“Make Sure of All Things”
1, 2. With what must we equip ourselves in this wicked day, and what assault should we make?
AFTER the foregoing speech, the President of the Watch Tower Society went on to make the first major release, of a new printed publication, to the assembly with the following words:
2 Says the apostle: “Finally, go on acquiring power in the Lord and in the mightiness of his strength.” (Eph. 6:10, NW) We must do this for the endurance test that yet lies ahead and for the work that remains to be done. We are in a life and death struggle, not with flesh and blood in carnal warfare, but with the wicked spirit forces now furious because of being cast out of high heavenly places and restrained to this earth. We need to put on the full suit of armor from God in order, as a New World society, to stand firm and united in this wicked day, presenting a common front against the combined enemies. We have come to close grips with the enemy and, besides the shield of faith with which to quench all the wicked one’s burning missiles and to stop his thrusts, we must have in hand that invincible weapon, “the sword of the spirit, that is, God’s word.” (Eph. 6:12, 17, NW) With this mighty weapon of offense, we must go forth in obedience to divine command and assault the worldly strongholds of error, that lovers of life-giving truth may be set free. “For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful by God for overturning strongly entrenched things. For we are overturning reasonings and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are bringing every thought into captivity to make it obedient to the Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:3-5, NW) To do this with courage and with assurance of victory we must make sure we have the truth and be convinced it is the truth, because it is backed up by God’s own Word.
3. What new printed aid has Jehovah provided for us in living as a New World society, and what are its main features?
3 Mindful of the acute situation we are in today, Jehovah God has provided a new aid for his people in living now as a New World society. This is the new book of 416 pages, in English, entitled “Make Sure of All Things”. This title is based on a text that was written to a Christian congregation under the fire of persecution, namely, 1 Thessalonians 5:21, which reads: “Make sure of all things; hold fast to what is right.” (NW) This is a book of nothing but select Scripture passages, 4,585 Bible texts being quoted at length and 458 additional, corroborative texts being just cited for reference purposes, making a total of 5,043 Scripture texts. However, these have been brought together and arranged under seventy main doctrinal titles, themes or headings that are most controversial today and for which the honest searcher for truth wants the uncolored Bible proof alone or the Bible disproof in the case of false doctrine. Under each of these seventy main headings the pertinent scriptures are grouped beneath numerous subheadings, thus breaking down the subject for you and helping you to a speedy and logical analysis of the subject.
4. In what way is the usefulness of this book enlarged to cover more than seventy main themes?
4 But the usefulness of this book is not limited to just these seventy themes. There are really 287 themes of which you can make a particular study by consulting the alphabetical listing of them that is given, with page references for finding the suitable scriptures on each aspect of your chosen subject for study. The Scripture quotations that are presented to you are taken from eleven Bible versions, Catholic and non-Catholic, to obtain the most appropriate or best-stated translation.
5. With this book how would we “make sure” whether many popular religious beliefs and practices are supported by God’s Word?
5 Do you want to “make sure” of whether the following are supported by God’s Word or not, namely, ancestor worship, animal worship, apostolic succession, blood transfusion, caste system, communism, confession, cross, evolution, incarnation, interfaith, Jews’ return to Palestine, the mass, purgatory, spiritism, the so-called “ten lost tribes”, transmigration, trinity, and worship of Mary? If so, then quickly find the subject you want in “Make Sure of All Things” and confront yourself with the array of Scripture verses given under an authoritative definition of the subject. In this way you let God speak to you on the subject through his own Word and thus you let him have the deciding say-so.
6. How can we find what God’s Word has to say in settlement of any controversy over certain basic Scriptural doctrines?
6 Or do you want to know what his Word has to say in settlement of any controversy over such subjects as baptism, the congregation of God, earth and its destiny, healing, Jehovah, judgment days, law, ransom, religion, return of Christ, sabbath, soul, spirit, superior authorities, tithing and speaking in tongues? These are all some of the seventy main themes, and you have sufficient scriptures under each heading you look up in order to determine God’s mind upon the matter and to “let God be found true, though every man be found a liar”.—Rom. 3:4, NW.
7. In what way does the book’s foreword give helpful advice, and of what may we be confident as respects the future of this book?
7 What a handy instrument this new book is for the use of the New World society! Providentially, the book contains a main heading entitled “New-World Living” with nine pages of scriptures quoted under analytical subheadings. For those who have it available in their language the book will be a telling aid in living and working as part of the New World society. There is a fine foreword to the book that gives helpful advice on how you may have this book constantly with you—it is a pocketsize edition—and use it in door-to-door witnessing, in making return visits on the interested, in Bible studies that you conduct in private homes, in your own family Bible study, in casual witnessing anywhere, anytime, and in preparing Bible talks, and in providing features for the weekly service meetings of congregations, yes, and even for informal group gatherings that you might hold now and then for relaxation so as to get real spiritual profit out of them and not fritter away the time in idle gossip and aimless chatter. The basis for this book was laid in years of study and preparation and compiling work, and now Jehovah has brought it forth through his visible New World society. We can be confident that he will bless the wise, courageous and faithful use of this aid for his people to wield the “sword of the spirit, that is, God’s word”. Eventually the benefits of this book are bound to spread to all lands in which the Kingdom truth is proclaimed, to encourage and assist his people in living as a New World society.
Brace up your minds for activity . . . sanctify the Christ as Lord in your hearts, always ready to make a defense before everyone that demands of you a reason for the hope in you.—1 Pet. 1:13; 3:15, NW.