We hope you are an individual who will accept with mildness the implanting of the Word and “put away all filthiness and that superfluous thing, moral badness.” If the seed of truth is going to sprout, there has to be good soil, something for the roots of the plant to go down into.

19. (a) How can one prove oneself to be like good soil? (b) What proof have we that many have been like good soil during the 1969 service year? (c) How do baptism figures for the past four years compare?

¹⁹ You can prove yourself good soil by getting rid of the wicked reasonings in the heart, like murders, adulteries, fornications, thievery, and so forth. (Matt. 15:19)

20. (a) What is meant by the word “implant”? (b) How can we apply this to our teaching work?

²⁰ To implant something, whether a seed or the Word of God, means, first of all, to plant or set securely or deeply. The word “implant” literally means to plant in the soil so that the seed will take root and grow. Similarly, teaching is what makes for one’s performance of that which is learned. When the truth is implanted in good soil the learner is going to produce something, and this product is due to learning.

“WITH MILDNESS”

22. (a) What fruitage of the spirit is needed in order for God’s Word to be implanted in an individual? (b) What type of persons does this thus eliminate?

²² Jesus’ half brother James very likely was well acquainted with Jesus’ parable of the sower, and as he commented on this matter of planting he may have had in mind that which Jesus spoke about. He really epitomizes the entire illustration by saying: “Put away all filthiness and that superfluous thing, moral badness, and accept with mildness the implanting of the word which is able to save your souls.” We want to keep in mind that the implanting of the word must be accepted with mildness. It is not going to be sounded down orally by Christian teachers into the minds of haughty and high-minded individuals. A person who has a know-it-all attitude cannot show humility. The soil must not be so hard that it is like a rock, impenetrable. When the Bible truth enters a mind that is searching for knowledge and understanding and it settles into the heart and mind of a person that has deep respect for the great Creator, then the seed will sprout and grow, and there will in due season be a coming to maturity.

23, 24. As regards personality changes, what have over one million Christian witnesses of Jehovah done?

²³ There are more than a million Christian witnesses of Jehovah today that have taken the proper steps to save their lives by putting away the superfluous thing, moral badness, and all filthiness of the flesh. They believe Paul when he said: “You should put away the old personality which conforms to your former course of conduct and which is being corrupted according to his deceptive desires; but . . . you should be made new in the force actuating your mind, and should put on the new personality which was created according to God’s will in true righteousness and loyalty.” (Eph. 4:22-24) The only way that one could put on this new personality, “which was created according to God’s will,” would be by first getting rid of the old personality. Then a change can begin to take place. That new force actuating your mind would result from your accepting “with mildness the implanting of the word which is able to save your souls.”