Help Men Get Saved from This Crooked Generation
AS DEDICATED Christian witnesses of Jehovah we have heard and understood the truth of God’s Word and have acted upon it. We can testify to the truth of Jesus’ statement: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Having been set free ourselves, we now have the obligation to serve as messengers of liberation, saying to all who will hear, “Get saved from this crooked generation.”—John 8:32; Acts 2:40.a
Yes, like the Jews in Babylon who were set free in 537 B.C.E., by the decree of Cyrus, like the Jews who were released from bondage to false religion in the days of Jesus and his apostles by their bringing the truth to them, so we in modern times have been set free. The first steps along this line were taken as early as the 1870’s, but then we suffered a setback during World War I as we went into captivity to modern Babylon, the world empire of false religion, for a prophetic “three and a half days,” when we lay dead in the streets of Babylon, as it were.—Rev. 11:2-11.
But then, in 1919, Jehovah’s spirit was poured out upon us and we were revived and set free from Babylonian bondage. At that time the prophecy, which had had two previous fulfillments, in 537 B.C.E. and 33 C.E. onward, applied: “How comely upon the mountains are the feet of the one bringing good news, the one publishing peace, the one bringing good news of something better, the one publishing salvation, the one saying to Zion, ‘Your God has become king!’”—Isa. 52:7.
What evidence is there that we were indeed set free at that time? The fact that we are rejoicing in Jehovah, as recorded at Isaiah 52:8-12, is one proof. Another proof is seen in our worldwide activity; in 194 lands and islands of the sea we are preaching the good news of God’s established kingdom, and that by more than a million publishers. And the very fact that Satan is making war upon us as foretold at Revelation 12:17 is proof that we have been set free, for would he war against us if we were still in helpless bondage?—Matt. 24:14.
Ever so many persons will resent our coming to them with the call, “Get saved from this crooked generation.” They may be proud of their religious heritage, even as were the Jews in Jesus’ day, or they may be proud of their form of government. But in bondage they are nevertheless. For one thing, they are in bondage to false religion, and that includes even the Communists, for they have a religion, the religion of communism. More than that, they are in bondage to sin, even as Jesus said: “Every doer of sin is a slave of sin.” And all such are also in bondage to “the god of this system of things,” by whom they have been blinded, even as we read, “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.”—John 8:34; 2 Cor. 4:4; 1 John 5:19.
There is an urgency about our sounding this warning as God’s messengers of liberation. Do we appreciate it and are we acting in harmony with such an appreciation? Babylon the Great’s fall presages her destruction, even as ancient Babylon was destroyed after she had fallen; only in our day the destruction of Babylon the Great will not be delayed for centuries but only for a few short years, as Jesus intimated when he said regarding our day: “But as these things start to occur, raise yourselves erect and lift your heads up, because your deliverance is getting near. Truly I say to you, This generation will by no means pass away until all things occur.”—Luke 21:28, 32.
The many “Word of Truth” District Assemblies held so far this year have given a great witness to Jehovah’s name and kingdom and have greatly refreshed each one of Jehovah’s people that was able to attend them. What we have learned at these assemblies we do not want to keep selfishly to ourselves but should want to share with others, thus showing appreciation for this grand spiritual feast and demonstrating that we have profited from it, being doers and not forgetful hearers of God’s Word. So let us go from house to house bearing the good news of liberation, warning all lovers of righteousness to flee from this crooked generation by severing their ties with Babylon the Great, lest they share in her sins and receive of her plagues. “If you know these things, happy you are if you do them.”—John 13:17.
[Footnotes]
a For details see The Watchtower, February 1, 1964.