Jesus foretold that the preaching of the good news of the Kingdom would be done by his followers. (Matt. 24:14) In 189 lands Jehovah’s witnesses are doing that very thing. Theirs is the only organization that concentrates on this important work that Jesus began in the first century. It alone is pushing this preaching work and training all who come within it to participate in it. As activity in the Christian ministry was important among Jehovah’s servants of the first century, so it is important today. Paul said: “With the heart one exercises faith for righteousness, but with the mouth one makes public declaration for salvation.” (Rom. 10:10) Since preaching is important for salvation, God’s organization should be expected to stress it. This is what Jehovah’s witnesses are doing.

Under the supervision of the remnant of Christ’s anointed followers, the organization of Jehovah’s worshipers today is geared to preach and to teach the good things in God’s Word. In obedience to Jesus’ command, it is “seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness.” (Matt. 6:33) The world over it is helping to transform people so that they become integrity-keeping Christian ministers who are peaceful, honest and morally clean. It is turning multitudes to Jehovah God and building up their faith in his Word.

It organizes congregations and sends representatives to them to build up the Lord’s “sheep” and to give them assistance in making “public declaration for salvation.” It does its utmost to help them walk in the way of obedience to God. It encourages, instructs, counsels and disciplines, as did the Christian organization of the first century. It devotes its resources entirely to fulfilling the Christian commission to preach the good news of the Kingdom. The good fruits it has produced to Jehovah’s honor and praise as well as its spiritual prosperity testify to the fact that his spirit has been operating upon this one organization. It is doing his will.

LOYALTY TO THE ORGANIZATION

In the first century there were “sheep” that began to stray from the Christian organization, losing sight of the fact that God’s spirit was operating upon it. To such ones among the Galatians the apostle Paul said: “You were running well. Who hindered you from keeping on obeying the truth? This sort of persuasion is not from the One calling you.” (Gal. 5:7, 8) So today “sheep” can be expected to stray.

There are persons who have been closely associated with Jehovah’s organization but who begin to lose sight of it and to think that they can get along without it. Some have been in close contact with the overseers of the organization. Because they personally know these men and the work they do in directing the preaching activities of the organization, they come to see only these men when they think of the organization rather than seeing the organization as a whole. They allow personalities to stumble them, forgetting that it is God who is causing the organization to grow and to prosper, not the men who serve in it. This mistake was made by the people of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth.

The townspeople of Nazareth did not see Jesus as an instrument in the hands of God who was doing God’s work. They saw him only as the son of Joseph, a mere carpenter. “‘Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Where, then, did this man get all these things?’ So they began to stumble at him.” (Matt. 13:55-57) Today a person should have his eyes on what Jehovah’s organization is doing to further Jehovah’s interests rather than on personalities who are giving their service to God and his organization.

The care of God’s organization today is not in the hands of men who are inspired by God. They can make mistakes as any imperfect man can. Even the apostle Peter, who unquestionably had God’s spirit, made mistakes. On one occasion he denied Jesus Christ. On another he had to be rebuked by Paul for “not walking straight according to the truth of the good news.” (Gal. 2:14) God’s spirit inspired him to write Scripture, but it did not prevent him from being a free moral agent capable of making mistakes when he was not under inspiration. His mistake in the matter of applying Christian doctrine in his relationship with non-Jews does not argue that he did not have God’s spirit at all. The same is true today.

The men in Jehovah’s organization who prepare spiritual instruction for the Lord’s “sheep” diligently study the Scriptures to learn what God has put there for the instruction and guidance of his people. They make no claim of inspiration—only that they are Bible students. Since their comments on the Scriptures are not inspired, they can at times make mistakes. Does this make them false prophets? Not at all! A false prophet does not correct himself. He persists in proclaiming a wrong view even when he knows that it is wrong. But these students of God’s Word correct misunderstandings when they discover them. They are interested in the truth, not in self-justification. Their mistakes do not mean God’s spirit does not operate upon them; it does, just as it did upon Peter despite his mistakes.

Over the years the anointed remnant have published many things through the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society that they have learned from their ceaseless searching of God’s Word. Some of these things have made Jehovah’s witnesses distinctive from the religious organizations of Christendom that refuse to correct mistaken views, and they have proved to be basic Scriptural truths. Some others have, by further study, been revealed to be mistaken conclusions due to an unclear view of certain scriptures. As understanding of these scriptures became clearer the mistakes were corrected. Such corrections show their honesty and love for truth.

This sincere desire to search out accurate understanding of the things in God’s Word and this willingness to make changes when Scriptural evidence accumulates to indicate a need for them should instill confidence in the organization. It assures the Lord’s “sheep” that the organization will never knowingly misinform them.

God’s spirit operates upon his dedicated servants today, not to inspire them, but to move them gently in the direction of increased understanding. It permits them to make mistakes as they grow in understanding of God’s Word, but in time it helps them to see their mistakes, which they gladly correct. In this manner they progress along the path of the righteous ones, with the light of Scriptural understanding steadily getting “lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established.” (Prov. 4:18) This progress in Scriptural knowledge might be likened to an overcast sky that is gradually breaking up. As the openings between the clouds grow, more and more light comes through. Sometimes a truth is seen but then is obscured by a misunderstanding, just as a passing cloud momentarily obscures some rays of the sun. Later this truth returns in greater clarity when the misunderstanding is removed. God’s spirit is evident upon the organization from the progress it is making along the path of Scriptural truth.

The person who permits a seed of discontent against Jehovah’s organization to grow until it becomes a poisonous root puts himself in a dangerous position. (Heb. 12:15) If he leaves the flock, where can he go? He knows that the Devil’s world and its religious organizations do not have words of life. He knows the folly of joining with deserters who now fight the organization. If he leaves, he puts himself in the position of those about whom John spoke when he said: “They went out from us, but they were not of our sort; for if they had been of our sort, they would have remained with us.”—1 John 2:19.

Those who remain loyal to Jehovah’s organization take the view the apostles did when many of Jesus’ disciples stopped following him. Peter expressed their feelings by saying: “Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life.” (John 6:68) The loyal “sheep” see that the way to life is with Jehovah’s faithful organization.

Like gregarious sheep that stay together in one flock and find shelter and protection in one fold, Jehovah’s worshipers today find shelter, protection and an abundant supply of spiritual nourishment in his organization of witnesses. Under its direction they are doing what is fine in the eyes of God, and his spirit is prospering them. To such ones the apostle Paul said: “Let us not give up in doing what is fine, for in due season we shall reap if we do not tire out.”—Gal. 6:9.

Giving Spiritual Help to Clergymen

PURPOSE OF CALLS RECOGNIZED

One of Jehovah’s witnesses in North Carolina relates this experience: “After mailing out the special Awake! on Spain to most of the clergymen in our territory, we decided to deliver one personally to a Methodist minister, since we had had several Bible discussions with him. Right away we got into a Bible discussion, and he asked what we believed the sin against the holy spirit to be. I referred him to Hebrews 6:4-6, and he got his own Bible. After reading the scriptures, he said that, to tell the truth, he had never read that scripture before. He next asked what we believed about hell. When we said it was mankind’s common grave, he said that he believed the same as the Witnesses on that. He said he could not start teaching in church that there was no burning hell because it might offend some, but he wanted to introduce the truth gradually to his congregation. Then he said: ‘I guess that’s why you keep calling to see me—to teach me the truth.’”

PRAYING FOR HELP

Another Witness in North Carolina relates this experience about calling at the home of a minister of the Church of God: “He told me that he had taken the magazines from a lady on the street for the first time in his life, though he had always been told by his superiors never to read them. However, lately things had been bothering him to the extent that he did not attend church or preach for over a month. When he arrived home, he immediately sat down to read the magazines. He became so interested that he wrote the Watch Tower Society, asking for more information. He stated that he had been praying to the Lord to help him, as he was thoroughly confused.”

AFTER MANY YEARS

A Witness out in the magazine work in Virginia called at the home of an elderly man and placed both The Watchtower and Awake! After calling back, the Witness offered him the book “Let Your Name Be Sanctified,” and a study was started. One day after the close of the study, he expressed how much joy he was getting out of his study in the Bible. He further stated that he had been a minister for more than sixty years and thought that he had been rendering service to the true God. Now he was just beginning to learn how to serve Jehovah and to be a minister for him. He began to attend the meetings at the Kingdom Hall regularly, and he took part in the field ministry. After studying a little more than five months, he symbolized his dedication to Jehovah and was baptized at the Greensboro North Carolina, Courageous Ministers Assembly, in 1962—when he was ninety two years old.