¹⁸ Like Job, it may be physical affliction that will test us. Do not ever think of giving up. Draw strength from Jehovah God and remember what Paul said, that God would make the “way out” in order for you to be able to endure. Under these trying conditions we need the new world ever so much more; so, if anything, our faith in it should be stronger. Always make sure that under these circumstances you are doing your best in studying and preaching. Even invalids are required to keep integrity, and many have been helped to do this through letter writing, using the telephone and other means of preaching.

19. How did Jesus prove to be the perfect example for keeping integrity?

¹⁹ The greatest example for us in maintaining our integrity was the one who walked with the true God serving as one of his witnesses, one who always obeyed his instructions. He exercised faith of conquering power and showed great endurance under stress. This perfect example that we have to follow is God’s Son, Christ Jesus. His course is without equal among Jehovah’s creatures in maintaining integrity. To test to the limit the integrity of his Son, Jehovah God permitted him to suffer reproach and persecution and finally let him pass out of this life like a disgraced, condemned criminal. But Jesus proved his wholeheartedness to his Father and showed the Devil to be a liar. We should do likewise.—Mark 15:20.

20. (a) Who in this modern day have followed his faithful course? (b) What did one faithful servant say helped him to endure when in prison?

²⁰ Not only do we have Bible examples we can look to as a source of strength and encouragement but we have modern-day examples of integrity-keepers. Thousands of these examples are Jehovah’s witnesses who went through the concentration camps and prisons during World War II. All manner of Satanic schemes were used to try to get them to renounce their faith in Jehovah God. The signing of a declaration renouncing Jehovah God and his organization would have permitted them to return to freedom. The record stands, “Few witnesses signed, in spite of beatings and starvation.” How were they able to maintain their integrity under these conditions? Listen to what one wrote: “For it was in truth the spiritual food that could keep us alive. What an advantage if one had studied the Scriptures beforehand so as to be able to draw from that reserve now!”

21. Regardless of their size, are we benefited by attending Christian assemblies?

²¹ What this Christian said under these integrity-breaking conditions should impress upon our minds the need to take in knowledge, not only through personal study of the Bible, but through organizational meetings. Who of us can go away from any assembly of Christians and not feel refreshed and strengthened and more determined to follow the path of the upright for having been there? This is true whether just a few are gathered together for Bible instruction in a private home, hundreds in a Kingdom Hall, or thousands in a stadium or auditorium. “Therefore keep comforting one another and building one another up, just as you are in fact doing.” (1 Thess. 5:11) To hear others express their love and faith in Jehovah God is something that strengthens our determination to keep on performing right works and cultivating right desires.

22. What wrong desires did John warn against, and how did Paul say we could overcome such?

²² To direct our thinking in the right way, the apostle John left this information: “Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world.” (1 John 2:15, 16) Do we hoard any of these desires in our mind and heart? The desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, or the showy display of our means of life? If we do, it is dangerous. Get rid of them. Paul explained how we could, when he said, “Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are of serious concern, whatever things are righteous, whatever things are chaste, whatever things are lovable, whatever things are well spoken of, whatever virtue there is and whatever praiseworthy thing there is, continue considering these things.” (Phil. 4:8) Paul’s recommendation is to think on the good things that are found in God’s Word. The goodness of God, the Kingdom, the blessings of the new world and our privileges of the ministry—these are the things that should occupy our minds and hearts.

RESULTS FROM MAINTAINING PERSONAL INTEGRITY

23. Who must maintain integrity, and what blessings will result from doing so?

²³ Maintaining our integrity requires constant attention on the part of every dedicated servant, young or old. It is a full-time job. Consider the wonderful blessings that result from following this faithful course. It is pleasing to Jehovah God to have strong witnesses serving him, able to withstand any opposition or pressure that may come from the inside or from outside the organization. It means closely knit, happy families, recognizing theocratic headship, assisting one another in their worship to Jehovah. These happy families will rejoice in Christian association at their Kingdom Halls, contributing toward healthy congregations. It will mean a clean New World society of Christians, actively praising Jehovah, standing blameless before him on a worldwide scale.

24. What is the hope of those maintaining integrity to Jehovah God?

²⁴ We will be people of integrity if we peer daily into the perfect law and pray sincerely from the heart as David did when he said: “Judge me, O Jehovah, for I myself have walked in my own integrity.” If our determination to maintain personal integrity equals David’s, we can truly hope in Jehovah and entertain a sure expectation of living forever in his new world with a host of like-minded men of integrity, all a part of the universal family of the pure and holy God, Jehovah.

“Fastest in Growth”

● The Windsor Star recently published some information from the latest census. In a column written by Maurice Jefferies from Ottawa, Canada, the newspaper carried the headline “Jehovah’s Witnesses Fastest in Growth.” The brief note said: “CENSUS NOTE: The latest report on religious denominations shows that Jehovah’s Witnesses make up the fastest-growing denomination in Canada. They doubled in numbers from 34,596 to 68,018 in the last decade.” In view of the way census takers count religious adherents, that figure would include all children in families and likely many persons who are studying with Jehovah’s witnesses and who name the Witnesses as the religious group with which they associate. Since that is the way most religious organizations count their membership, the census department looked at the Witnesses the way they look at others. The Witnesses themselves, however, count only those who are active ministers, and even of these there were 40,121 in Canada in 1962.