and ways. “‘For the thoughts of you people are not my thoughts, nor are my ways your ways,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.” (Isa. 55:8) The new Christian often has to get rid of local attitudes. In many Oriental countries it is not the custom to go to a temple for religious instruction. Likewise, in Western lands religion is often regarded as incidental to living, and is called in only for weddings, funerals, “Easter” parades and the like. Hence, the one who makes his mind over to Jehovah’s thoughts must form the habit, at first strange to him, of regularly attending Bible study meetings several times a week. But go he must, if he is to become thoroughly versed in the ways of the great God of truth. Attitudes toward national feast days, holidays and leisure hours must change. It is not Jehovah’s way to squander time in these wicked days, but rather he tells Christians to walk as wise persons, “buying out the opportune time for yourselves” and “perceiving what the will of Jehovah is.” (Eph. 5:15-17) Hours are too precious to be wasted on the old world. At “Christmas,” at New Year, on feast days or on free weekends, there is time to be bought out for New World service. Use it wisely.—Eph. 4:22; Col. 4:5.

27. Where and how will the true and praiseworthy things be found today?

²⁷ “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) These are the things with which to fill mind and heart. Where will these true and praiseworthy things be found today? Nowhere in Satan’s world! They will be found only in God’s Word, the Bible, and they may be considered in precious association with others of the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses. The most important hours of each week are those hours that you spend at meetings, considering the wondrous Kingdom purposes of the great God of truth, and the hours that you devote to preaching and teaching from door to door. In all of your dedicated life and with all your heart continue to laud Jehovah, for he is “doing wondrous things.” Jehovah—he alone—is THE GREAT GOD.

The Happy Family of the Wonder-working God

1. Why is God’s family supremely happy today?

THERE is one family on earth today that is supremely happy. It is the happy family of the great God who is “doing wondrous things.” Its family members are scattered among all nations and peoples of earth, but all are happily united through their worship of the most loving Father in all the universe. They are happy because their Father, Jehovah, has established the kingdom of heaven in the hands of his Son, Christ Jesus, and because he has placed before them the wondrous prospect of an abundant family life for all eternity. They are the happy children of the happy God.

2. (a) Why are most human families unhappy today? (b) What can be said as to modern “gods”?

² Most families among mankind today are unhappy. It is because they are “in opposition to the healthful teaching according to the glorious good news of the happy God.” (1 Tim. 1:9-11) In a measure never before known, human families are broken by divorce, delinquency and lovelessness. Why is this so? It is because they have not come to know the happy God, Jehovah, the one true Source of unity and happiness. Instead, men have accumulated for themselves a multitude of false gods. There are sectarian “gods” as numerous as the sects of Christendom, and there are ancestral and national “gods.” In sacrificing to its communistic “god,” Red China has broken up family life and segregated the sexes into communes. Others are ascribing salvation to the United Nations. Many individuals have become devotees of some “star” of filmdom’s immoral firmament, or of some military, political or sports hero. The materialistically-minded of this modern age are aptly described by the apostle Paul: “Their god is their belly, and their glory consists in their shame, and they have their minds upon things on the earth.” (Phil. 3:19) They are in fact in blind bondage to Satan, “the god of this system of things.” (2 Cor. 4:4) They are not happy.

3. What alone can make men happy today?

³ It is only the “glorious good news of the happy God,” the summation of all the grand message contained in his Word, the Bible, that can make men happy today. It is only this good news concerning God’s kingdom that can lead men out of the darkness of this crazed world into the glorious light and unity enjoyed by God’s family in heaven and on earth. Those who seek true happiness must worship the happy God and Father of all things living, as did the apostle: “On account of this I bend my knees to the Father, to whom every family in heaven and on earth owes its name.”—Eph. 3:14, 15.

4, 5. (a) How can man on earth come to appreciate the glory of Jehovah’s family in heaven? (b) What are some of the glories of Jehovah’s creation that testify to his majesty?

⁴ Man who is made “a little less than godlike ones” is not able to see God’s family in the heavens by human vision. However, by the eye of spiritual discernment, instructed through God’s inspired Word, he can understand much concerning the glory of that family and the surpassing glory of its Father. He can appreciate the joyous announcement of the heavenly seraph: “Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of armies. The fullness of all the earth is his glory.” (Isa. 6:3) Indeed, the glories of God’s creations on earth reflect some of the far grander glories that fill God’s superlative creation of the invisible heavens.

⁵ Look, for a moment, at some of these glories of God’s creation. Wherever it has been unspoiled by the hands of fallen men, nature breathes wisdom, beauty and harmony. The procession of the seasons with their changing colors, and the infinite variety and loveliness that pervades the human, the animal and plant creations—this all testifies concerning the loving Creator, who made everything “well-arranged in its time.” (Eccl. 3:11) These wonders have been perpetuated according to the divine laws through millenniums of time, before ever modern man began to pollute earth and air with the by-products of his science, and human minds with his atheistic teachings. Men of nuclear science, bent on blasting one another off the face of the earth, would do well to pause and consider how the Creator, Jehovah, has used nuclear fission for peaceful purposes throughout billions of years. It was Jehovah, the perfect Organizer, who made the nuclear furnace called the sun, and placed the earth in orbit—not too far, not too close—so that earthly mortals might receive just the right amount of energy to sustain life. Like David of old, modern-day men of faith and humility are compelled to declare: “When I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have prepared, what is mortal man that you keep him in mind, and the son of earthling man that you take care of him? . . . O Jehovah our Lord, how majestic your name is in all the earth!”—Ps. 8:3-9.

6. What does Daniel 7:9-14 reveal as to (a) the glory of Jehovah’s heavenly throne? (b) an everlasting kingdom?

⁶ Jehovah’s name is truly majestic in all the earth. But if the fullness of the earth is his glory, how much more so the fullness of his peerless spirit creation! Here again is wisdom and organization, but on a magnificent scale: “I beheld till thrones were placed, and one that was ancient of days did sit: his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousands of thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.” Myriads of angels, serving in grand unison! And now Jehovah, the “ancient of days,” has given into the hands of Christ, yes, to “one like unto a son of man . . . dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”—Dan. 7:9-14, AS.

7. What does Ezekiel 1:4-28 indicate as to the attributes of Jehovah and His universal organization? What does Revelation 4:1-8 show?

⁷ Ezekiel 1:4-28 also gives a glowing vision of the heavenly throne and the brightness of the glory of Jehovah round about it. Here Jehovah’s loyal organization of the heavens is pictured by “four living creatures,” foursquare in their completeness, and ever ready to zealously do Jehovah’s bidding, for they “ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.” Each of the heads of these living creatures is shown to have the face of a man, of a lion, of an ox and of an eagle, symbolizing the qualities emanating from Jehovah in perfect balance, and which characterize His entire family of the heavens and the earth: boundless love, courageous justice, irresistible power and far-seeing wisdom. Revelation 4:1-8 gives a similar vision of Jehovah’s glorious organization of holy creatures, his devoted and wide-awake universal organization that ever exults in proclaiming: “Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is coming.”

8. (a) How does Jehovah’s universal organization serve as a devoted “wife”? (b) Who are now coming to appreciate the glory of Jehovah and his organization?

⁸ Jehovah’s universal organization serves in family relationship to him as a devoted “wife” or helper. It is watchful, loving and industrious, just like a faithful wife in a happy human family. (Prov. 31:10-31) Concerning this wifely organization, which includes his anointed, dedicated children on earth, Jehovah declares: “And the nations will certainly see your righteousness, O woman, and all kings your glory. . . . And you must become a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah, and a kingly turban in the palm of your God. . . . And with the exultation of a bridegroom over a bride, your God will exult even over you.” (Isa. 62:2, 3, 5) As the prophecy foretold, men of good will from all nations are now joining the anointed remnant of Jehovah’s spirit-begotten children on earth, in beholding the righteousness, the glory and the beauty of Jehovah’s universal family organization. They are coming out from the darkness and gloom that envelops the worldly nations, to rejoice in light and truth, for now “the very glory of Jehovah has shone forth.”—Isa. 60:1-8.

9. How may God’s family find happiness and peace today?

⁹ Do you desire the happiness and peace that only Jehovah can provide? Then heed well the teaching that he sends forth through his wifely organization, to whom it is written: “And all your sons will be persons taught by Jehovah, and the peace of your sons will be abundant.”—Isa. 54:13.

HEALTHFUL TEACHING FOR GOD’S FAMILY

10. How did Jesus identify the instrument for bringing healthful teaching to God’s family on earth?

¹⁰ In his remarkable prophecy concerning the consummation of the present system of things, Jesus foretold the world wars, the distress, the increasing lawlessness—yes, even that false “god” that causes desolation, the United Nations. He also foretold that “this good news of the kingdom” would be preached in all the earth, and he identified the instrument he would use for this, as well as for bringing healthful teaching to all of God’s own family on earth. He said: “Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics to give them their food at the proper time? Happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so. Truly I say to you, He will appoint him over all his belongings.”—Matt. 24:7, 8, 12, 14, 15, 45-47.

11. How has the “slave” shown itself wide-awake to Kingdom privileges?

¹¹ This slave is quite unlike the watchmen of Christendom that love to slumber. (Isa. 56:10) The “slave,” namely, the composite body of the remnant of Jehovah’s anointed, dedicated sons on earth today, is wide-awake to his Kingdom privileges, and diligently obeys his Master, Christ Jesus. He happily greeted the Master when he arrived in 1918 to judge professing Christians. It was at this time of inspection that the Master declared: “Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things. I will appoint you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matt. 25:21) Having been appointed over many things—indeed, over all the Master’s Kingdom interests on earth—this “slave” organization faithfully follows the leadings of Jehovah’s Word and spirit in publishing Bible instruction, “food at the proper time,” and in seeing to it that this pours forth in ever-increasing volume to the very ends of the earth.

12. What wonderful organization has been brought forth for the spiritual feeding of God’s family?

¹² Through the joyful ministration of the “faithful and discreet slave” all of God’s family on earth receive their proper nourishment. This is vital to their upbuilding. To maintain spiritual joy and health, all must dine regularly at the family table, and for this reason the “slave” has appointed overseers in more than 19,000 congregations throughout the earth. These see that proper meetings for healthful teaching are arranged four or five times every week and that all in the congregational family are aided to attend and to share in God’s service. In this way they “work what is good toward all, but especially toward those related to us in the faith.” (Gal. 6:10) Extending into 175 nations and territories, and with all parts working together in complete unity, this family is certainly the most wonderful family ever to appear on the face of this earth. It is the modern-day “household of God.”—Eph. 2:19.

13. In what ways is divine education superior to worldly education?

¹³ Healthful teaching from the happy God is all-important today. However, in this upside-down world many are struggling for an education in some scientific, philosophical or cultural field. During their brief life span they can hope at best to specialize in one narrow field. Far broader, and far more thrilling, is the field of divine education now being entered upon by God’s family of the New World society. It is not limited to ten or so years of worldly schooling, nor to a lifetime of seventy or eighty years. It does not stop with a graduation, nor will it stop when great men of modern science are pulverized at Armageddon with their instruments of destruction by what God does to them. It is education that goes on forever, specializing in different studies at different times.—Eccl. 3:1.

14. (a) Why is it necessary now to specialize in divine education? (b) How should secular education be viewed and kept in its place?

¹⁴ Right now the divine education is specializing in the wondrous truths concerning Jehovah’s established kingdom. Hence it is important for all of God’s family to give first attention to their personal Bible study and to attending their local Kingdom Hall regularly, doing their utmost to become equipped as workmen approved by God, “handling the word of the truth aright.” (2 Tim. 2:15) A good, basic secular education is also important to those of God’s family. But for what purpose? For advancement in this world? Not so, but it is important only insofar as it equips them and provides background for their role as ministers. Keep secular education in its place. Those who get interested in superior worldly learning, or who try to “develop character” by wandering from one culture to another, are liable to get drowned in this world’s philosophy. (Col. 2:8) All should make it their one goal now to win through to God’s new world. Later there will be abundant opportunity to share in other studies, according to the divine season and purpose.

15, 16. (a) What boundless possibilities will education hold for mankind in the new world? (b) What worthwhile effort should all now put forth?

¹⁵ Physiologists have shown that man today uses only a fraction of his brain.a In his article “Your Brain’s Unrealized Powers” Bruce Bliven said: “The brain’s capacity is almost inexhaustible.” Why labor to use that fraction of a brain in the temporary pursuit of worldly knowledge, when in the new world, with perfection restored, man will be able to use all his divinely provided mental power in crossing glorious vistas of knowledge that modern intellectuals have never even started to probe! Possibilities of attainment in the new world are boundless. The great masterpieces of worldly art, of music and of scientific invention of this present age, will fade into mediocrity and insignificance beside the grand artistry of new-world productions. No longer will man toil for greed or for war, but all his accomplishments will be for peace and to the eternal glory of Jehovah God.—Ps. 104:24, 31; Isa. 65:22-25.

¹⁶ In the new world, what a joy it will be to keep taking knowledge into perfect, retentive minds! How worth the effort now, hard as it may seem to some, to take into imperfect minds the divine sayings and healthful teachings that lead on to everlasting life!—John 6:63, 68.

FAMILY EDUCATION FOR LIFE

17, 18. (a) What serious responsibility now rests on parents? (b) How does the present crisis underline this responsibility?

¹⁷ In walking with the true God and his happy family, it is needful for all to meet their responsibilities in their individual fleshly families. Do you have children of your own? If so, are you doing everything you possibly can to educate your children in the divine principles? Or are you content to let them run around with the world, letting things slide until a “more favorable opportunity” comes for divine education?

¹⁸ This world is face to face with its biggest crisis. It is like the crisis that overtook Judah, and which led up to Jerusalem’s desolation in 607 B.C. At that time