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No Excuses for the Traitor!The Watchtower—1958 | April 1
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priests refusing the money, Judas then “threw the silver pieces into the temple and withdrew, and went off and hanged himself.”—Matt. 27:3-10.
In passing let it be noted that while Bible critics make much of the fact that Matthew’s account given above differs from what Peter said about Judas “pitching head foremost he noisily burst in his midst and all his intestines were poured out,” they do not contradict each other. It has been suggested that Judas hanged himself from a tree on a craggy terrain. The rope or branch breaking, Judas’ end could be just as described by Peter.—Acts 1:16-18.
Thus the facts as recorded in the Scriptures help us to understand why Jesus referred to Judas as “the son of destruction” and why he said of him that “it would have been finer for him if that man had not been born.” There is no justification for theorizing about “the mystery of Judas”; and to try to make excuses for him will lead us into the twofold snare of rebellion and carelessness.
Since God’s judgment makes Judas’ case hopeless, it is rebellion on our part to extend him sympathy. This rule God repeatedly stated in his dealings with his people Israel. Thus when Nadab and Abihu were struck dead by Jehovah for offering illegitimate fire, Jehovah warned that Aaron and his remaining sons should not mourn for them. When Samuel mourned over Saul’s rejection as king, God rebuked him for it. And repeatedly we read of Jeremiah’s being told regarding his willfully wicked people: “Pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear thee.” Our attitude at all times must be as expressed: “Great and wonderful are your works, Jehovah God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways, King of eternity.”—Jer. 7:16, AS; Rev. 15:3.
And for us to hold out hope for Judas would encourage us to become careless. If there is hope for the archtraitor, the betrayer of the Son of God, there will also be hope for us regardless of what we may do, since we simply could not descend that low, God’s Son nevermore coming to earth as a man. But no, we must realize that Judas must have started out right or Jesus would not have chosen him. But he permitted selfishness to get the upper hand and eventually surrendered to the Devil. His end therefore forcibly drives home to us the counsel found at Proverbs 4:23: “More than all else that is to be guarded, safeguard your heart, for out of it are the sources of life.”
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Literacy Campaign Among Mexicans AppreciatedThe Watchtower—1958 | April 1
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Literacy Campaign Among Mexicans Appreciated
Most of the 3,000 illiterate Mexicans who enrolled in the reading and writing classes of Jehovah’s witnesses in February, 1956, successfully finished the course by December of that year, and since February, 1957, 1,500 more enrolled. The 1958 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses in reporting on this activity quoted the following excerpt of a letter received from a Mexican school official in Veracruz, which is indicative of the way his government feels about this activity of the witnesses: “I am grateful for your co-operation, and in behalf of the state government I convey to you their most sincere congratulations for your noble progressive work for the benefit of the people in bringing the light of knowledge to the illiterate. . . . I wish you success in your educational work.” Incidentally, if the comparative handful of Jehovah’s witnesses can accomplish so much in such a short time, what could the world’s largest religious organization, which practically ran the country for four centuries, have accomplished had she really had the interests of the Mexican at heart?
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