Sharing in the Final Witness

AS ALREADY proved in the columns of The Watchtower, smug Christendom is in a position identical with that of ancient Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s time.a In proud haughtiness she boasts that she serves God and Christ, yet at the same time she brazenly practices a form of paganism and selfishly worships money, power and influence. To the god of war she sacrifices her sons and daughters. With the political rulers of the earth she commits fornication. Her clergymen ape the Pharisees in their traditions and philosophies of men. And for a pastime she ridicules and persecutes Jehovah’s faithful witnesses who are warning her as ancient Jerusalem was warned by the prophets of the Lord. The only difference: the present warning is the final witness for this world.—Matt. 24:14.

And who are those that share in giving this final witness in all the nations of the world? Not the orthodox priesthood of Christendom or heathendom, for they are very much a part of this world, hence enemies of God. (John 15:18, 19; Jas. 4:4) Not the worldly wise, or earth’s nobility, nor the “scientific” scoffers. God has chosen the weak and ignoble ones who are looked down upon, in order that his name may be glorified.—1 Cor. 1:27-29, NW.

It is this little band of Jehovah’s anointed witnesses and their companions who are given the strength from Jehovah God and are sent out under his spirit and direction to deliver this final witness. It is they who have flooded the world with hundreds of millions of books, magazines and tracts in more than ninety languages and dialects, which point out the “signs of the times”—modern wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, unrest, and delinquent humans—signs marking the presence of Christ’s kingdom and the consummation of this system of things. Some of these witnesses of the Lord are old, some are young, some are healthy and strong, while others are frail and crippled. But whether one is old, like Moses, Paul and John the apostle, or young, like Jeremiah and Timothy, or persecuted and in ill health like Job, individually these witnesses of Jehovah seize hold of every opportunity, in season and out of season, to preach God’s Word of truth.

From house to house these witnesses hasten, calling back where the people are not home, arranging to spend more time in systematic Bible study with those who are anxious to listen and learn. Taking up strategic places on the streets, these Christian ministers reach many people who hide away in hotels, institutions and apartments where the door-to-door witness is difficult to present. Thousands of public lectures are delivered every month and millions of printed invitations for such are distributed.

The effect of this witness is to divide the people. Scoffers, critics and indifferent ones are classed with those who violently persecute God’s witnesses. They are goatish and their end will be everlasting cutting off in second death. The sheeplike ones, on the other hand, give heed to the warning, investigate and prove matters for themselves, and then in turn tell others. Their reward will be endless life in a new world.

There is no time now to lose. This world is weighed in the balances and is found wanting. Her days are numbered. The final day and hour for Armageddon draws near. “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.” (Matt. 24:14, NW) It is therefore a case of sharing in the final witness now or never!

[Footnotes]