A Message of Encouragement and Value
THERE are many different views concerning religion and about the Bible. Many think that just as long as they do what is right, do not harm anyone, and are good people, that is all that is required of them. But the Bible, the real guide regarding religion, does not agree with that viewpoint. Note what it says in Hosea 4:6: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee.”
Thus, more than just being a good person is required. One who does not wish to be rejected by God must have knowledge, must know about God’s Word, about his purposes and about the things that God requires of man and the provisions he has made for us. That is why Jesus said, as recorded in John 17:3 (NW): “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.” Thus we see that much more than just being a good person is required of one who wishes to receive God’s blessings. It takes right knowledge of Jehovah God and Christ Jesus. And that is something that very few people have today.
The Bible is the most widely circulated of all books. In some lands almost every home has a copy. Possibly your home does; in fact, it may have several Bibles. But the Bible is not widely read today. Frequently this is because the people have found their Bibles very difficult, hard to understand. They are like the man the evangelist Philip met. This man, riding by in his chariot, was reading the book of Isaiah; and note how the Bible tells us of this in Acts 8:30, 31 (NW): “Philip ran alongside and heard him reading aloud Isaiah the prophet, and he said: ‘Do you really know what you are reading aloud?’ He said: ‘Really how could I ever do so, unless someone guided me?’”
Many people have that very thought when they try to read their Bibles: ‘If only someone would help me to understand what this is all about!’ Well, that is the purpose of the Watch Tower Society’s activity, to encourage you to study your Bible, to help you to learn what is in this most amazing guide, and to help you to understand what it is all about. You need such knowledge, for God’s Word says so.
It is amazing, the things that you can learn from the Bible once you look into its pages! Many people are terribly wrought-up over present world conditions, over the fear of war and the dread of their children’s being left to run the mess of an atom-threatened world. Yet did you know that these very conditions were long ago foretold in the Bible? In Matthew 24:3 (NW) we read that the disciples asked Jesus: “Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the consummation of the system of things?” Jesus told them not to be deceived, for there would be many false reports about this. Then he said in Mt 24 verse six: “You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not terrified. For these things must take place, but the accomplished end is not yet.” But the next two verses Mt 24:7, 8 show that the time would come when something different would happen: “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another. All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress.”
When first did “nation . . . rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom” in total war—something different from the wars of the past? Why, the first time the world went to total war was in 1914 a marked year in Bible prophecy. And the following verses in this twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew further describe the conditions we have witnessed since 1914.
What does the fact that the Bible predicted earth’s present troubles mean to us? The joyful thing about it is that the Bible not only predicted these conditions, but also showed what their outcome would be! Jesus was here stating the conditions that we could see that would indicate that drastically changed conditions were at hand.
The present badness throughout the earth is not God’s doing, but is at the instigation of Satan the Devil. Revelation 12:12 foretold the time when Satan’s wicked rule would be about to expire and said prophetically of that time: “Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.” We should be very pleased to know that the present evil conditions on earth have only “a short period of time” remaining, should we not? Well, we can be assured of that very thing! Back in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, where Jesus was showing the sign of the end of this old Satan-ruled system, he said, Mt 24 verse 34: “Truly I say to you that this generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur.” What a consoling fact that is! All these things would happen in one generation! The sudden worsening of world conditions since World War I, which broke out forty years ago, was here foretold to end within one generation, within the lifetime of people who are now at least 40 years old!
Certainly we can trust these prophecies. They are much surer than the political predictions that continue to fail. They have already proved true in foretelling earth’s present conditions, and if the inspiration behind the Bible had the power to foretell 1,900 years in advance the very conditions earth now sees, it also has the power to go a few decades farther and foretell the outcome. Astounding as these facts may seem, they are true! You can learn them by getting the right kind of knowledge. Your Bible is a storehouse of knowledge that leads to life. It shows why Satan was permitted to exercise such a wicked influence over the earth, how God purposes to end it, and what it means to you and your life.
The reason that Jehovah’s witnesses call at your door is to help you to learn this vital information from the Bible, to have the right knowledge that God shows one must have in order to receive his blessings. Further information regarding such accurate knowledge and the sure hope that God’s Word sets forth for today is contained in this publication and in the other literature that is distributed as a noncommercial public service by the Watch Tower Society. These further evidences of the importance of the time in which we are living and of God’s purposes to bring righteous conditions to this earth will prove to be of great encouragement and value to you.