consorting with and making common cause with the governments of this world instead of waiting for Christ’s kingdom. To her the words of condemnation apply: “Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.” It is worthy of note that, whereas the King of kings, Jesus Christ, is shown as executing judgment against the various beasts, it is the ten horns or kings of the scarlet-colored beast that are shown bringing about the destruction of this false religious system, a precursor of which is seen in the avowed opposition of communism to all things religious.—Rev. 17:5.

Obviously, this thumbnail sketch, as it were, of the beasts of Revelation, could not touch on all the minute details. These, however, upon study will be found to be consistent with the foregoing, even as noted elsewhere in the publications of the Watch Tower Society.

Surely Jehovah God is causing light to shine upon his prophecies long ago recorded, in keeping with his promise that the path of his servants would grow ever lighter. Such is indeed reason for all his servants to have increased faith that He at all times has full control of world affairs and that the Bible is his inspired Word. It should strengthen their hope in the ultimate triumph of righteousness and assist them in serving God with the “form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father,” keeping themselves without spot from the world.—Jas. 1:27.

Courage Through Faith and Hope in Jehovah

“HOPE in Jehovah; be courageous and let your heart be strong. Yes, hope in Jehovah.” Thus Jehovah God speaks to his faithful servants upon earth today and that in spite of the fact that we are living in the most perilous time of the history of humankind. What does it mean to be courageous?—Ps. 27:14.a

“Courageous,” according to one dictionary, “implies a high and nobler kind of bravery, especially as resulting from an inborn quality of mind or spirit which faces or endures perils or difficulties without fear and even with enthusiasm.” According to the Hebrew expression used at Psalm 27:14, courageous means to keep an internal strength, to hold together as if tightly bound together and so not crumbling to pieces under pressure, as would dry clay, and not flying to pieces under the impact of tribulation or enemy attacks, as would a piece of china if struck a hard blow.

A sterling example of such courage is being given by the faithful witnesses of Jehovah, publishers of the Kingdom good news, behind the Iron Curtain and in other totalitarian lands. Concerning those in Russia the 1962 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, among other things, states: “Fiendish means have been employed to break the integrity of Jehovah’s servants. Publishers are brought before so-called fellow-workers courts, made up of factory or farm workers, managers and party functionaries. They are threatened with the loss of their jobs, allotments, homes, pensions, and so forth, if they do not publicly denounce the organization and withdraw. A brother who courageously defended his stand was recently sent to a forced-labor camp. There are such camps in which whole groups of publishers are kept imprisoned because of their faithful stand for God’s kingdom. They are treated harshly by the authorities, even worse than if they were criminals.”

Not that it does not take courage to be a speaking minister of Jehovah in lands where there is relative freedom. It does. It takes courage to take Jehovah’s unpopular message from house to house, to offer it to passersby on the streets. It takes courage to speak up whenever an opportunity for incidental witnessing presents itself. It takes courage to