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Speak the Word of God Fearlessly in the Nuclear AgeThe Watchtower—1983 | December 15
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Speak the Word of God Fearlessly in the Nuclear Age
“Speak the word of God fearlessly.”—PHILIPPIANS 1:14.
1. The Creator of the atom with its nucleus has had what fearlessly spoken during the past 48 years?
THE nuclear age is upon us. The whole world is now menaced with nuclear warfare! The Almighty Creator of the atom with its nucleus well knows that. What is his Word for our day that needs to be preached worldwide? In our time he has had a figurative ‘man clothed with linen, with a secretary’s inkhorn at his side,’ doing a marking work.
2. What marking work has progressed, and for what purpose?
2 This “man” has been marking the foreheads of the people who are crying and sighing over all the detestable things that are being done, particularly in the religious realm of Christendom, which professes to worship God. (Ezekiel, chapter 9) Recalling the course of conduct of Christendom’s clergy during World Wars I and II, these people feel distress at what they have reason to believe those religious leaders would do during a likely nuclear war on a world scale. Expecting better things of so-called Christian leaders, they are deeply disturbed at what the clergy now make allowance for in this highly immoral, violent and religiously divided world. In a system of things that is doomed to early destruction, these righthearted ones are being marked for preservation into a new and righteous system of things.
3. Grief over what is more important than grief over prospective mass extermination, and what has the doing of the marking work called for?
3 No improvement of worldly things is in sight. In the case of so many righthearted people inside and outside of Christendom, what will quiet their fears of being violently exterminated en masse shortly? Well, they may be grieved at the shape of things. But, most importantly, are they grieved because the name of the God of the Holy Bible is involved and is being made a subject of reproach owing to the way those who claim to be his people are carrying on? However, who is the figurative ‘man clothed in linen’ who is marking more and more of these grieved persons, and how is he doing so? This marking work is not appreciated by the clergy of Christendom and has been vigorously opposed by them. It has therefore called for the exercise of great fearlessness for the marking work to be done.
4. The man doing the marking was prefigured by whom, and so what qualifications are called for in those doing the marking at present?
4 Yet it has gone forward with even greater impetus since 1935. It has been done by a class of Christians dedicated to Jehovah God through Jesus Christ, and who were prefigured by the prophet Ezekiel, a priest of ancient Israel. He was the one that had the vision of the ‘man clothed with linen who had the secretary’s inkhorn at his side.’ They are dedicated to the same God as Ezekiel was and so, like him, they are witnesses of Jehovah. The modern-day Ezekiel of 1983 is a priestly class, belonging to spiritual Israel, to which the apostle Peter wrote the words found at 1 Peter 2:9: “But you are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for special possession, that you should declare abroad the excellencies’ of the one that called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
5. How many underpriests are there to be under the one whom Jehovah swears into the high priesthood?
5 Hence, we recognize the Ezekiel class of today to be made up of those who serve in a spiritual way as underpriests, under the High Priest, Jesus Christ, whom Jehovah God swore into the priesthood “according to the manner of Melchizedek,” who was king of ancient Salem and “priest of the Most High God.” (Psalm 110:4; Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 5:10; 6:20; 7:10, 11, 15-17) From the first century, in which the apostle Peter wrote his letter, Jehovah God has picked out the members of this “royal priesthood,” who are to number finally 144,000 under the High Priest, Jesus Christ.—Revelation 7:1-8; 14:1-4.
6. How many of that “royal priesthood” are yet in the flesh on earth, and as what figurative person do they serve?
6 Today there is only a small remnant of the members of the “royal priesthood” yet in the flesh on earth, according to the world report from the celebration of the Lord’s Evening Meal on March 29, 1983. These serve together as the figurative linen-clad man, who does the marking of worthy ones in their foreheads.
7. What do those today who were prefigured by the linen-clad man with the inkhorn have to trust Jehovah to do for them?
7 The prophet Ezekiel of old had to muster up great courage in order not to fear the Israelite opposers of his day. But Almighty God made the promise that he would make the face of Ezekiel just as hard as the faces of his antagonists, yes, even harder. So he should not be afraid of his merely human opposers. (Ezekiel 2:4; 3:8; Isaiah 51:12) Likewise, the remnant of spirit-anointed Christians that makes up the class prefigured by the man clothed with linen and with the inkhorn at his side need to trust in the God of Ezekiel to harden their faces to confront unflinchingly the hard-set countenances of opposers inside and outside Christendom.
8. What instructions appropriate for today did Jesus give?
8 Nineteen centuries ago Jehovah’s Chief Messenger, Jesus Christ, sent forth his disciples on an errand of speaking the Word of God fearlessly in their own country. Before dispatching them, he said: “Do not become fearful of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be in fear of him that can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” (Matthew 10:28) In addition, in the last book of the Bible he tells the anointed remnant of our own time: “Do not be afraid of the things you are about to suffer. Look! The Devil will keep on throwing some of you into prison that you may be fully put to the test, and that you may have tribulation ten days. Prove yourself faithful even to death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10) How encouraging those words are!
9. (a) The imprisonment of so many of Jehovah’s Witnesses today indicates that they are obeying what instructions given above? (b) What opposite effect is shown in Paul’s case?
9 When we call to mind that today there are witnesses of Jehovah in more than 40 lands where their work is banned or under legal restriction—doubtless more Christians now than the number imprisoned in the first and second centuries—Jehovah’s Witnesses of today are not fearful of the things they must suffer, including imprisonment. The imprisonment of Christians can have an effect upon fellow Christians opposite to what the enemy contemplated. The imprisoned apostle Paul wrote from his confinement: “Most of the brothers in the Lord, feeling confidence by reason of my prison bonds, are showing all the more courage to speak the word of God fearlessly.”—Philippians 1:14.
10. (a) Jehovah’s Witnesses today are appointed to speak out a message from what source? (b) What position like that of the apostles 19 centuries ago must they take?
10 Today, as in Paul’s day, it is not a man-made message that the witnesses of Jehovah are fearlessly speaking. It is the timely message drawn from the Holy Bible, the inspired Word of the Most High God, Jehovah. In that Word he tells his dedicated, baptized people that they must be his witnesses, testifying to his Godship and his Kingship. (Isaiah 43:10, 12) Since he tells them to speak forth his infallible Word, what creature, high or low in station, has the right or authority to order or force them to stop speaking it? The position of the Christian apostles of 1,900 years ago must be taken, when they said to officials: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.”—Acts 5:29.
11. Have men deified themselves by inventing the nuclear bomb, and what about authority on their part to oppose the speaking forth of the Kingdom message?
11 Men have not made gods out of themselves by inventing the nuclear bomb, and they must answer to the Most High God as to how they use it. (Note Psalm 82:6, 7.) By producing the nuclear bomb as a deterrent, the governments seek to perpetuate their domination of the earth, rather than to advance the interests of the Kingdom of God by Jesus Christ. They resent and interfere with the proclaiming of that Kingdom by the true, obedient followers of Jesus Christ today. This nuclear age has not made out of date or impractical Christ’s prophetic words: “These [things] are a beginning of pangs of distress. As for you, look out for yourselves; people will deliver you up to local courts, and you will be beaten in synagogues and be put on the stand before governors and kings for my sake, for a witness to them. Also, in all the nations the good news has to be preached first. But when they are leading you along to deliver you up, do not be anxious beforehand about what to speak; but whatever is given you [to speak] in that hour, speak this, for you are not the ones speaking, but the holy spirit is.”—Mark 13:8-11.
12. Despite violent opposition, what was to be preached first, and of what was this to be a most outstanding sign?
12 World pangs of distress began in 1914. The foretold persecution of the faithful and obedient followers of Jesus Christ followed and continues down to this day. All the evidence indicates that we are living in “the conclusion of the system of things,” yes, nearing its grand climax in this nuclear age. (Matthew 24:3; Mark 13:3, 4) But before the complete end yet comes, “the good news” has to be “preached first.” So this worldwide ‘speaking the Word of God fearlessly’ in behalf of the Kingdom is one of the most outstanding proofs that we are living in “the conclusion of the system of things.”—Matthew 24:14.
Eating God’s Word and Speaking It Forth Worldwide
13. What experience like that described in Revelation chapter 10 did the anointed remnant have after World War I, and after the refreshment was taken, what command was given?
13 John, the last of the surviving disciples chosen by Jesus as an apostle, finished his earthly career near the end of the first century. During this “conclusion of the system of things” since 1914 there has been a remnant of dedicated, baptized Christians anointed with Jehovah’s spirit. This remnant was prefigured by John, the writer of the last book of the Bible canon, Revelation. In the first postwar year of 1919 this remnant had an experience like that which John describes respecting himself in Revelation chapter 10. This experience was to occur near the time when “the mystery of God,” or his “sacred secret,” was to be brought to a finish. (Revelation 10:7, Authorized Version, NW) After they got spiritual refreshment, as it were, by eating the sweet-tasting “little scroll” that was held out to them, those who made up this modern class prefigured by John were, in effect, told: “You must prophesy again with regard to peoples and nations and tongues and many kings.”—Revelation 10:10, 11.
14. By means of whom is the commission to the apostle John on Patmos fulfilled?
14 Whether the apostle John on the island of Patmos was able to fulfill his assignment of service of such a wide scope and at his old age, we have no inspired record. But what about those anointed ones today whom John prefigured? This class is what fulfills his prophetic status and sees the commission to him carried out in full. The expression, “You must prophesy again,” indicates that the free carrying out of his witness work was being interfered with by his exile on Patmos. It is evident that what was said to him there was really meant for his modern counterpart today. That being the case, we are obliged to ask: In how many lands and tongues are Jehovah’s Witnesses speaking the Word of God fearlessly as they endeavor to preach “this good news of the kingdom . . . in all the inhabited earth for a witness”?—Matthew 24:14.
15. To what extent by now is the preaching being done?
15 The 1983 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses reports 205 lands, with Bible literature being published in some 190 languages. Those lands include people black, white, yellow, red and brown, also of various tribes, clans and sects along with dialects. Since World War I the number of “kings” on thrones has been greatly reduced, but there are many other types of political rulers now in office. Regardless of their official designation or their political cast, the message of Jehovah’s Witnesses today involves and applies to all of them. The banning of Jehovah’s Witnesses in so many lands gives proof of this fact.
16. So what proclamation has gone forward irresistibly, in spite of the religious prayers of world leaders for what?
16 So in spite of the League of Nations and its successor, the United Nations, which were set up as the means for advancing and maintaining a united world, the fearless proclamation of the Kingdom of God by Christ as the only hope for mankind has gone forward irresistibly. Such “good news of the kingdom” has not seemed “good” to world leaders, as it differs so much from what they have thought to be good, yes, the best, for afflicted humankind. They feel that they themselves can take care of earthly affairs as their own business. If they feel the need of superhuman help, it is really to “the god of this world” that their religious prayers have gone and no higher. The divine Originator of “this good news of the kingdom” is not in favor of “this world,” of which Satan the Devil is the god.—2 Corinthians 4:4, AV.
17. (a) Why has the written Word of God failed to be stamped out by opposers? (b) By means of whom has that Word been made vocal since 1919?
17 The prophetic Bible boldly declares that the word of God is to time indefinite and that it will endure forever. (1 Peter 1:23-25) To this day those statements have not been disproved. The Bible, God’s inspired written Word, has not been blotted out, despite all human efforts to destroy it by religious bans and bonfires. Correspondingly, the preaching of that written Word of God needed someone to make it vocal and hearable. The fearless speaking of that Word of God has gone doggedly onward by Jehovah’s Witnesses since the postwar year of 1919 by an increasing number of mouths, despite the attempts of the infuriated opposers to stifle the fearless speakers.
18. Till when will Jehovah continue to harden the foreheads of such ones?
18 Can there be any room for doubt that the Heavenly Giver of that Word will continue to harden diamondlike the foreheads of his modern-day Ezekiel class and their courageous companions to face the hardheaded opposers till destruction suppresses their opposition? None at all! He has made the way of his witnesses successful until now. He will keep on making their way prosperous until the ‘prophesying again regarding peoples and nations and tongues and kings’ has been fearlessly completed. This he can be expected to do, to his own credit and to the vindication of his universal sovereignty.
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Spreading God’s Word Abroad in a Fearful WorldThe Watchtower—1983 | December 15
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Spreading God’s Word Abroad in a Fearful World
1. What unparalleled state of world fear did the greatest prophet in human history foretell?
THE greatest prophet in all human history, Jesus Christ, foretold concerning the world-changing era that set in with the outbreak of World War I in 1914 the international mental state as follows: “Men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”—Luke 21:26, 27.
2. Who are the ones not giving way to fear, and why so?
2 However, strange as it may seem, there are those who are not becoming fearful and fainting with a sense of helplessness. They are the witnesses of Jehovah who are now found in 205 lands. They do what Jesus urged: “But as these things start to occur, raise yourselves erect and lift your heads up, because your deliverance is getting near.”—Luke 21:28.
3. Why has the Messianic Kingdom not been set up at Jerusalem in Israel, and why have the League of Nations and its successor not warded off the nuclear age?
3 Today the fact remains more confirmed than ever that “the appointed times of the nations,” “the times of the Gentiles,” ended in the latter half of 1914 and that then the promised Kingdom of Jehovah God by Jesus Christ was installed in the heavens to rule amid its enemies. (Luke 21:24, NW, Authorized Version) So, to this day that Messianic Kingdom has not been set up at earthly Jerusalem. Logically, also, the League of Nations failed to be “the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth.” The League’s successor, the United Nations, has, after more than 35 years of operation, failed Christendom’s prayers; it has not warded off the nuclear age.
4. Against what was the League of Nations really a conspiracy?
4 From the very time of the proposal of a league of nations toward the close of World War I, Jehovah’s Witnesses have fearlessly served notice that man-made substitutes of such kind for the real thing, Jehovah’s royal government by Christ, would fail. They have guided their course of action by the prophecy of Isaiah 8:12: “Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.” (AV) That man-made scheme is really a “conspiracy,” yes, a conspiracy against the precious interests of God’s Kingdom by Christ. (NW, Revised Standard Version) How, then, could it ever have the blessing and backing of the King of kings, Jehovah God?
5. (a) In spite of the contents of “the roll,” how did it taste as Ezekiel ate “the roll of a book”? (b) To have God’s Word put in our mouths so as to serve as his witnesses is what kind of experience?
5 The Kingdom message that Jehovah’s Witnesses still keep on proclaiming is a challenging one, indeed, in a world otherwise oriented. They have had an experience like that of the prophet Ezekiel, when he was a captive in the land of Babylon, some years before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 607 B.C.E. Like the apostle later on the isle of Patmos, Ezekiel was given a “roll of a book.” The prophet tells us: “It was written upon in front and on the back; and there were written in it dirges and moaning and wailing.” (Ezekiel 2:9, 10) After obeying God’s instructions to eat this “roll of a book,” Ezekiel comments: “It came to be in my mouth like honey for sweetness.” (Ezekiel 3:1-3) Today, for any of us to have the Word of God put in our mouth so as to serve as his message-bearers is a sweet privilege, regardless of all the contents of that Word, even dirges, moaning and wailing. (Compare Psalm 19:7-10.) Jehovah’s Witnesses prize the revealed Word of God after having eaten it from the postwar year of 1919 onward. It strengthened them, just as literal honey strengthened Jonathan.—1 Samuel 14:26, 27.
6. As the day of God’s vengeance draws near, why is courage called for, but of what may Jehovah’s Witnesses be certain?
6 As “the day of vengeance on the part of our God” comes on apace, it calls for courage on the part of Jehovah’s Witnesses to point to “dirges and moaning and wailing” in the near future for all human society. (Isaiah 61:1, 2) Relief-seeking people of this threatened world are not disposed to listen to such information at the mouths of Jehovah’s Witnesses. But since God sends them forth to spread his Word, they can be certain that he will back them up to the very day of his vengeance.
7. How would Jehovah make Ezekiel equal to his assignment?
7 It is not pleasant to have people refuse to listen, but let us give heed to what God said to Ezekiel: “As for the house of Israel, they will not want to listen to you, for they are not wanting to listen to me; because all those of the house of Israel are hardheaded and hardhearted. Look! I have made your face exactly as hard as their faces and your forehead exactly as hard as their foreheads. Like a diamond, harder than flint, I have made your forehead. You must not be afraid of them, and you must not be struck with terror at their faces, for they are a rebellious house. . . . And go, enter in among the exiled people, among the sons of your people, and you must speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said,’ regardless of whether they hear or they refrain.”—Ezekiel 3:7-11.
8. How did the Ezekiel class face the forbidding situation after World War I, and what if the clergy had listened?
8 A forbidding situation like that was what faced the remnant of those Christians who had been begotten by God’s spirit to be his spiritual sons and who had been anointed with his spirit to be his appointed witnesses. They make up the 20th-century Ezekiel class. So, like Ezekiel, they have not shrunk back because of the forbidding countenances of the professional, impressively frocked clergy of Christendom, who may claim to be spiritual Israelites. If such religious leaders had softened their faces and given an obedient ear to the Kingdom message as proclaimed by the anointed remnant since 1919, Christendom would not have launched off into the second world war of far larger proportions and more damaging worldwide than the first one.
9. How have the remnant and their dedicated companions been made equal to their assignment?
9 Today, even with the growing threat of nuclear war in spite of the United Nations organization, the religious leaders have not undergone a change of visage toward the Kingdom proclaimers. So the anointed remnant as Kingdom ambassadors and their dedicated, baptized associates out of all the nations have had to harden their own faces like a diamond in view of the stiffened religious opposition. They persist in speaking the Word of God fearlessly.
10. Jehovah’s Witnesses should have been listened to by the clergy and their parishioners for what reason, and what fact will such religionists yet have to acknowledge?
10 Particularly the clergy of Christendom and their parishioners should have understood the message and the counsel of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Witnesses draw what they have to say from the very same Bible that the religionists of the so-called Christian world claim to accept and that their Bible societies spread abroad in many languages. It has proved to be just as Jehovah God said to Ezekiel, according to the New World Translation: “And the sons insolent of face and hard of heart—I am sending you to them, and you must say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said.’ And as for them, whether they will hear or will refrain—for they are a rebellious house—they will certainly know also that a prophet himself happened to be in the midst of them.”—Ezekiel 2:4, 5.
11. What qualities have been displayed by Christendom toward Jehovah’s commissioned remnant, and how has he enabled the remnant to carry out this challenging commission?
11 Insolence of face and hardness of heart have been displayed on the part of professed spiritual Israel, Christendom, toward the anointed remnant whom the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has commissioned to deliver his final message during this “conclusion of the system of things.” (Matthew 24:3, 14) Almighty God knew that he could instill in the modern counterpart of Ezekiel the fearlessness that would nerve this anointed remnant to undertake and carry out this challenging commission.
12. What false charge is Jehovah thus warding off, and what pertinent event will leave him with a clean record?
12 The irreproachable God has purposed to ward off all possibility of being charged with negligence, of having failed to give due warning to the endangered ones. Circumstances are closing in upon us to the extent where we shall be shown up for what we are. Then the unheeding ones will be forced to own up to the fact that a prophet from Jehovah has been among them. This will be when Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, goes down in everlasting destruction at the hands of the political powers with which she used to practice shameless spiritual harlotry. This will leave the God of pure worship with a clean record.
13. Because Jehovah has lived up to what promise to the anointed remnant, in what respect has it served as a fine example to the “other sheep”?
13 The fearlessness of speech as displayed by the anointed remnant till now has been due to Jehovah’s living up to his promise: “Look! I have made your face exactly as hard as their faces and your forehead exactly as hard as their foreheads. Like a diamond, harder than flint, I have made your forehead. You must not be afraid of them, and you must not be struck with terror at their faces, for they are a rebellious house.” (Ezekiel 3:8, 9) Thus fortified, the remnant has served as a heartening example to the growing crowd of “other sheep” that Jesus Christ, the Fine Shepherd, promised to gather to the side of his anointed remnant. (John 10:16; Revelation 7:9-17) As Jehovah’s Witnesses, these “other sheep” have become as bold as a lion.
14, 15. (a) Because of what difference are many witnesses of Jehovah inside and outside the lands of Christendom suffering imprisonment? (b) How is the effect of such imprisonment upon free Witnesses different from what might be expected?
14 Jehovah’s Witnesses do not imitate Babylon the Great. Hence, both inside and outside the lands of Christendom, they have brothers in the Christian faith who are suffering in prisons because of their strict neutrality. This has not instilled fear into those Witnesses still free and unimprisoned, duplicating what was true in the case of the apostle Paul’s Christian brothers in Rome. In a court trial Paul had appealed to the Roman Caesar for justice, and the judge had ruled: “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.” (Acts 25:10-12) So Paul was transported in chains to Rome and jailed there, awaiting trial. It was under those circumstances that, when writing to his dearly beloved fellow Christians in the city of Philippi, Greece, he said:
15 “And most of the brothers in the Lord, feeling confidence by reason of my prison bonds, are showing all the more courage to speak the word of God fearlessly.”—Philippians 1:14.
16. Despite the imprisonment of Christian brothers, the free witnesses of Jehovah showed what quality immediately after World War I, and why is the same quality needed today?
16 Somewhat like this, when World War I ended in the year 1918, officers and members of the headquarters staff of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society found themselves in prison under false charges. Peace having now set in, courageous steps were promptly taken by the brothers on the outside to secure their release. In 1919 they were released from prison and their case was thrown out of court. Thus they were declared innocent of all false charges. The work of preaching the good news of the established Kingdom of God by Christ was taken up with a courage greater than ever before, with a defiance of Babylon the Great and her paramours. Today, with far more witnesses of Jehovah in prison than back during World War I, it devolves upon their free brothers outside to “speak the word of God fearlessly.”
Those Who Put Christendom to Shame by Listening
17. (a) As to those who would be more disposed to listen, what did Jehovah say to Ezekiel? (b) After concentrating efforts upon whom was timely attention turned toward those more inclined to listen, and how?
17 An interesting question was, Who would prove to be likely listeners? On this Jehovah said to Ezekiel: “For it is not to a people who are unintelligible in language or heavy of tongue that you are being sent . . . whose words you cannot hear understandingly. If it was to them that I had sent you, those very ones would listen to you.” (Ezekiel 3:5, 6) The prophet was obliged to continue his speaking on the word of God to his own people, to the ten-tribe division of Israel in their captive state in the land of Babylon. Similarly, up to the middle of the fourth decade of our 20th century, the anointed remnant of spiritual Israel concentrated its efforts on gathering the final members of spiritual Israel into the “fold” of the “little flock,” to whom the heavenly Father has approved of giving the Kingdom, to reign with his Son for the blessing of redeemed mankind. (Luke 12:32) Then timely reconsideration was given to the words of his Son at John 10:16 and their relationship to Revelation 7:9-17.
18, 19. Why did it call for fearlessness in 1935 to identify the “great multitude” with those “sheep” that were to be made “one flock” with the anointed remnant?
18 At John 10:16, Jesus, the Son of God, had said: “And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those also I must bring, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.”
19 For those who were to be classed as “other sheep” to listen to the voice of the “one shepherd” at this time required fearlessness. Jehovah’s Witnesses were undergoing fiery persecution at the hands of the nationalist forces under Adolf Hitler, with the backing of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church to which Nazi Hitler belonged. So in the face of a world background like that, it called for great faith, conviction and fearlessness on the part of the president of the Watch Tower Society to point out, in 1935, that the “great multitude” of Revelation 7:9-17 (AV) was to be made up of those foretold “other sheep” and that these were to be made “one flock” with the persecuted anointed remnant that was in “this fold.” Nevertheless, he had to “speak the word of God fearlessly.” And this he did.
20. What has been the response of those becoming “other sheep,” so that the “flock” has grown to what proportions today?
20 From the very start, hundreds upon hundreds responded, making an unreserved dedication of themselves to Jehovah God through his “one shepherd” and symbolizing that dedication by public immersion in water. And by now, in spite of the interruption by World War II, those “other sheep” have built up to a “flock” of two and a half million members or more, in 205 lands. Many of these lands lie outside of what is called Christendom, such as Japan, where there is a yearly average of more than 70,000 dedicated proclaimers of the Kingdom message, Korea with more than 30,000 and Nigeria with more than 100,000.
21. By the response of whom to the call of the “one shepherd” is Christendom being put to shame?
21 Admittedly, hard-faced, hardhearted Christendom is being put to shame by such a response to the call of the “one shepherd” in those lands where the spoken language may be difficult and somewhat unintelligible for those in Christendom, especially the religious language of their systems of religion. Those who become Christ’s “other sheep” are displaying commendable courage as they disregard what the world might think and flock to the “one shepherd” as their God-given Leader and Savior. Like their Shepherd, they speak the Word of God fearlessly.
22. In the face of the world, in what mental attitude are Jehovah’s Witnesses to speak forth God’s Word?
22 The fearful attitude of the world worsens. Under demon influence the nations are being marched to the battlefield of Har–Magedon for the final showdown fight. Jehovah’s Witnesses will safely stand upon the sidelines and will watch as their God gains the victory. Surviving the Battle of all battles, they will join the exultant hosts of heaven in sounding forth the praises of the undefeatable God, Jehovah, and his mighty Field Marshal, Jesus Christ. (Revelation 16:13-16) This is now no time for retreat! Forward, then, you unified flock of Jehovah’s Witnesses, in ‘speaking the word of God fearlessly’ until the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea.—Isaiah 11:9; Ezekiel 47:1-5.
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