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The Peace and Unity of Jehovah’s WitnessesThe Watchtower—1960 | January 1
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working underground, because today there are, on an average, 120,952 publishers preaching in communistic lands and they have reached a new peak of publishers, 131,996, during the 1959 service year. In fact, in the communistic countries there has been a 22-percent increase in the number of those associating themselves with God’s people, dedicating their lives to his service and going out preaching the good news of the Kingdom.
23. (a) What will be evident from a reading of the Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses? (b) What blessed condition among Jehovah’s people will continue?
23 One who reads the 1960 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses will see that being a Christian in this old world is not easy. It has its hardships and its blessings beyond measure. Paul stated it very well: “If one member suffers, all the other members suffer with it; or if a member is glorified, all the other members rejoice with it.” (1 Cor. 12:26) How true that is! Jehovah’s visible organization is bound together so closely that if anything affects one part of the organization it is felt by the other members too, because they are all one body, one in spirit, one in mind, one in faith, serving Jehovah. Within the organization of Jehovah’s witnesses itself there is peace and unity, and no matter what pressures are brought upon it from the outside they will stand these pressures and together press on, proving themselves to be God’s Christian ministers pursuing peace and praising Jehovah day and night.
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Part 29—“Your Will Be Done on Earth”The Watchtower—1960 | January 1
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Part 29—“Your Will Be Done on Earth”
During the course of the centuries since the conflict between the king of the north and the king of the south began in the fourth century before the Christian era, the identity of the two kings has changed. In 64 B.C. the rulers of the Roman Empire assumed the role of the king of the north. At the death of the Roman Emperor Theodosius in 393 (A.D.) the empire became divided into an eastern and a western part. But it was not till the Roman Catholic pope, Leo III, crowned the Frankish king, Charlemagne, as emperor of the western empire that it became historically correct to speak of the Western Empire as well as of the Eastern Empire, which latter empire had its capital at Constantinople. That was on Christmas Day of the year 800.
78. When emperorship of the West became elective, to whom did it finally come, to remain till the end, and how was the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation established and brought to an end?
78 In 911 (A.D.) the emperorship of the West became elective. Five centuries later it was obtained by the members of the house of Hapsburg of Austria, and was held by them till 1806, when the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved. The German Empire received this title during the reign of Otho (Otto) the Great. In 961 he was crowned as king of Italy; and on February 2, 962, Pope John XII crowned him at Rome as Otho I, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It came to be known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. It had its capital in Germany, and the emperors and most of their subjects were Germans. So under Otho I Germany and Italy were brought into close relationship, but with Germany on top, for Italy was treated finally as a conquered province. Napoleon Bonaparte was the one that brought the Holy Roman Empire to its end in 1806. When he, as emperor of the French, refused to recognize the Holy Roman Empire as existing, Emperor Francis II released the Germanic states from their allegiance to the Holy Roman Empire. He resigned from the Roman Imperial dignity and withdrew to his national government as emperor of Austria. Thus after 1,006 years the Holy Roman Empire, which had been founded by the Roman Catholic pope and by Frankish Charlemagne, came to an inglorious end. It had proved to be no millennial kingdom of God.
79. When was the new German Empire established, and what triple alliance was formed?
79 In 1870 Italy was established as a kingdom independent of the Roman popes of the Vatican. In the next year the new Germanic Empire was begun, with William I being declared Caesar or Kaiser. The modern king of the north was becoming identifiable. In time Germany and Austria-Hungary and Italy entered into an alliance, in which the outbreak of World War I found them.
80. How did the seventh world power come into existence, and when particularly did it come into the position of king of the south?
80 Great Britain took on imperial power in the beginning of the seventeenth century and rose to the position of the seventh world power of Bible history, it being joined in this position by the United States of America to form the Anglo-American dual world power. During Britain’s war with Napoleon Bonaparte the British army drove the French out of Egypt, the whole of which the French had conquered in 1798. Although Egypt came again under the overlordship of Turkey, the British government virtually controlled Egypt since 1882. Egypt was in fact a British dependency, although under its native khedive, for the British army stayed in Egypt and the British will was really the law. Then in 1914, because the Egyptian khedive sided with Turkey, which had joined Germany in the first world war, the British took over in Egypt, deposed the khedive and declared Egypt a British Protectorate. Thus democratic Britain and America became opponents of the prophetic king of the north, and together they came into the position of the king of the south.
81. From this standpoint, what does the rest of Daniel’s prophecy take on for us?
81 From this standpoint, the rest of the historical preview that Jehovah’s angel brought to Daniel in the third year of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes on a gripping meaning for us in this “appointed time of the end” of this old world.—Dan. 8:19, JP; RS.
CHAPTER 11
“THE APPOINTED TIME OF THE END”
1. In this “appointed time of the end.” what has the warfare between the king of the north and the king of the south threatened, and why?
IN THE “appointed time of the end” the warfare cold and hot between the king of the north and the king of the south has threatened modern man-made civilization with ruin. The two kings have carried on their deceptive diplomacy and their warfare not only without regard for the best interests of mankind but also without respect for the kingdom of God, the rightful government of all the earth. Bringing the long-range prophecy down to our times, God’s angel said to the prophet Daniel: “And as for both these kings, their heart is bent on mischief, and at one table will they speak lies; but it shall not prosper; for the end is yet for the time appointed.”—Dan. 11:27, Le; JP.
2. From 1871 onward what interests began to clash and yet what conviction concerning peace was voiced?
2 Shortly after the re-establishment of the German Empire on January 1, 1871, the interests of this king of the north began
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