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Jehovah Is Our RefugeThe Watchtower—2001 | November 15
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4. What devices does “the birdcatcher,” Satan, use, and how do we escape?
4 The psalmist adds: “He himself [Jehovah] will deliver you from the trap of the birdcatcher, from the pestilence causing adversities.” (Psalm 91:3)
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Jehovah Is Our RefugeThe Watchtower—2001 | November 15
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5, 6. What “pestilence” has caused “adversities,” but why do Jehovah’s people not succumb to it?
5 The psalmist cites “the pestilence causing adversities.” Like a contagious epidemic disease, there is something that causes “adversities” for the human family and for upholders of Jehovah’s sovereignty. In this regard, historian Arnold Toynbee wrote: “Since the end of World War II nationalism has doubled the number of local sovereign independent states . . . Mankind’s present mood is increasingly divisive.”
6 Through the centuries, certain rulers have fanned the flames of divisive international strife. They have also demanded that reverence be directed to them or to various images or symbols. But Jehovah has never let his faithful people succumb to such a “pestilence.” (Daniel 3:1, 2, 20-27; 6:7-10, 16-22) As a loving international brotherhood, we give Jehovah exclusive devotion, maintain Scriptural neutrality, and impartially acknowledge that “in every nation the man that fears [God] and works righteousness is acceptable to him.” (Acts 10:34, 35; Exodus 20:4-6; John 13:34, 35; 17:16; 1 Peter 5:8, 9) Although we suffer “adversities” in the form of persecution as Christians, we are joyful and spiritually secure “in the secret place of the Most High.”
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