a public servant of Christ Jesus to the nations, engaging in the holy works of the good news of God, in order that the offering, namely, these nations, might prove to be acceptable, it being sanctified with holy spirit.”—Rom. 15:16, NW.

23. Describe a present-day relationship of “older” and “younger” spiritual brothers.

²³ Spiritually speaking, Paul was their older brother and they were his younger brothers in Thessalonica, because from him they had received this message of God’s Word. That Christian pattern has not changed. It is the same today. Since the Kingdom was born in 1914, and the Lord came to the temple for judgment in 1918, and since the active proclamation of the message of God’s present kingdom throughout the earth since 1920, the numbers of those who are worshiping Jehovah have expanded until today there are hundreds of thousands of persons in 143 countries and lands who have responded to the preaching of ministers who are spiritually “older” than they are, just as the Thessalonians responded to the preaching of the apostle Paul. Active in the service of God now are ministers who have upheld Jehovah’s cause for many years. Some of them are still going strong who were ministers of the good news even before the Kingdom was born in 1914. Many of them have been with the present Christian Bible-education work throughout its present increasing prosperity, which dates from 1919. These faithful servants of God have done much preaching, and as the years passed they have been joined by others, and thus the work has increased. Upon the earth now there are approximately 20,000 persons who give evidence of being of the remaining ones or the remnant of God’s sanctified body of Christ, as shown by the number partaking of the Memorial emblems in 1954.

24. In what do we discern our “older brother”?

²⁴ Those of us who more recently have had our eyes opened by the Bible truth to see the wonder of Jehovah recognize in these older brothers ministers who bear to us a relationship similar to that borne by the apostle Paul toward the congregation in Thessalonica. Furthermore, and of greater importance, we recognize in the organization of the anointed remnant a loving older brother, and, if we are now devoted to God, we know that the reason we have been selected for salvation, having faith in the truth, is that this “older brother” preached the good news to us. Paramountly, however, we all recognize the past and present ministry of our truly oldest Brother, Christ Jesus. This we gladly acknowledge, giving all thanks and praise to Jehovah God through Jesus Christ.

Making a Wise Choice

● One of the reporters for the Chicago Tribune recently interviewed a group of graduates from Chicago’s Southwest Side High Schools who were chosen as outstanding representatives of their graduating classes. The graduates were asked about their vocational plans. Regarding the wise choice made by one graduate the Tribune (January 17, 1954) reported: “A trip to Europe and later a life as a missionary for Jehovah’s Witnesses are in the future for Gage Park High School’s star student, Miss Eleanore Spitzke, 17. . . . She’ll take a job after graduation to earn money for her European tour, set for summer, 1955, when her denomination will hold a series of conferences on the continent. . . . Miss Spitzke’s choice of missionary work replaced earlier wishes to become a doctor or a mathematics teacher because of a belief that as a missionary she could be of greater help to more people.”