We “Preach the Word”
1 True to the Bible’s description of “the last days,” most people today have only “a form of godly devotion.” (2 Tim. 3:1, 5) This is because religious leaders have failed to give genuine spiritual guidance to their flocks. The clergy of Christendom do not advocate the Bible. They prefer to parrot the vain teachings of philosophers and theologians or to propound social and political issues rather than preach the Word of God. Many religious leaders do not believe the Bible. They feel it is antiquated, and so they perversely promote the theory of evolution instead of the Bible’s teaching about a Grand Creator. Most clergymen do not even use God’s personal name, and they raise no objections to having it eliminated from modern Bible translations.
2 As was true of the religious leaders in Jesus’ day, today’s clergy are preaching in vain. (Matt. 15:8, 9) It is just as the prophet Amos foretold. There exists “a famine, not for bread, and a thirst, not for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah.” (Amos 8:11) More than anything else, people need the spiritual food in God’s Word.
3 How to Satisfy People’s Spiritual Need: Paul exhorted Timothy to stick with “the holy writings, which are able to make [one] wise for salvation,” and he therefore solemnly charged him to “preach the word” to others. (2 Tim. 3:14, 15; 4:2) As Jehovah’s Witnesses, we must stick to what the Bible teaches when we preach, thus imitating our Exemplar, Jesus, who said: “What I teach is not mine, but belongs to him that sent me.” (John 7:16) We use God’s Word as the basis for our teaching because we recognize that it contains divine wisdom, and we want people to know the source of the information we are sharing with them.—1 Cor. 2:4-7.
4 People must first hear the truth from the Bible in order to learn about Jehovah and put faith in him. Paul wrote logically: “How, in turn, will they put faith in him of whom they have not heard? How, in turn, will they hear without someone to preach?” (Rom. 10:14) By preaching God’s Word, we help others gain faith through accurate knowledge. Such knowledge can and does change lives for the better. The English author Charles Dickens wrote concerning the Bible: “It is the best book that ever was or will be in the world, because it teaches you the best lessons by which any human creature who tries to be truthful and faithful can possibly be guided.”
5 Those who hunger for spiritual truth come to recognize that it is supported by the authority of God’s Word. Back in 1913, Frederick W. Franz, as a young college student, was given a booklet entitled Where Are the Dead? After reading with great interest the Bible’s answer to this question, he declared: “This is the truth.” Millions of truth seekers have come to feel the same way. Let us continue to preach the Word diligently and zealously and thus share in the joy of hearing others say: “This is the truth.”