Christians Maintain the Assault on False Religion

What attacks on false religion have been unsuccessful?

The attacks on pagan religions made by the missionaries of Christendom throughout the years have been unsuccessful. In times past the Roman Catholic Church used force to gain converts in many lands, and today, both Catholic and Protestant missionaries are using secular education and material benefits to win converts. Not only have their efforts made little dent upon the nations steeped in demon worship and rank idolatry, but even where they have gained converts they have merely succeeded in changing people from one false religion to another.

Neither have the attacks of Communism against the false religions of Christendom been successful. After fifty years of bitter antireligious campaigning, backed by the powerful State, a compromise has been effected, as Communism had nothing better to offer. Today many of the false religions of Christendom exist openly in Communist lands, but the pure worship of Jehovah must still be carried on underground.

What ancient successful assaults on false religion does God’s Word record?

Jehovah God himself made a successful assault on false religion by confounding the language of the builders of the Tower of Babel. Later he ordered his people Israel to assault false religion in all its forms upon entering the Promised Land. (Deut. 7:23-26) When false religion made inroads in the nation of Israel, Jehovah God raised up righteous judges, and later used such rulers as Kings Hezekiah, Josiah and Jehu to make successful assaults on false religion. But when the rulers repeatedly failed to maintain the assault on false religion, Jehovah permitted the nation to go into captivity to Babylon in 607 B.C.E.

By what means did the apostles and others successfully assault false religion?

They did so not by being literal iconoclasts but by using the sword of the spirit, the Word of God. (2 Cor. 10:3-5)* Clothed in spiritual armor and filled with holy spirit, Paul, Barnabas and others went from city to city preaching and teaching. They stayed at these various cities over a period of time to assist their listeners to turn from their idols and slave for the living God.—Acts. 14:14, 15; 1 Thess. 1:9, 10.

That they were successful in maintaining the assault against false religion can be seen from their establishing Christian congregations in one city after another. The opposition they aroused, both on the part of their religious enemies, the fanatical Jews, and on the part of those who made money by selling religious images, such as the silversmiths of Ephesus, was also indicative of their success.

How do Christians today heed the command to maintain the assault on false religion?

To maintain the assault on false religion it is necessary for Christians to be fully equipped with the spiritual armor of God. (Eph. 6:11-18; Heb. 4:12) Thus equipped, they go forth spreading the good news of the kingdom of God from house to house and on the street corners. Finding interested persons, they arrange to call back upon these and conduct Bible studies with them, making good use of the Bible-study aid The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life. Thus they aid them to come out of Babylon the Great and take their stand on the side of Jehovah and his kingdom.—Rev. 18:4.

The effectiveness of these methods can be seen in the results these have had. Today there are about a million who have come out of Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion. These have joined the remnant of anointed Christians in maintaining the assault on false religion, carrying it on in 200 lands and islands of the seas and in more than 160 languages. Their official journal, The Watchtower, itself is published in seventy-two languages and in upward of 5,800,000 copies each issue. Last year more than 82,000 forsook false religion and took their stand for Jehovah and his kingdom.

The Christian witnesses of Jehovah will maintain their assault on false religion until Jehovah rises up to do his strange deed and his unusual work, destroying not only all false religion and its worshipers but also all others who are opposed to him and his kingdom, his enemies, invisible and visible. Then the pure religion alone will be carried on in the earth.—Isa. 28:21, 22; Hab. 2:14.

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