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The Unchristian ChristmasThe Watchtower—1952 | December 15
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one-ton of Daisy’s best to your door (or to the rear of your barn door) for $19”.
True, Jesus said that “there is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving”, but such is true only if one’s giving is sincere and unselfish. Remember he also said: “When you spread a dinner or evening meal, do not call your friends, or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors. Perhaps some time they might also invite you in return and it would become a repayment to you. But when you spread a feast, invite poor people, crippled, lame, blind; and you will be happy, because they have nothing with which to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous ones.”—Luke 14:12-14, NW.
Under the artificial stimulation of the Christmas fever some unfortunates may get some “charity”. But that hardly compensates for the fact that Christmas is in reality a snare of the Devil, to deceive the people into thinking that they are Christians by reason of indulging in pagan customs and ceremonies that gratify the fleshly instincts, waste money, health and lives and, worst of all, arouse Jehovah God to jealousy.
True Christianity does not work that way. It does good to its fellow men 365 days a year and not just one day, and not just in material ways but in the far more important spiritual treasures which lead to everlasting life. Jehovah’s witnesses have devoted their lives to doing this very thing.
And now do you understand why they do not celebrate Christmas?
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Theocratic Assemblies in Bible TimesThe Watchtower—1952 | December 15
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Theocratic Assemblies in Bible Times
THE great Creator of the universe, the Almighty God, Jehovah, is a wise and loving God. He knows best what will advance his righteous and loving purposes and how best to equip his servants so that they may co-operate with their Maker to his praise and to their own happiness. Proof of this is seen in his provision for having his servants come together in assemblies. And since he is the great God-Ruler or Theocrat, it follows that all assemblies arranged by him would be theocratic assemblies.
Among the very first assemblies that Jehovah caused to be held by his earthly servants was the one that took place when Jehovah’s time came to deliver the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. At that assembly “Aaron spake all the words which Jehovah had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed: . . . bowed their heads and worshipped”. (Ex. 4:29-31, AS) Without doubt, that assembly was a joyous occasion, revealing as it did Jehovah’s purpose to deliver his name-people.
Some months later the Israelites were assembled at Jehovah’s command at the foot of Mount Sinai for the purpose of witnessing the giving of the law. “And mount Sinai, the whole of it, smoked, because Jehovah descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And . . . the voice of the trumpet waxed louder and louder.” (Ex. 19:18, 19, AS) What a strong basis for faith, what abundant proof was there given that Moses was no impostor but was indeed the spokesman of the Supreme Being, Jehovah God! At that assembly the children of Israel agreed ‘to do all the things Jehovah commanded and to be obedient’. At that assembly also the law covenant, previously made in Egypt with the celebration of the Passover, was inaugurated.—Ex. 24:7.
However, the Israelites failed to live up to the agreement they made at that assembly and so, instead of entering the Promised Land in a matter of months, the older ones, with few exceptions, all perished in the wilderness; and we find their offspring thirty-nine years later assembled on the plains of Moab, still on this side of the Jordan river. At this assembly Moses reiterated God’s law and recounted the marvelous way in which Jehovah had preserved and led them, repeatedly exhorting them to faithfulness, and introduced to them Joshua as his successor. To appreciate the heart-warming lesson of faith that Moses there gave to the assembled Israelites one must read the book of Deuteronomy.
Without a doubt that assembly and the words uttered by Moses deeply impressed themselves upon the mind of Joshua, for after leading the Israelites across the Jordan and serving as their military commander and theocratic judge for some twenty years, shortly before his death he also called together an assembly. Gathering all the people at Shechem, he recounted the way Jehovah had dealt with his people and voiced his determination that, regardless of what they decided to do, ‘he and his house would serve Jehovah.’ (Josh. 24:1-28, AS) The people voiced a like determination.
After having had judges such as Joshua, Gideon, Samson and Samuel for some 350 years, another outstanding assembly, marking another milestone in the history of the nation of Israel, was held. The occasion was the request of the people to have a king like those of the surrounding nations, they not being content to have Jehovah as their invisible King. Having first determined Jehovah’s will and choice in the matter, Samuel told the people assembled at Mizpah what Jehovah had said regarding their request. By lots Saul was found to be Jehovah’s choice, he in fact having been previously anointed to be king by Samuel.—1 Sam. 10:17-24, AS.
ASSEMBLIES AT JERUSALEM
The law which Jehovah gave the children of Israel by the hand of Moses provided for three annual assemblies at which every male was to be present. These assemblies were to be held in the city that God would choose, which turned out to be Jerusalem. The first of these annual assemblies was the feast of unleavened bread, which immediately followed the Passover, lasting for seven days beginning with the fifteenth day of Abib or Nisan. This feast, like the Passover that preceded it, commemorated the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt, at which time they were in such great haste that they had to bake their bread before it was leavened.—Ex. 12:39; 23:14-17, AS.
Next came the feast of the harvest or first fruits, celebrated fifty days after the first sheaf of grain had been brought to the priest to be waved before Jehovah. And finally, there was the feast of ingathering or of tabernacles in the seventh month, at the conclusion of the harvest, and which was celebrated for seven days beginning with the fifth day after the day of atonement. Regarding that feast the Israelites were commanded: “Ye shall dwell in booths [made of branches] seven days; . . . that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.”—Lev. 23:39-43, AS.
The convening of yearly assemblies at Jerusalem undoubtedly taxed the housing facilities of that city and its suburbs to the limit, requiring many to use tents and other improvised shelters, except for the feast of tabernacles, when all were required to live in booths. The people saw the significant ceremonies, such as that of the day of atonement, performed by the priests, heard God’s Word read to them and listened to the singing of thousands of trained Levite singers accompanied by huge orchestras.
These annual assemblies impressed upon the minds of the Israelites the awesome majesty of Jehovah their God and of his laws as well as graphically reminding them of the marvelous deliverances he had performed for them in times past, all of which would cause them to rejoice with songs of praise and thanksgiving. Those assemblies, no doubt, also meant the making of many new acquaintances, and we may be sure that even the traveling to them had a broadening effect as they became more and more acquainted with other parts of their land of Palestine.
David called together a special assembly at Jerusalem after all the material needed for the building of the temple had been gathered, at which time he gave Solomon instructions regarding his office and the building of the temple and exhorted the people to faithfulness. To catch the spirit of that occasion read 1 Chronicles 29:10 to 19, AS.
About eleven years later Solomon caused another great assembly to be convened at Jerusalem, this one to mark the dedication of the glorious temple, at which ‘all the congregation of Israel was present with King Solomon and so many sacrifices were made that they could not be counted or numbered for multitude’. That assembly lasted more than three weeks, the people returning to their homes on the twenty-third day “joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that Jehovah had showed”.—2 Chron. 5:2 to 7:10, AS.
EARLY CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLIES
At the time of Jesus the Jews were scrupulously observing the feasts commanded by the law. And while in a sense it might be said that the public meetings held by Jesus at which thousands were in attendance, lasting for hours and making it necessary that Jesus provide them with food, were the first Christian assemblies, it was the feast of Pentecost that really was the first of all Christian assemblies.
The supernatural phenomenon accompanying the outpouring of the holy spirit, and which marked the beginning of the Christian congregation, might well be compared with the assembly held at Mount Sinai at the inauguration of the law covenant. “And they all became filled with holy spirit and started to speak with different tongues,” thus enabling them to preach to the many reverent Jews in Jerusalem at the time for the celebration of the feast of Pentecost from “every nation of those under heaven”.
That assembly of 120 Christians saw a twenty-fivefold increase on its very first day, for the number grew to three thousand. (Acts 1:15; 2:1-41, NW) No question about that’s being a joyful occasion! Truly, the theocratic assemblies of Bible times brought praise to Jehovah, knowledge and instruction to his people, and invariably gave them much cause for rejoicing. The same is true of theocratic assemblies held in modern times.
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District Assemblies During 1952The Watchtower—1952 | December 15
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District Assemblies During 1952
THE expansion of true worship in the earth has been shown in the increase in the size of modern theocratic assemblies. Back in 1893, 360 were in attendance; in 1919, at the Cedar Point, Ohio, international assembly, some 7,000 heard the president of the Watch Tower Society, J. F. Rutherford, speak; while 123,707 heard the president of that Society, N. H. Knorr, give the public lecture at the Yankee Stadium, New York city, in 1950.
In 1952, instead of one international assembly, some 70 district assemblies were held during the months of August and September alone in upward of twenty different lands, with a combined peak attendance of 313,751 persons. Of these assemblies, 35 were held in the United States, 11 in Canada, 8 in Germany and 6 in England and Wales. The programs of these assemblies were identical.
Growing to maturity by making good use of Jehovah’s undeserved kindness was the theme of these assemblies. The outstanding feature was the public discourse “World Unity, Is It Just a Dream?”
ADVERTISING THE PUBLIC LECTURE
Every conceivable and possible means of advertising, ancient and modern, was used to invite the people to come to hear the public discourse Sunday afternoon. Among the ancient means used were those of going from house to house and standing on the streets, particularly on Friday and Saturday mornings, as well as by the witnesses’ making use of every contact with the public to give the invitation. By such methods millions of handbills also were distributed and much Bible literature was placed.
Signs were also extensively used. Many of the witnesses had one or more signs on their cars; bumper signs, signs on the sides and rear and some signs even attached to the tops of their cars. Motorcades toured the streets advertising the lecture. Large signs were put up along the highways, across streets, on the sides of buildings and on hotel marquees. Thousands of signs were placed in store windows. At Galveston, Texas, the request by one of the witnesses to be permitted to put a sign in a certain window resulted in a heated argument between two business partners, one a Jew, the other a Catholic; the Jew was in favor of having the sign placed in the window, the Catholic was opposed thereto. Thinking it futile to wait, the witness left them arguing and proceeded to the next store. However, before reaching it the Jewish businessman called, “Hey, you, come back here and put one of those signs in my window. We won!”
News releases were given to all the newspapers in each area, and very favorable response was given in many cities. In the Syracuse, New York, area some 70 different papers carried items regarding the assembly. Some welcomed the witnesses in
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