence on chariots and horses for her security points to what?

18 Just as Pharaoh depended on his military force for the maintenance of his power and position, so too in Egypt “in a spiritual sense” (or Christendom) military preparedness is prominent, even taking precedence over the urgent needs of the poor for food and clothing. Even the organization called the United Nations gives no guarantee of peace and security, for the smallest and newest of nations today soon become customers for military hardware that they cannot afford​—guns, planes, missiles, and so on.

GOD’S UNCHANGING PURPOSE

19. What is guaranteed by Jehovah’s dealings back there on the banks of the Nile?

19 That Egypt “in a spiritual sense,” that is, this greatest religious system of Christendom, is to be subjected to the pitiless searchlight of divine truth and exposed as no better than the ancient Egypt of the Pharaohs, is made sure by God’s dealings back there on the banks of the Nile. Before the patriarch Abraham’s progeny were born, Jehovah directed these significant words to the faithful patriarch: “You may know for sure that your seed will become an alien resident in a land not theirs, and they will have to serve them, and these will certainly afflict them for four hundred years. But the nation that they will serve I am judging, and after that they will go out with many goods.”​—Gen. 15:13, 14.

20. Was Jehovah’s determination to deal with and judge the land of Egypt and its ruler a sudden one?

20 Later, Jehovah said to Moses, the liberator whom he sent to lead Abraham’s seed out of Egypt: “I, even I, well know that the king of Egypt will not give you permission to go except by a strong hand. And I shall have to stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonderful acts that I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will send you out.” (Ex. 3:19, 20) Thus Jehovah’s purpose respecting Egypt was set out long in advance. He was going to make his own name great in Egypt and all subject territories.

21. Of what should this convince us today?

21 That should convince us of the unavoidable exposure and fall that is to overtake Egypt “in a spiritual sense,” Christendom, together with all her worldly associates. Yes, the Bible leads reverent students of its pages to the expectation of a great campaign of exposure that would lay bare the actual filthy, diseased and dying condition of Satan’s world, especially Christendom. Indeed, all the evidence points to the fact that such a campaign even now perturbs the rulers and chief men of all nations.

ONE GREATER THAN MOSES

22, 23. Outline the record of Moses as God’s prophet dispatched to Pharaoh, and as the mediator in behalf of the posterity of Abraham.

22 Moses was the man whom Jehovah chose to precipitate a great crisis in Egyptian affairs. His name means “drawn forth,” and this is a reminder that Moses was, by Jehovah’s supervision of events, drawn forth from the waters of the Nile, which were to have become his grave. (Ex. 1:22) He was raised in the court of Pharaoh and educated in all the wisdom of Egypt. God’s further direction can be seen in the events that later drove Moses into Midianite country, there to take charge of flocks, while doubtless cherishing and reviewing the promises Jehovah had given to his forefather Abraham.​—Ex. 2:10; 3:1; Acts 7:22, 30.

23 Moses served faithfully as a mediator. Not only was he in complete harmony with Jehovah’s righteous requirements for his people, but he also had compassion for fellow Israelites on account of their inborn sin. He spent himself in their behalf, gladly at times offering his life for theirs. Indeed, the lamb slain on the night of Passover might well be viewed as substituting for Moses, who in this pictorial fashion was offered for the sins of the people​—an arrangement that permitted him to live and carry out the liberation program that God had anointed him to accomplish. Just before completing his assigned work, Moses was inspired to prophesy about a future prophet, like unto himself, one who would exercise far greater authority. (Deut. 18:18, 19) The apostle Peter later identified that Great Prophet like Moses as Christ Jesus.​—Acts 3:19-26.

24, 25. What striking correspondence can we note in the record of Christ Jesus?

24 It is thrilling to realize that by the circumstances of his human birth Jesus, like the babe Moses, was in danger of his life, at King Herod’s hands, and was saved from death by his heavenly Father’s intervention. (Matt. 2:1-18) Since the seed that made Mary pregnant was not from imperfect man, her child was “holy, God’s Son.” (Luke 1:35) To this One it was granted by God’s holy spirit to have all the riches of wisdom and knowledge, including a deep insight into the true condition of fallen humankind.​—Col. 2:1-3.

25 Christ Jesus, the Greater than Moses, served too as the fine shepherd, keeper of God’s flock of sheeplike humans. (John 10:11; Ezek. 34:31) He, too, spent himself on behalf of his flock, and in due course offered himself as the perfect “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) On the third day Jehovah raised him out of death as a mighty spirit and seated him at his own right hand in heaven.​—Acts 2:32, 33.

26. That Aaron became spokesman for Moses, points to what fact in the modern fulfillment?

26 In the case of Moses, Jehovah gave him a spokesman. Yes, Aaron, his own fleshly brother, was made spokesman for Moses. (Ex. 7:1, 2) Christ Jesus, the Greater Moses, is also furnished an earthly spokesman, so to speak, one that is conveniently available on earth in view of Christ Jesus’ ascension to God’s right hand. That spokesman is a congregation of spirit-anointed followers of his, each one bearing to him the relationship of spiritual brother.​—Heb. 2:11, 12.

27. How, then, do we see the stage set for the modern declaration of Jehovah’s name?

27 Can you see it all now? Moses and Aaron empowered with the rod of authority by the Most High God, Jehovah! Today, however, it is Christ upon his throne since the year 1914 C.E. and his anointed followers on earth, all together, who are empowered by holy spirit from God to perform service in behalf of Jehovah’s name. God’s name must be brought to prominence, and, despite all opposition, visible and invisible, it must be magnified before all nations.

A NEW ELEMENT IN WORLD AFFAIRS

28, 29. How in the ancient drama and in modern application do we understand the fact that Moses and Aaron were not quickly put out of business?

28 Perhaps you have wondered why, at their first appearance in the name of Jehovah, Pharaoh did not arrest and imprison and even kill Moses and Aaron. Jehovah had provided against that contingency by immediately giving proof before the whole court of Pharaoh that Moses was his empowered representative. Recall how “Aaron’s rod [converted into a big snake] swallowed up their rods [also converted into snakes]”? (Ex. 7:12) Pharaoh knew that he was up against superhuman power, though still he hardened his heart.

29 Similarly, though Satan and his henchmen would like to silence and destroy God’s servers of notice, his Christian witnesses, and to attain that end are willing to bring plenty of evil upon all of their enslaved subjects, yet Satan knows that Jehovah’s hand of protection is over his people. And all the evil that Satan and his underlings can bring to bear upon all peoples is as nothing compared to the evil that Jehovah deals out. Certainly, when Jehovah commanded the Greater Moses, Christ Jesus, to “go subduing in the midst of your enemies” in the year 1914 C.E., the Greater Pharaoh and all his visible and invisible abettors felt the authority of Christ and his heavenly hosts. Though hardening their hearts, they realize that their time is short before the time of final accounting arrives.​—Rev. 12:7-9, 12; Ps. 110:1, 2.

30. What vast calamity faces what is Egypt “in a spiritual sense”?

30 For Satan and all of his system of things, including Christendom, there is more bad news and nothing but bad news. His whole empire is due to be swallowed up in a far vaster calamity that Jehovah will visit upon all nations inside and outside of Egypt “in a spiritual sense”: “Look! A calamity is going forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest itself will be roused up from the remotest parts of the earth. And those slain by Jehovah will certainly come to be in that day from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth. They will not be bewailed, neither will they be gathered up or be buried. As manure on the surface of the ground they will become.”​—Jer. 25:32, 33.

31, 32. According to the Scriptures, when, and when only, can the final devastation of Satan’s whole system come?

31 But first, before that devastating display of Jehovah’s power wrecks Christendom and the rest of Satan’s system of things, the NAME of the Supreme Ruler is to be declared in all the earth, to be made prominent. Not when all enemies lie prone in the dust, but before their well-deserved execution, must Jehovah magnify his glorious Name and force upon the consciousness of all those rebels that they are fighting a losing cause.

32 There is, then, no doubt about what must take place in fulfillment of the words Jehovah commanded Moses to transmit to Pharaoh in solemn warning: “For this cause I have kept you in existence, for the sake of showing you my power and in order to have my name declared in all the earth.” (Ex. 9:16) So Jehovah’s name has to be declared, to friend and foe alike, while at the same time the manifestations of his power will become progressively heavier and heavier upon, not just Christendom, but Satan’s whole system and those who cling to it. People’s minds, their attitudes, will be molded as by a Great Potter. Who, in the face of God’s proclamations of warning, will stick with Egypt “in a spiritual sense” and share its doom, and who will forsake it and all of Satan’s organization and find deliverance with Jehovah’s chosen, spiritual people?​—Rom. 9:21-23.

33. What is the effect today of the modern activity of Christ’s anointed followers and their companions, and in what attitude should lovers of righteousness view the sure outcome?

33 Back there in that ancient time Jehovah God was directing a real-life drama​—a drama that must now be reenacted on a global scale. Today, too, Jehovah directs a modern Aaron class, Christ’s anointed followers on earth, in a way that has much to do with shaping the future of multitudes, either for salvation or for destruction. As we observe the details of the unfolding reality of our day, let us exult in the conviction that soon now God’s glorious name, Jehovah, will “be great among the nations.”​—Mal. 1:11.

[Footnotes]

See page 273, ¶1, of “Then Is Finished the Mystery of God.”

[Pictures on page 459]

Egypt was noted for its powerful army, vast tombs and great religious temples. Egypt is a symbol of the world, of which Satan the Devil is the god

None Like Jehovah in All the Earth

None Like Jehovah in All the Earth

“At this time I am sending all my blows against your heart and upon your servants and your people, to the end that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.”​—Ex. 9:14.

1. What has been the effect of the message of the established Kingdom on multitudes of people?

CHRIST JESUS, on the throne of Kingdom power since 1914 C.E., has, since 1919 particularly, directed his anointed followers on earth to proclaim the “good news” of the established Kingdom to all nations. (Matt. 24:14) During the succeeding years and right up to the present, that message has indeed been “good news” to hundreds of thousands of men, women and children throughout all lands. They have welcomed the knowledge that soon now God’s kingdom, already established in the heavens with Christ upon the throne, will “crush and put an end to all [Satan’s] kingdoms” and usher in a long reign of peace and prosperity.​—Dan. 2:44.

2. Is the Kingdom message “good news” to all, and why do you so answer?

2 It thus happens that the “good news of the kingdom” has always been tied in with words of solemn warning, words of doom for those who insist on sticking to Satan’s arrangement of things on earth, because of their being moved by his evil spirit. And how necessary this is! No one must be deceived into thinking that the grand promises of the Kingdom will be fulfilled through any part of this present wicked system of things. The Devil’s earthly empire, commercial, political and religious, is doomed and already exposed as being incurably corrupt, diseased and filthy. People of honest heart should separate themselves from it and seek safety with Jehovah’s true worshipers.

3. How, then, does the Kingdom message relate to the application today of the “blows” against Pharaoh, his servants and his people?

3 Let no one, therefore, be surprised to learn that the “good news of the kingdom” contains the very elements that Jehovah uses to deliver blow after blow against the proudhearted Greater Pharaoh, Satan the Devil, and against all his servants and supporters. Not in the hope that Satan and his demons and his conscience-seared visible representatives will repent is this message declared world wide. Rather, it is to prove Jehovah’s unique and supreme position. It is to prove to Satan and his whole combination of powers, invisible and visible, that they are unable to halt or evade the torment and chagrin that this message produces. It is also purposed that even at this late date persons of honest heart and who have a love for what is right may yet separate themselves from Satan’s system of things and throw themselves on the mercy of the great Giver of the “good news.”

4. What questions should thoughtful persons living in this vital era of history put to themselves, and with what in view?

4 So where do you stand? Are you still tied in with one or more of the numerous sections of the Satanic earthly empire? Do you support its political schemes or its religious organizations that have deceived so many millions as to what is really the will of God? Are you motivated by the ultra-selfish spirit that Satan the Devil originated, a spirit that is mercenary, that has little concern for the welfare and rights of others, that produces rivalries, lying, cheating, violence and war? How vital to take stock and determine where you stand in this decisive hour when people’s hearts will be hardened or softened, hardened like Pharaoh’s or softened like those of the vast mixed multitude that went forth into freedom with the sons of Israel!​—Ex. 12:38.

BLOOD, FROGS, AND GNATS

5. The Nile’s waters being turned to blood and the effects of that event are fulfilled how in connection with the Kingdom message?

5 Ever since the January 1, 1921, issue of this magazine, with its explanation of the symbolic beast of Revelation chapter 13, was published, the Kingdom message has continuously exposed the death-dealing spirit of selfish commercialism that permeates the whole of Satan’s system of things, just as all the waters of the Nile and related canals became blood.a Living creatures in the Nile died and the waters stank as a result of this blow. The wide proclamation by God’s witnesses on earth has offered ample proof that those choosing to remain with Satan’s earthly empire will sicken spiritually and die. It does not take much discernment for people today to detect the rotten state of Satan’s commercialized system of things. The stench is too great to be ignored.

6. That the “blood plague” continued for seven days indicates what?

6 During the whole remaining time of Satan’s invisible rule over the nations, for the entire “seven days,” the exposure of selfish commercialism must go on. (Ex. 7:25) It is not yet too late to get out of that organization that has the smell of death, and join in declaring the warning, that others too might be assisted to escape. How grand the privilege of those who share in such a bold proclamation to God’s glory!

7. How do we connect the “frog plague” with the filthy, immoral conditions of Satan’s system of things?

7 But what has the Kingdom message to do with frogs? Well, frogs are slimy and unclean like the reptile, they advertise their disgusting presence by croaking, and they love to dwell in dank, marshy places. Christ Jesus gave his apostle John a vision wherein he saw “unclean inspired expressions that looked like frogs.” (Rev. 16:13, 14) These were identified as being “expressions inspired by demons.” Demons or disobedient angels produced a terribly corrupt condition among men just prior to the Flood, and there can be no doubt that demons have much to do with promoting immoral thinking and acting today. (Gen. 6:5) Frogs overrunning Egypt well picture, therefore, the resulting filthy, debased, immoral condition of human society. In our time, by printed page, by radio, by movies and by television, the immoral froglike “croakings” are dispersed far and wide, to young and old.

8. How has the Kingdom message featured this blow against Satan’s organization of today?

8 The message proclaimed by God’s witnesses on earth has had much to say about the unparalleled moral breakdown, the rising tide of delinquency, the criminal way in which commerce and religion, for selfish gain, promote the spirit of compromise that would tolerate any idea that becomes popular, regardless of its moral status. The proclamation of these facts has embarrassed and chagrined Satan’s agents. Those who share in such exposure of this world’s filthiness declare plainly where they stand. Do you?

9. In modern fulfillment, how has it been easy for the agents of the Greater Pharaoh to duplicate in an insignificant way the blows featuring blood and frogs?

9 It has been easy for reform movements forming part of Satan’s system of things to reproduce, even if only in a small way, the plaguing effects of God’s message relating to “frogs” and “blood.” They had only to protest some of the more blatant injustices and immoralities of Egypt as prefigured in Ezekiel, chapters 29-32. But when it comes to Jehovah’s third blow against the Greater Pharaoh, his agents cannot in any degree duplicate it. Why? Because they dare not lose face and admit that the organization of which they form a part is in very deed “Satan’s organization.”

10. But why is it not possible for agents of Satan’s system of things to duplicate the third blow?

10 All the dry land of Egypt produced clouds of gnats, tiny verminous insects that lodged on the skin and painfully bit their victims. Even the priesthood of the Pharaohs who boasted of their cleanliness, dressed only in white linen, bathed frequently and even shaved their entire bodies​—even they were attacked. That infested condition of all Egypt clearly signifies in modern times the unclean condition of a world-embracing society under Satan the Devil, a system of things that is clearly identified as “Satan’s organization.” True, such an epithet offends the susceptibilities of Satan’s religious and political leaders, but they find themselves unable to silence the exposure. They are, like Pharaoh’s magic-practicing priests, forced to conclude that no compromising deal can be made with Jehovah’s witnesses in order to silence the distasteful message.​—Ex. 8:19.

JEHOVAH DISCIPLINES HIS OWN

11. What do we see to be the reason for the Israelites’ receiving the first three blows in common with the Egyptians, and what does this mean today?

11 Those three punishing features of the Kingdom message brought to bear upon the Greater Pharaoh, his servants and his subject peoples, affected also those who make up the tribes of spiritual Israel. They, too, like worldlings, had once been motivated by the death-dealing spirit of selfishness or commercialism. They, too, had been mixed up with the immoralities of a wicked world of humans. (1 Cor. 6:9-11) They, too, had shared in the uncleanness due to being part of Satan’s lawless organization. They needed to be utensils ‘sanctified, useful to their owner, prepared for every good work.’​—2 Tim. 2:15-21.

12. Through what process have today’s bold Kingdom proclaimers passed, thus fitting them for their service?

12 Happily for them, Jehovah has extended to them a cleansing education by means of his Word of truth, so that there is now a clear separation between them and Satan’s unclean earthly empire. The Kingdom proclaimers of modern times have undergone an Isaiah-like experience, an experience that has prepared their lips to proclaim boldly the additional judgment features of the Kingdom message. (Isa. 6:6, 7) What a marvelous privilege to be used by Jehovah in sounding out the doom of a wicked world!

GADFLIES, PESTILENCE, BOILS

13. How have “gadflies” had a crippling effect on antitypical Egypt?

13 Other judicial pronouncements of Jehovah as to the state of Satan’s system of things were foreshadowed by the next three blows against Pharaoh. The Devil’s helplessness and failure to evade and offset these blows offer continuing proof that there is none like Jehovah. The gadflies that stung and tormented man and beast had a decimating effect on the Egyptian economy. (Ps. 78:45) So the Kingdom message’s exposure of all the false doctrines and pagan mysteries of Satan’s false religion has been destructive of the influence wielded by his religious organization among credulous multitudes. The falsity of teachings such as the triune deity, the divine right of kings, immortality of the human soul, transmigration of souls, tortures in literal fires of hell or purgatory, teachings that the clergy have always delighted to inculcate in the gullible masses, has now been laid bare. The widely published Bible truths on these matters have maddened the false shepherds of worldly religion, while the true source of the superstitious fears under which they have labored and been victimized is made plain to many.

14. In modern application, who are the ‘beasts of burden’ and what pestilence has caused them to begin dying off, and just how can they be said to have died?

14 The pestilence upon ancient Egypt particularly struck at her source of wealth, her beasts of burden. (Ex. 9:6) In Egypt as described in Ezekiel, chapters 29-32 the ‘beasts of burden’ are the human slaves who have been tyrannized into supporting and promoting Satan’s system of things. Just as the pestilence caused all sorts of Pharaoh’s four-footed burden bearers to die off, in the same way the Kingdom message has opened the eyes of multitudes slaving for Satan’s organization, and they have died as far as being active supporters anymore. Indeed, many have separated themselves from the devilish organization and become willing burden bearers in connection with the Kingdom work directed by the Greater Moses, Christ Jesus.

15. How do we detect the fulfillment of the epidemic of boils with blisters that came on Egypt?

15 The plague of boils and pus-filled blisters also points to still another punishing feature of the Kingdom message. How is that? The clue is noted in the words of Revelation 16:2, referring to the hurtful and malignant ulcers that came upon all those who angered Jehovah by worshiping and looking to mere human schemes for world betterment and salvation. Time after time this magazine and related publications have pointed to the incurable, poison-loaded condition of Satan’s organization. Publishers of this message have had and are still having a wonderful share in spreading to all who will listen God’s own view of a deathly sick system of things. It is not too late for others to join them. Soon, however, it will be too late.

HAIL, LOCUSTS, DARKNESS

16. How, in the view of Satan’s agents today, does the Kingdom message appear like “hail, and fire quivering in among the hail”?

16 No, indeed, the Kingdom message decreed by Jehovah to be loudly announced in all the earth is no suave, healing, soothing message to those who harden their hearts to righteousness and truth. It cuts and bruises and burns such ones, as did the “hail, and fire quivering in among the hail” that came upon Egypt. (Ex. 9:24) In the view of Satan’s earthly representatives the waters of truth are like a downpour of chunks of ice that have the effect of ‘sweeping away their refuge of lies.’ (Isa. 28:17) Only those who forsake the Satanic system and heed the warning message of the Kingdom get relief.

17. In what way may it be said that antitypical Egypt has suffered from the ravages of a locust invasion?

17 Like the locusts, which devoured everything in Egypt having any promise of life and growth, the thorough and continual house-to-house ministry by God’s witnesses in all nations with the denunciatory message of the Bible has exposed the false promises and the fiction of success claimed by Satan’s lying religious and political agents. As greenery in typical Egypt became almost nonexistent, so today in antitypical Egypt there are but few creatures left who have promise or hope of life. It is the final opportunity for any such to get out of the doomed organization while still there is time, before the coming “great tribulation” as foretold by Jesus Christ in Matthew 24:21, 22.

18. Just what is the nature of the “darkness” that enshrouds Satan’s world today, and how is it evidenced?

18 A little taste of that ‘blackness of darkness forever’ mentioned in the Christian Greek Scriptures was given ancient Egypt. (Jude 13) For three days the people could not stir from their dwellings because of the pall of “darkness [that] may be felt.” (Ex. 10:21) Likewise today, Satan’s organization and all who form part of it are plunged into spiritual darkness, its religious, political and scientific wiseacres having no clue to the real meaning of world trends and no hopeful message for the peoples. The apostle Paul long ago described the nations as being “in darkness mentally, and alienated from the life that belongs to God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the insensibility of their hearts. Having come to be past all moral sense, they [give] themselves over to loose conduct to work uncleanness of every sort with greediness.” (Eph. 4:18, 19) How well deserved the modern plague of darkness, how just the judgments of Jehovah upon them!

FIRSTBORN FOR FIRSTBORN

19. What announced threat did Jehovah carry out as a tenth great blow against Pharaoh, his servants and his people?

19 Continually Pharaoh of old hardened his heart. He did so once too often, for now came Jehovah’s time to carry out his long-delayed threat: “Israel is my son, my first-born. . . . Send my son away that he may serve me [without obstruction]. But should you refuse to send him away, here I am killing your son, your firstborn.” (Ex. 4:22, 23) Pharaoh had presumed upon the long-suffering of God, and so on that night of the tenth great blow against Pharaoh, the anguished cries of parents arose all over the land. The firstborn of every man and beast had died.​—Ex. 12:30.

20. How has this tenth great blow in modern application been an element of the Kingdom message?

20 This telling blow, in modern application, is also implicit in the Kingdom message boldly declared by Jehovah’s faithful worshipers. The firstborn in ancient times was looked to as the one to carry forward the family name. The first male child would ordinarily inherit the choicest portion of the estate and the position as family head and priest. The firstborn ones of antitypical Egypt evidently are the prominent favored ones of Satan’s world, especially the religious leaders. The Kingdom message has mercilessly exposed that class to whom gullible ones looked hopefully for solutions to social and economic problems. The exposure leaves them as good as dead insofar as their claim to being divinely ordained ministers is concerned. And that goes for all of their supposed remedies also, including that greatest hoax of all, the United Nations.

21. Why does it become necessary for Jehovah to take this drastic action?

21 Satan’s ruling elements in all the world will never recognize the credentials of the true priests and witnesses of God and Christ, and, rather than listen to their Bible-backed counsel, they seek to undermine, belittle and silence the Kingdom message. They refuse to be enlightened. So, Jehovah acts to reveal his choice of the true priesthood under Christ, “the congregation of the first-born who have been enrolled in the heavens.” (Heb. 12:23) His Kingdom proclamation shatters the reputation of the false religious ministers.

22, 23. Contrast the conditions of the spurious “firstborn” class and the true “congregation of the firstborn.”

22 In the past you may have been highly critical of that severe exposure of religious frauds, but today you are faced with a multitude of facts that prove the accuracy of Jehovah’s appraisal of those hypocrites. It is obvious that God’s favor is not upon the divided, discordant, tradition-laden, worldly-minded religious leaders of Satan’s world. They are part of his world, Satan’s world, and, like it, due to pass away soon.​—1 John 2:17.

23 In striking contrast, consider the condition of God’s true worshipers today. From among them the lying, mind-tormenting doctrines of false religion have been purged. Rather than losing burden bearers, they see a growing host of willing ones pressing forward and seizing the opportunity to share the burden of the Kingdom work. No more are God’s servants teased by false hopes and cast down by failures, for they have put their trust in God’s sure promises. To them the Kingdom message is not like cutting hail, but rather like gentle dew and refreshing rain. No locust plague spoils their greenery of a hopeful future, and no darkness of a spiritual kind brings them foreboding of disaster. Kingdom truth has brought liberation from Babylon the Great to multitudes now, as well as promise of complete emancipation from Satanic oppressions soon.

AVOIDING FINAL EXECUTION OF JUDGMENT

24. What was Pharaoh’s greatest mistake, and why do you say so?

24 Jehovah was not yet through with Pharaoh. Even though the pressure of his fearful subjects moved him to let the Israelites depart, Pharaoh’s proud heart soon dictated that he should pursue the escaping host and reduce them to servitude again or kill them all. That was his greatest mistake. It laid the scene for the grandest demonstration of all​—a demonstration proving that there was and is none like Jehovah in all the earth. God had prepared a gigantic trap for the very one who thought he had the Israelites entrapped between the desert and the sea.​—Ex. 14:3.

25. What, then, may soon be expected of the Greater Pharaoh in connection with the great crowd who have been liberated from his power?

25 Just so in modern times the Greater Pharaoh, under his title “Gog,” will seek to undo all of Jehovah’s marvelous liberation work. But Jehovah assures all those who have fled to Him as their refuge that he is fully prepared to handle the situation. (Ezek. 38:14-16) Satan and his powerful servants and all his willing supporters will be the ones to suffer humiliating defeat and destruction, while the liberated slaves praise the strong hand and outstretched arm of the Supreme Sovereign, Jehovah of armies.​—Ex. 15:1-21.

26. What grand victory are we justified in expecting on the basis of God’s dealings with Pharaoh?

26 Soon now the tremendous Egyptian disaster at the Red Sea will be dwarfed by the magnitude of the calamity that will engulf the Greater Pharaoh and all his supporters. That final execution comes at and immediately after Armageddon. Not only will modern antitypical Egypt be brought to ruin like Sodom and faithless Judea, but the Greater Pharaoh will himself be chained and abyssed by the Field Marshal of God’s heavenly forces, Christ Jesus. (Rev. 20:1-3) What a victory that will be, worthy of the loftiest strains of praise and gratitude to the God who proves beyond all question of doubt that “there is none like [him] in all the earth”!

27. How may each one assure to himself a share in that grand victory?

27 But where will you be in that vital day of execution of judgment now drawing on apace? Will you have put off your flight from antitypical Egypt until too late? Or, will you be one of the mixed multitude that joined themselves to the marching, victorious throng of Jehovah’s liberated people? Will you from the heart be sounding the praises of the Liberator and boldly pronouncing the doom of Satan, the “god of this system of things,” and his whole world? May it be your lot to share the everlasting victory that God by Christ will achieve. It is yours to decide and to act in order to assure to yourself that happy future.

[Footnotes]

See pages 370-372 of the Watchtower issue of July 15, 1965, under the heading “First Plague​—Nile’s Water Becomes Blood.”

[Picture on page 464]

Ancient Egypt’s being overrun with frogs pictures the filthy and immoral condition of human society

Jonah Preached in Nineveh

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