whether he has more responsibilities than other servants. What else the letter may say or whom else the same letter may appoint to a different service does not take away from that servant’s special position. So stamped appointment letters (form letters in many cases) are used by the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society and its many branches today as a convenient way of making appointments of servants for more than 14,000 congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses throughout the earth. In all such congregations the members recognize the stamp and accept the appointment. Who, then, has a right to question the power of the ordination or appointment? You may be sure that all such special servants put in office by these stamped appointment letters the Society’s governing body keeps its hands on, not literally, but to back them up, support and sustain them or to remove them in the general interests of the work.

INSCRIBED LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION

22-24. How did Paul describe letters of recommendation he bore?

²² The apostle Paul himself raised the question of qualification. He said: “And who is adequately qualified for these things? We are; for we are not peddlers of the word of God as many men are, but as out of sincerity, yes, as sent from God [not from men], . . . we are speaking.” (2 Cor. 2:16, 17, NW) But did Paul have or carry around with him even a stamped or sealed letter of appointment or of recommendation from the governing body at Jerusalem or from those who laid their hands on him and Barnabas at Antioch? Could he show such a letter to the synagogues that he visited for preaching or to congregations that he established or to Governor Felix or Governor Festus or to King Agrippa or to Emperor Nero when he finally appeared before him on trial at Rome? There is nothing to show he had such a letter! Paul did not need such a letter. He had something better than a man-composed, man-signed letter on writing tablets or paper. He had witnesses at Damascus to testify that he had been baptized in water to symbolize his dedication or his faith in Jehovah through Jesus Christ. He was also “filled with holy spirit” and had the miraculous gifts of that spirit. What is more, he had the power to lay his hands on baptized believers and impart to them the gifts of the spirit. From this he knew that his being adequately qualified had issued from God. What need did he have, then, of a stamped or sealed letter from anyone on earth? The most telling evidence of anyone’s being adequately qualified for a service or ministry is the product of his work, what he has accomplished. Paul had that evidence, and it served as a most impressive letter of recommendation proving his appointment.

²³ To the Christian congregation that he had established in Corinth he said: “Are we starting again to recommend ourselves? Or do we, perhaps, like some men, need letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts and known and being read by all mankind. For you are shown to be a letter of Christ written by us as ministers, inscribed not with ink but with spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets, but on fleshly tablets, on hearts.” (2 Cor. 3:1-3, NW) Later on the newly instructed Apollos got such a letter of recommendation from the Christian brothers at Ephesus to the congregation at Corinth, but Paul did not need such a literal letter of recommendation. (Acts 18:24-28, 1-11) Those very disciples whom he had made during a year and a half of intense preaching and teaching activity at Corinth were themselves a power-laden letter.

²⁴ Those disciples were Paul’s letter written on his heart because he carried them along with him in his affections and he wrote them letters because he cared for them. At the same time he had taught and trained them to be preaching witnesses of Jehovah and Christ, and so those Corinthian Christians were Paul’s letter on open display, “known and being read by all mankind.” They were a letter not from man, not even from the governing body at Jerusalem.

25, 26. What additional Bible testimony shows how Paul’s letters of recommendation were produced?

²⁵ They were “shown to be a letter of Christ,” and Jesus Christ, who had chosen Paul to be a special vessel to bear his name to the non-Jewish nations, used Paul himself as his minister in writing that letter. Paul could not have written that human letter by himself, for, as Jesus told his disciples, “apart from me you can do nothing at all.” (John 15:5, NW) He used Paul in a much harder way than by merely having him sit down with literal pen and ink and write a letter on paper recommending himself by written words rather than by laborious deeds. Aside from Paul’s working weekdays as a tentmaker with Aquila and Priscilla, Jesus used Paul to write this human letter of recommendation by having him talk in the Jewish synagogue every sabbath, to win over both Jews and Greeks. In time he became more “intensely occupied with the word [of God], witnessing to the Jews to prove that Jesus is the Christ,” staying there all together a year and a half, “teaching among them the word of God.”

²⁶ When Paul finally left Corinth he left behind the fruitage of his labors. What? A Christian congregation including Crispus the former presiding officer of the synagogue and all his household, whom Paul himself baptized. This congregation was a letter of recommendation, “inscribed not with ink but with spirit of the living God,” for it was done by the spirit of God which worked through Paul, he coming to them “with a demonstration of spirit and power, that [their] faith might be, not in men’s wisdom, but in God’s power.” God’s spirit in Paul produced or wrote the readable words of that congregation letter. The letter was written on no cold stone tablets, but on warm, loving “fleshly tablets, on hearts.” Those hearts were something to read, for they told of love first to God, they told of belief, of faith exercised for righteousness, and they overflowed so as to move the mouths of the Corinthians to make public declaration for salvation. Acts 18:1-11; 1 Cor. 2:4, 5; 2 Cor. 3:1-3; Matt. 22:37, 38; Rom. 10:10, NW) For anyone to produce such a living, speaking letter of recommendation of its writer his being adequately qualified by Almighty God was most certainly required.

27. What physical facts of today attest to the genuineness of the ministerial status of Jehovah’s witnesses?

²⁷ How about today? Except for appointment letters sent to congregations or carried by specially appointed servants of God’s visible organization, Jehovah’s witnesses do not carry letters of appointment or recommendation to prove that they, as dedicated men and women, are Scripturally ordained ministers of God serving in connection with his new covenant through the Mediator Jesus Christ. The New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses who use the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society as their servant need no such letters of appointment or ordination, no such letters of recommendation, any more than Paul did. Christendom does not recognize the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society as an instrument in God’s hands. But the “Modern History of Jehovah’s Witnesses” now being published in the columns of the magazine The Watchtower gives an authentic, documented history of how the Most High God and his Son Jesus Christ have used the Society, yes, and used the official magazine that it publishes, since the time both of these were begun. Today this Bible magazine has a printing of at least 2,100,000 copies each issue, in forty-one languages, and the publishing Society has seventy-five branches spread over the earth. That fact is an inerasable letter known and read by all men and it recommends to every good conscience these two instruments as being used by God for fulfilling his glorious purpose in this most crucial time of uncertainty, doubt and fear.

28. Since 1919 how have members of the anointed remnant established proof of their standing as qualified ministers?

²⁸ Christendom and her nominally Christian governments refuse to recognize the Scriptural ordination of the dedicated witnesses of Jehovah. Hence they do not give them the standing and consideration of ordained ministers of religion. In place of being respected as adequately qualified ministers, Jehovah’s witnesses have the distinction of fulfilling Jesus’ prophecy: “You will be hated by all the nations on account of my name.” (Matt. 24:9, NW) No paper letters that you witnesses could show them would alter the world’s attitude toward you. But you have a letter, and you yourselves have been used to write it, that speaks more authoritatively than any handwritten, typewritten or printed letter stamped and sealed to show your divine ordination or appointment. It is a living letter the contents of which are spread over all the earth in more than 160 lands and territories, to be read in over 100 languages. Since 1919, despite world-wide hatred, the anointed remnant of the adequately qualified ministers of the new covenant have preached the good news of the Kingdom to all nations. In this way they have been writing by the spirit of God on fleshly tablets, on hearts, and today the “great crowd” of other sheep gathered to the “one flock” of the Right Shepherd Jesus is proof they were ordained by God. It is a human letter of recommendation testifying that they are the “faithful and discreet slave” class of God.

29. Who else, particularly since 1931, have undeniably proved themselves to be ordained ministers under God’s new covenant?

²⁹ Particularly since 1931 the “great crowd” of other sheep have been associating and preaching with the anointed remnant. They cannot escape history. They too have been writing history by loyally serving with the remnant as witnesses of Jehovah, suffering with them, dying with them, keeping Christian integrity with them till now. Their being ordained, adequately qualified ministers of God has all along also been questioned and rejected by Christendom. But what does the voice of accomplished history testify today? Are they divinely sent, adequately ordained ministers under God’s new covenant? Do they have any unimpeachable letter of recommendation that silences all question as unwarranted and all accusation as prejudiced and false? Not any letter in ink on paper or scratched on stone tablets, but the living letter written by means of God’s spirit upon sheeplike people. It is a recommendation letter written on “fleshly tablets, on hearts” of other believing men and women who since 1931 have increased from far less than one hundred thousand to now over 550,000 witnesses of Jehovah in the New World society.

30. For thoroughly accomplishing our God-given ministry, we must and will do what?

³⁰ Let the Devil’s heaven and earth destroy or wipe that living, spirit-filled letter out, if they can! The destructive floodwaters of the war of Armageddon will wash out of existence those devilish heavens and earth and their bloodstained record but never wash out the contents of this living letter written by all of Jehovah’s witnesses with his spirit. All the survivors of Armageddon will be our letter of recommendation before all the universe! That letter of recommendation will even be read by the dead when they are resurrected after Armageddon. The contents of this letter will yet grow longer as more human hearts are written upon until Armageddon. When the world’s religious systems are destroyed amid that war, it will survive and will thereafter spread over the face of the cleansed earth as a living testimony to the power and spirit of Jehovah now operative in his adequately qualified ministers. So keep on writing this “New World society” letter by thoroughly accomplishing your ministry, preaching this good news of the triumphant kingdom for a witness to all the nations until this world ends!

Questions From Readers

● When Jewish religionists asked John the Baptist if he was Elijah he said, “I am not.” But Jesus told his disciples that John was Elijah. Why the disagreement?—J. C., England.

The record of John’s reply is found at John 1:19-21 (NW): “Now this is the witness of John when the Jews sent forth priests and Levites from Jerusalem to him to ask him: ‘Who are you?’ And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed: ‘I am not the Christ.’ And they asked him: ‘What, then? Are you Elijah?’ And he said: ‘I am not.’” Over two years later Jesus said just the opposite: “The disciples put the question to him: ‘Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ In reply he said: ‘Elijah, indeed, is coming and will restore all things. However, I say to you that Elijah has already come and they did not recognize him but did with him the things they wanted. In this way also the Son of man is destined to suffer at their hands.’ Then the disciples perceived that he spoke to them about John the Baptist.”—Matt. 17:10-13, NW.

The Jews questioning John thought that Elijah would be resurrected to return and fulfill Malachi’s prophecy that Elijah would come and do a preparatory work before the arrival of “the great and terrible day of Jehovah.” (Mal. 4:5, 6, AS) But John was no resurrected Elijah; so he correctly denied that he was Elijah. But when Jesus said that “Elijah has already come” and the “disciples perceived that he spoke to them about John the Baptist,” Jesus knew that Malachi’s prophecy did not mean Elijah himself would come again, but that one like Elijah would come to do a work similar to that done by Elijah, a work of turning sincere Israelites to true repentance. Jesus knew that before John’s birth it was foretold that “he will be filled with holy spirit right from his mother’s womb, and many of the sons of Israel will he turn back to Jehovah their God. Also he will go before him with Elijah’s spirit and power, to turn back the hearts of fathers to children and the disobedient ones to the practical wisdom of righteous ones, to get ready for Jehovah a prepared people.”—Luke 1:15-17, NW.

Thus John was to fulfill Malachi’s prophecy, and he did, and therefore he was the Elijah to come according to that prophecy. So Jesus gave the correct answer. But in view of the fact that the Jews who questioned John had in mind a resurrected Elijah, John was also correct in denying he was the prophet in that sense.