3. In view of the world trouble plainly foreseen, what or whom do people consult for guidance?

³ Who is it that cannot see worldwide trouble ahead, the worst in all human history? We do not need to have the prophetic foresight of Jeremiah of old to see this. So, then, how can any of us survive what even uninspired observers of world trends today predict? At the menacing outlook, even irreligious persons are involuntarily driven to call upon some higher and more than human factor to step in and save the human family. The political rulers, even those of Christendom, consult spirit mediums and clairvoyants anxiously. In their uncertainty about making a single move of importance, they seek astrologers to consult their horoscopes and read the portents of the heavens. Others appeal to their gods, their images made of wood and covered over with silver and gold and decked with gorgeous handmade or machine-made garments. Are such features of popular custom the things to which to look for help now as the world situation becomes more threatening and forebodes world catastrophe in the near future? No!​—Jer. 10:1-5.

5. At Jeremiah 10:6-8, how does the prophet describe our only help?

⁵ Do we ask who that One is? He is the One beyond all comparison, for Jeremiah says: “In no way is there anyone like you, O Jehovah. You are great, and your name is great in mightiness. Who should not fear you, O King of the nations, for to you it [such fear] is fitting; because among all the wise ones of the nations and among all their kingships there is in no way anyone like you. And at one and the same time they [the nations and their kingships] prove to be unreasoning and stupid. A tree [a wooden image overlaid with silver and gold and decked with garments like a god] is a mere exhortation of vanities.”​—Jer. 10:6-8.