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Aid to UnderstandingThe Watchtower—1954 | March 15
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Without a telescope many stars can be seen, but the view of the heavens is very incomplete. A powerful telescope brings the whole heavens more nearly into view. With the Bible alone many points can be seen, but with the aid of the Watch Tower publications a much more complete picture of Jehovah’s purposes comes into view. The Bible remains the basic essential. What good would be a telescope without the stars? What value Bible helps without the Bible? So both are needed, and together the Bible will be read with far greater understanding.
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The Joyful Work of Spiritual HealingThe Watchtower—1954 | March 15
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The Joyful Work of Spiritual Healing
MANY men in this old world concentrate on ways to destroy life. Some men seek to save life. Doctors do this. What a thrill must be theirs to enter a room where a child nears death and they are able to diagnose the case, prescribe the remedy, administer it, and watch the flush of life return to the pale cheeks! What satisfaction must be the doctor’s that completes a delicate operation that saves a man’s life! More rewarding than any monetary fee must be the joy and thrill of knowing that he has extended a human life for ten or twenty years.
Much greater must have been the joys of Jesus when he was on earth. He alludes to himself as a physician, and part of his record in physical healing reads: “The blind are seeing again, and the lame are walking about, the lepers are being cleansed and the deaf are hearing, and the dead are being raised up, and the poor are having the good news declared to them.” Again, “Then great crowds approached him, having along with them people that were lame, crippled, blind, dumb, and many otherwise, and they fairly threw them at his feet, and he cured them; so that the crowd felt amazement as they saw the dumb speaking and the lame walking and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel.”—Matt. 11:5; 15:30, 31; Mark 2:17, NW.
On one occasion Jesus cured ten lepers. Men cannot cure leprosy as Jesus did and without leaving its crippling effects. Jesus gave sight to a man born blind. Today’s doctors can make glasses but not eyes. They can provide hearing aids, but cannot restore the sense of hearing as Jesus did. They can remove an arm or a leg, but it is possible that Jesus could replace such a lost body member. The Greek word translated “crippled” at Matthew 15:30 is rendered “maimed” at Mark 9:43, where it refers to an amputated hand; so it is not beyond possibility that some of the crippled Jesus healed were amputees. Jesus’ cures never ended in failure. The mistakes of present doctors often send patients to the grave, whereas Jesus brought persons back from the grave. What great joy it must have been to Jesus to go around the countryside, see a blind man and restore his sight, or see a deaf man and restore his hearing, or see one dumb and bid him speak, or tell the dead to rise to life again!
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