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True Freedom—From What Source?The Watchtower—1992 | April 1
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True Freedom—From What Source?
“It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step. Correct me, O Jehovah.”—JEREMIAH 10:23, 24.
1, 2. How do most people view freedom, but what else needs to be considered?
NO DOUBT you appreciate true freedom. You want to be free to express your own views, free to decide where and how you live. You want to choose the work you do, choose your food, music, friends. You have preferences about many things, large and small. No normal person wants to be enslaved to dictatorial rulers, with little or no free choice.
2 However, would you not also want a world where others as well as you would benefit from true freedom? Would you not want a world where freedom would be protected so that everyone’s life could have the fullest expression? And if it was possible, would you not also want a world free from fear, crime, hunger, poverty, pollution, sickness, and war? Surely such freedoms are highly desirable.
3. Why do we value freedom?
3 Why do we humans feel so strongly about freedom? The Bible states: “Where the spirit of Jehovah is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17) So Jehovah is the God of freedom. And since he created us in his ‘image and likeness,’ he endowed us with free will so that we could appreciate and benefit from freedom.—Genesis 1:26.
Freedom Abused
4, 5. How has freedom been abused throughout history?
4 Throughout history millions of people have been enslaved, tortured, or killed because others misused free will. The Bible relates that some 3,500 years ago, “the Egyptians made the sons of Israel slave under tyranny. And they kept making their life bitter with hard slavery.” (Exodus 1:13, 14) The Encyclopedia Americana says that in the fourth century B.C.E., slaves in Athens and two other Greek cities outnumbered the free population by about 4 to 1. This source also says: “In Rome the slave had originally no rights. He could be put to death for the smallest misdemeanor.” Compton’s Encyclopedia notes: “In Rome slave labor was the foundation of the state. . . . In the fields the slaves often worked in chains. At night they were bound together and shut into great prisons, which were half buried under the ground.” Since many slaves had once been free, imagine the bitterness of those broken lives!
5 For centuries, Christendom engaged in an oppressive slave trade. Says The World Book Encyclopedia: “From the 1500’s to the 1800’s, the Europeans shipped about 10 million black slaves from Africa to the Western Hemisphere.” In this 20th century, millions of captives were worked to death or killed in Nazi concentration camps as a matter of government policy. The victims included many of Jehovah’s Witnesses who were imprisoned because they refused to support the murderous Nazi regime.
Bondage to False Religion
6. How did false religion enslave people in ancient Canaan?
6 There also exists the bondage that results from adherence to false religion. For instance, in ancient Canaan, children were sacrificed to Molech. It is said that a furnace blazed inside a huge image of this false god. Live children were thrown into the outstretched arms of the image, plunging through them into the fire below. Even some Israelites practiced this false worship. God says that they made ‘their sons and their daughters pass through the fire to Molech, a thing that He did not command them, neither did it come up into His heart to do this detestable thing.’ (Jeremiah 32:35) What benefit did Molech bring to his worshipers? Where are those Canaanite nations and the worship of Molech today? All of them have disappeared. That was false worship, worship based not on truths but on lies.—Isaiah 60:12.
7. What hideous practice was part of Aztec religion?
7 Centuries ago in Central America, the Aztecs were enslaved to false religion. There were personal gods, natural forces were worshiped as gods, various functions in daily life each had its god, plants had their gods, even suicides had a god. The book The Ancient Sun Kingdoms of the Americas relates: “The government of Aztec Mexico was organized from top to bottom so as to be able to sustain, and thereby mollify, the unseen powers with as many human hearts as it was possible to give them. Blood was the drink of the gods. To obtain appropriate prisoner victims as sacrifice for the gods, there were ceaseless little wars.” When a large pyramid temple was dedicated in 1486, thousands of victims “were lined up in rows waiting to be spread-eagled over the sacrificial stone. Their hearts were cut out and held briefly to the sun” to appease the sun-god. The World Book Encyclopedia says: “Worshipers sometimes ate portions of a victim’s body.” Yet, those practices did not save the Aztec Empire or its false religion.
8. What did a tour guide have to say about a modern slaughter far greater than that which took place among the Aztecs?
8 Visitors were once touring a museum where a display case portrayed Aztec priests cutting out a young man’s heart. When the tour guide explained the exhibit, a gasp went up from some in the tour group. The guide then said: “I see that you are upset by the Aztec practice of sacrificing young men to pagan gods. Yet, in this 20th century, millions of young men have been sacrificed to the god of war. Is that any better?” It is a fact that in war the religious leaders of all nations pray for victory and bless the armies even though people of the same religion are often on opposing sides killing one another.—1 John 3:10-12; 4:8, 20, 21; 5:3.
9. What practice takes more young lives than any other in history?
9 The sacrificing of the young to Molech, to Aztec gods, or to war is being exceeded by the killing of unborn babies in abortions, some 40 or 50 million a year worldwide. The number aborted in just the past three years is larger than the hundred million people killed in all the wars of this century. Each year, several times more babies are aborted than all the people murdered in 12 years of Nazi rule. In recent decades thousands of times more babies have been aborted than all those sacrificed to Molech or to Aztec gods. Yet many (if not most) of those who have an abortion, or who perform them, profess a religion.
10. What is another way that people are enslaved to false religion?
10 False religion enslaves people in other ways too. For example, many people believe that the dead are alive in the spirit world. One result of such a false belief is the fear and worship of dead ancestors to get supposed benefits from them. This enslaves people to witch doctors, spirit mediums, and clergymen who are called on supposedly to help the living appease the dead. Well might the question be asked, Is there any way out of such enslavement?—Deuteronomy 18:10-12; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10.
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Man’s “New World Order” Near?The Watchtower—1992 | April 1
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Man’s “New World Order” Near?
1. How has the desire for more political freedom been expressed in recent years?
TODAY, millions of people are in bondage to false religion, and many choose to remain that way. At the same time, more and more are demanding political freedoms. The extraordinary events of the past few years in Eastern Europe and elsewhere have demonstrated that people want freer forms of government. As a result, many are saying that a new era of freedom is at hand. The president of the United States called it “a new world order.” Indeed, world leaders everywhere were saying that the Cold War and the arms race were over and that a new era of peace had dawned for mankind.—Compare 1 Thessalonians 5:3.
2, 3. What conditions work against real freedom?
2 Yet, even if human efforts resulted in fewer weapons and freer forms of rule, would true freedom really exist? No, because of the appalling problems that exist in all nations, including democratic ones, where the numbers of the poor increase and millions struggle to survive economically. A United Nations report states that in spite of advances in science and medicine, every day worldwide an average of 40,000 children die from malnutrition or preventable diseases. An expert in this field said: “Poverty is taking on structural characteristics that really threaten the future of humanity.”
3 In addition, more people than ever are victimized by crimes that get more and more vicious. Racial, political, and religious hatreds are fragmenting various countries. In some places the situation is not far from that future time described at Zechariah 14:13, when people will be “so confused and afraid that everyone [will] seize the man next to him and attack him.” (Today’s English Version) Drug abuse and sexually transmitted diseases are pandemic. Millions of people are infected with AIDS; in the United States alone, over 120,000 have already died from it.
Bondage to Sin and Death
4, 5. Regardless of the freedoms that exist today, what type of bondage holds everyone in its grip?
4 However, even if none of those bad conditions existed, people would still not have true freedom. All would still be in bondage. Why is this the case? To illustrate: What if some dictator enslaved every person on earth and murdered them all? In effect, that is what happened to mankind when our first parents rebelled against God and became enslaved to the Devil’s oppressive rule.—2 Corinthians 4:4.
5 When God created humans, he purposed for them to live on earth forever in perfection, in a paradise, as Genesis chapters 1 and 2 show. But because of our forefather Adam’s rebellion against God, all of us are under a sentence of death from the moment we are conceived: “Through one man [Adam, mankind’s family head] sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men.” As the Bible says, “death ruled as king.” (Romans 5:12, 14) So regardless of how much freedom we may personally have, all of us are in bondage to sin and death.
6. Why has there been little improvement in life expectancy since Psalm 90:10 was written?
6 Furthermore, the life that we do have now is very limited. Even for the fortunate, it is just a few decades. For the unfortunate, just a few years, or less. And a new study says: “Science and medicine have pushed human life expectancy to its natural limit.” This is because our genetic system has imperfection and death built into it as a result of Adam’s sin. How sad it is that if we live to be 70 or 80, when we should be getting wiser and better able to enjoy life, our bodies break down and we end up as dust!—Psalm 90:10.
7. Why can humans never be the source of the true freedoms we want and need?
7 What type of human rule can prevent this enslavement to sin and death? Not one. No government officials, scientists, or doctors anywhere can free us from the curses of sickness, old age, and death, nor can any eliminate insecurity, injustice, crime, hunger, and poverty. (Psalm 89:48) However well-meaning humans may be, it is impossible for them to be the source of the true freedoms we want and need.—Psalm 146:3.
Misuse of Free Will
8, 9. What put humankind in its present sad situation?
8 The human family is in this sad situation because Adam and Eve misused their free will. First Peter 2:16 says, according to The Jerusalem Bible: “Behave like free men, and never use your freedom as an excuse for wickedness.” Hence, it is clear that God did not purpose that man’s freedom be unlimited. It was to be exercised within the boundaries of God’s laws, which were righteous and would work for the benefit of everybody. And those boundaries were wide enough to allow for much personal freedom of choice, so that God’s rule could never be oppressive.—Deuteronomy 32:4.
9 However, our first parents chose to decide for themselves what was right and what was wrong. Since they deliberately moved outside of God’s rule, he withdrew his support from them. (Genesis 3:17-19) They thus became imperfect, with sickness and death the result. Instead of freedom, mankind came into slavery to sin and death. They also became subject to the whims of imperfect and, often, cruel human rulers.—Deuteronomy 32:5.
10. How has Jehovah lovingly handled matters?
10 God has allowed humans this experiment in supposed total freedom for only a limited period of time. He knew that the results would demonstrate beyond any doubt that human rule independent of God cannot succeed. Since free will, rightly exercised, is such a treasure, God in his love temporarily allowed what has happened instead of withdrawing the gift of free will.
‘Man Cannot Direct His Step’
11. How has history supported the accuracy of the Bible?
11 The record of history has shown the accuracy of Jeremiah chapter 10, verses 23 and 24, which says: “It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step. Correct me, O Jehovah.” History has also shown the accuracy of Ecclesiastes 8:9, which declares: “Man has dominated man to his injury.” How true! The human family has gone from one calamity to another, with the end for all being the grave. The apostle Paul described the situation precisely when he said, as recorded at Romans 8:22: “We know that all creation keeps on groaning together and being in pain together until now.” Yes, independence from God’s laws has been disastrous.
12. What do some secular sources say about total freedom?
12 The book Inquisition and Liberty commented on freedom this way: “Independence is not, in itself, necessarily a virtue: it is not a thing to be proud of without further qualification. It may, in fact, be simply one of the baser forms of selfishness . . . Man is not, and cannot without absurdity even aspire to be, a wholly independent creature.” And Prince Philip of England once said: “Freedom to indulge in every whim and instinct may be appealing, but experience teaches again and again, that freedom without self-restraint . . . and behaviour without consideration for others is the surest way to destroy the quality of life of a community, no matter what its wealth.”
Who Knows Best?
13, 14. Who only can provide true freedom for the human family?
13 Who knows best how a home should be organized—loving, capable, experienced parents or young children? The answer is obvious. Similarly, the Creator of humans, our heavenly Father, knows what is best for us. He knows how human society should be organized and ruled. He knows how free will should be regulated to bring the benefits of true freedom to everybody. Only the almighty God, Jehovah, knows how to lift the human family out of its bondage and provide true freedom for all.—Isaiah 48:17-19.
14 In his Word, at Romans 8:21, Jehovah makes this inspiring promise: “The creation itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption and have the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Yes, God promises to free the human family completely from its present wretched condition. The following article will discuss how this will happen.
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Hailing God’s New World of FreedomThe Watchtower—1992 | April 1
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Hailing God’s New World of Freedom
“[God] will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore.”—REVELATION 21:4.
1, 2. Who only can bring true freedom, and what can we learn from the Bible about Him?
HISTORY has proved the truth of what the prophet Jeremiah said: “To earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.” Who only can properly direct man’s step? Jeremiah went on to say: “Correct me, O Jehovah.” (Jeremiah 10:23, 24) Yes, only Jehovah can bring true freedom from the problems plaguing the human family.
2 The Bible contains many examples of Jehovah’s ability to bring freedom to those who serve him. “All the things that were written aforetime were written for our instruction, that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4) Jehovah’s judgments against false worship were also recorded, and these serve as “a warning to us upon whom the ends of the systems of things have arrived.”—1 Corinthians 10:11.
Freeing His People
3. How did Jehovah show his ability to free his people in Egypt?
3 An example of God’s ability to execute judgment against false worship and to free those who do his will took place when his people of ancient times were enslaved in Egypt. Exodus 2:23-25 says: “Their cry for help kept going up to the true God because of the slavery. In time God heard their groaning.” In an awesome display of his superiority over Egypt’s false gods, Almighty God brought ten plagues on that nation. Each plague was designed to humiliate a god of Egypt, showing that they were false and could not help the Egyptians who worshiped them. Thus God freed his people and destroyed Pharaoh and his armies in the Red Sea.—Exodus, chapters 7 to 14.
4. Why was it no injustice for God to execute his judgments against the Canaanites?
4 When God brought Israel into Canaan, its demon-worshiping inhabitants were destroyed and the land was given to God’s people. As the Universal Sovereign, Jehovah has the right to execute his judgments on debased religions. (Genesis 15:16) And regarding Canaanite religion, Halley’s Bible Handbook says: “The worship of . . . Canaanite gods consisted in the most extravagant orgies; their temples were centers of vice. . . . Canaanites worshipped, by immoral indulgence, as a religious rite, in the presence of their gods; and then, by murdering their first-born children, as a sacrifice to these same gods. It seems that, in large measure, the land of Canaan had become a sort of Sodom and Gomorrah on a national scale.” He adds: “Did a civilization of such abominable filth and brutality have any right longer to exist? . . . Archaeologists who dig in the ruins of Canaanite cities wonder that God did not destroy them sooner than he did.”
5. How does God’s freeing his ancient people serve as a pattern for our time?
5 This account of God’s acting against false worship, freeing his covenant people, and providing a promised land for them serves as a pattern of things to come. It points to the very near future when God will crush this world’s false religions and their supporters and will usher his modern-day servants into a new world of righteousness.—Revelation 7:9, 10, 13, 14; 2 Peter 3:10-13.
True Freedom in God’s New World
6. What are some of the marvelous freedoms that God will provide in the new world?
6 In the new world, God will bless his people with all the marvelous facets of the freedom that he has purposed for the human family. There will be freedom from oppression by political, economic, and false religious elements. There will be freedom from sin and death, with people having the prospect of living forever on earth. “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.”—Psalm 37:29; Matthew 5:5.
7, 8. What will be experienced in regaining perfect health in the new world?
7 Soon after that new world has been ushered in, its inhabitants will be miraculously restored to perfect health. Job 33:25 says: “Let his flesh become fresher than in youth; let him return to the days of his youthful vigor.” Isaiah 35:5, 6 promises: “At that time the eyes of the blind ones will be opened, and the very ears of the deaf ones will be unstopped. At that time the lame one will climb up just as a stag does, and the tongue of the speechless one will cry out in gladness.”
8 Those of you with physical ailments due to old age or poor health, imagine yourself in the new world waking up each morning healthy and vigorous. Your wrinkles have given way to smooth, healthy skin—no more need for skin lotions. Your dimmed or blinded eyes have been restored to perfect sight—no more need for glasses. Full hearing has been restored—throw away those hearing aids. Crippled limbs are now strong and whole—get rid of those canes, crutches, and wheelchairs. There is no more sickness—throw away all those medicines. Thus, Isaiah 33:24 foretells: “No resident will say: ‘I am sick.’” He also states: “To exultation and rejoicing they will attain, and grief and sighing must flee away.”—Isaiah 35:10.
9. How will war forever be brought to an end?
9 No more will anyone be sacrificed to war. “[God] is making wars to cease to the extremity of the earth. The bow he breaks apart and does cut the spear in pieces; the wagons he burns in the fire.” (Psalm 46:9) Weapons of war will never again be allowed by the Ruler of God’s Kingdom, Christ Jesus, whom Isaiah 9:6 calls the “Prince of Peace.” Isa 9 Verse 7 adds: “To the abundance of the princely rule and to peace there will be no end.”
10, 11. What will total peace mean for the earth?
10 What a blessing it will be for mankind, and this earth, to be free of weapons of war! Why, at the present time, weapons used in previous wars are still destroying people. In one country, France, more than 600 bomb-disposal experts have been killed since 1945 while getting rid of explosives left over from previous wars. The head of the bomb-disposal agency there said: “We still find live cannon balls from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. There are lakes filled with toxic grenades from World War I. Every so often, a farmer in a tractor rolls over an anti-tank mine from World War II and poof, that’s it. These things are everywhere.” Two years ago The New York Times commented: “In the 45 years since the end of World War II, [bomb-disposal units] have rid [French] soil of 16 million artillery shells, 490,000 bombs and 600,000 underwater mines. . . . Millions of acres remain fenced off, knee-deep in weaponry and surrounded by posters that warn: ‘Don’t Touch. It Kills!’”
11 How different the new world will be! Everyone will have good housing, abundant food, and the rewarding, peaceful work of turning the entire earth into a paradise. (Psalm 72:16; Isaiah 25:6; 65:17-25) Never again will people, and the earth, be bombarded by millions of explosive devices. Such a new world is what Jesus had in mind when he said to one who showed faith in him: “You will be with me in Paradise.”—Luke 23:43.
Global Education for Life
12, 13. What global educational work did Jesus and Isaiah foretell for our time?
12 When a person learns about God’s new world, he also learns that in our day, Jehovah has produced a worldwide congregation organized for true worship. It will be the nucleus of the new world, and God is using it now to instruct others about his purposes. This Christian organization is performing a global educational work of a nature and size never before seen. Jesus foretold that this would be done. He said: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.”—Matthew 24:14.
13 Isaiah also spoke of this global educational work: “It must occur in the final part of the days [in our time] that the mountain of the house of Jehovah [his exalted true worship] will become firmly established . . . and to it all the nations must stream. And many peoples will certainly go and say: ‘Come, you people, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, . . . and he will instruct us about his ways, and we will walk in his paths.’”—Isaiah 2:2, 3.
14. How can we identify God’s people today?
14 Hence, the global work of witnessing about God’s Kingdom is strong evidence that we are near the end of this wicked system and that true freedom is at hand. The ones calling on people with the hope-filled message of God’s new world are described at Acts 15:14 as “a people for [God’s] name.” Who bear Jehovah’s name and give the global witness about Jehovah and his Kingdom? The historical record of the 20th century answers: only Jehovah’s Witnesses. Today they number more than four million in more than 66,000 congregations all over the world.—Isaiah 43:10-12; Acts 2:21.
15. In regard to political affairs, how can we identify God’s true servants?
15 Another evidence that Jehovah’s Witnesses are fulfilling the prophecies about the Kingdom-preaching work is noted at Isaiah 2:4: “They will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.” So those doing the global preaching work about God’s Kingdom rule must ‘learn war no more.’ Jesus said that they must be “no part of the world.” (John 17:16) This means that they must be neutral in political affairs, not taking sides in the controversies and wars of the nations. Who are no part of the world and learn war no more? Again, the historical record of the 20th century testifies: only Jehovah’s Witnesses.
16. How thorough will God’s global educational work be?
16 The global educational work of Jehovah’s Witnesses will continue even after God brings this present wicked world to its end. Isaiah 54:13 states: “All your sons will be persons taught by Jehovah.” So thorough will this teaching be that Isaiah 11:9 foretells: “The earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.” Continued teaching will be needed not only for survivors of the end of this old world and for children who may be born in the new world but also for the billions who come back to life in the resurrection. Eventually, every person who lives on earth will be taught to exercise his free will properly within the boundaries of God’s laws. The result? “The meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”—Psalm 37:11.
Great Freedoms Even Now
17. What did Moses tell God’s ancient people to do?
17 When the ancient Israelites were on the threshold of the Promised Land, Moses spoke to them and said: “I have taught you regulations and judicial decisions, just as Jehovah my God has commanded me, for you to do that way in the midst of the land to which you are going to take possession of it. And you must keep and do them, because this is wisdom on your part and understanding on your part before the eyes of the peoples who will hear of all these regulations, and they will certainly say, ‘This great nation is undoubtedly a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has gods near to it the way Jehovah our God is in all our calling upon him?”—Deuteronomy 4:5-7.
18. What great freedoms come even now to those serving God?
18 Today the millions who worship Jehovah are also on the threshold of a promised land—the new world. Because they obey God’s laws, they have him near to them and stand out from all other peoples. Already God has freed them from false religious ideas, racism, illicit drug use, nationalism, war, and the pandemic of sexually transmitted diseases. Furthermore, he has united them in an unbreakable international brotherhood of love. (John 13:35) They are not disturbed about the future but “cry out joyfully because of the good condition of the heart.” (Isaiah 65:14) What great freedoms they enjoy even now by serving God as Ruler!—Acts 5:29, 32; 2 Corinthians 4:7; 1 John 5:3.
Freeing Others From False Beliefs
19, 20. How are people freed by the Bible teaching about the condition of the dead?
19 Many to whom Jehovah’s Witnesses preach are also coming to find these freedoms. For example, in lands where ancestor worship is carried on, Jehovah’s Witnesses are making known to others that the dead are not alive anywhere and cannot harm the living. The Witnesses point to Ecclesiastes 9:5, which states that “the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all.” They also refer to Psalm 146:4, which says that when a person dies “he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.” So the Bible shows that there is no ghostly spirit or immortal soul to perform cures or to terrify living ones. There is no need, therefore, to waste hard-earned money buying the services of witch doctors or priests.
20 Such accurate Bible knowledge frees people from the false teachings of hellfire and purgatory. When people learn the Bible truth that the dead are unconscious, as if in a deep sleep, they no longer worry about what has happened to their dead loved ones. Instead, they look forward to the marvelous time that the apostle Paul spoke about when he said: “There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.”—Acts 24:15.
21. Who will no doubt be included among those resurrected, and what will likely be their reaction?
21 In the resurrection the dead will come back to life on an earth forever freed from inherited Adamic death. No doubt the resurrected ones will include children sacrificed to Canaanite gods, such as Molech, young men sacrificed to Aztec gods, and countless millions sacrificed to the god of war. How amazed and delighted those former victims of false beliefs will be! Such resurrected ones can then happily declare: “Where are your stings, O Death? Where is your destructiveness, O Sheol?”—Hosea 13:14.
Search for Jehovah
22. If we want to live in God’s new world, what do we need to keep in mind?
22 Do you want to live in God’s righteous new world, where there will be true freedom? If so, then take to heart the words at 2 Chronicles 15:2: “Jehovah is with you as long as you prove to be with him; and if you search for him, he will let himself be found by you, but if you leave him he will leave you.” And keep in mind that your sincere efforts to learn about God and to please him will not go unnoticed. Hebrews 11:6 says that God is “the rewarder of those earnestly seeking him.” And Romans 10:11 says: “None that rests his faith on him will be disappointed.”
23. Why should we hail God’s new world of freedom?
23 Just on the horizon is God’s new world of true freedom. There “the creation itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption and have the glorious freedom of the children of God.” And “[God] will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore.” (Romans 8:21; Revelation 21:4) Then all of Jehovah’s servants will lift their heads up and joyously hail God’s new world of freedom by exclaiming, ‘Thank you, Jehovah, for true freedom at last!’
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