may not personally hear the message, especially in some lands that prohibit the witness work. In addition to family responsibility the Bible shows a communal or community responsibility, where a community upholds or goes along with rulers that persecute Jehovah’s people or are otherwise wicked. Did not the Egyptians suffer plagues because of Pharaoh’s hardness? (Ex. 5:1, 2; 9:13-16) Did not the Amalekites suffer for generations afterward because of Amalek’s opposition to Israel in the wilderness? (Ex. 17:8, 14, 16) King Saul brought trouble on Israel years after his death. (2 Sam. 21:1) David’s sins brought punishment upon the people. (2 Sam. 12:10-23; 24:10-17) Some relate some of this to ruler punishment rather than community responsibility, but it does show how the sins of one can affect many. It was unquestionably community responsibility when Achan trespassed and brought a military defeat on Israel. (Josh. 7:5, 13-21) Wicked men brought destruction upon the entire city of Gibeah, and those who supported Gibeah or merely refrained from helping punish her suffered with her. (Judg. 19:22-30; 20:40; 21:9, 10) Because King Jehoram of Judah deflected from God the nation went wrong and was punished. (2 Chron. 21:11-15) If idolatry started in a city in Israel and corrupted the inhabitants the city was destroyed. And other examples could be given. (Gen. 12:17; 20:9, 17; 26:10; Deut. 13:12-18) Matthew 10:14, 15, 23 shows households or cities that are unreceptive to the message will find judgment day unendurable. The principle applies on a national scale also.

14. Why can peoples of nations not complain if God operates on the principle of community responsibility?

¹⁴ The people must accept responsibility for the nation’s acts. If the government becomes too oppressive against them they oust it, by either ballots or bullets. But wickedness against God they placidly tolerate. To them personal convenience and liberty are more precious than godliness. They revolt from harsh rulers, but support godless ones. They lack the burning love for righteousness and the devouring hate for wickedness that would consume the corruption and immorality now rampant in all human governments. Rulers and ruled wallow in the trough of an international moral breakdown. (2 Tim. 3:1-5) Nations operate according to the principle of community responsibility. Rulers may start wars, but the people fight them. It is upon the people generally, young and old, male and female, that the enemy nation rains destruction, and not upon the wicked rulers. The nations in their wars sow death on the basis of community responsibility. Will it not be just for them to reap it on the same basis at Armageddon? Can they rightly complain if they reap as they sow, are judged as they judged, are shown the same mercy they showed? If the people either actively or passively support what is corrupt and immoral and murderous, do they not bear some responsibility therefor?—Matt. 5:7; 7:1, 2; Gal. 6:7; Jas. 2:13.

15. Why must the people accept responsibility for their rulers’ acts?

¹⁵ When the Israelites wanted a human king they were warned of the oppressions it would bring upon them. (1 Sam. 8:4-22) But they insisted on having human government, and rightly bore responsibility for the evil-doing of the human king, since they were responsible for his being put in a position where his flagrant sins were possible on a national scale. Today people vote into office politicians known to be corrupt, and thus empower them to capitalize on evil-doing. That the people must bear the responsibility before God is shown not only in Israel’s case above mentioned but by Paul’s counsel to Timothy about appointments in the Christian congregation: “Never lay your hands hastily upon any man; neither be a sharer in the sins of others; preserve yourself pure.” In addition to being warned against hasty appointments, Timothy was told what qualities to require of appointees to service positions. (1 Tim. 3:1-13; 5:22; 2 John 10, 11, NW) Why all this precaution? So that he might avoid being “a sharer in the sins of others”. If he made improper appointments he would become responsible for the sins of such appointees, since he put them in position to commit their sins that hurt the congregation in God’s sight. So the people who either vote wicked rulers into office or allow them to remain in power must accept responsibility for such rulers’ official acts and sins against God and man.

16. What is lacking in the majority of people today?

¹⁶ Actually, the majority of the people today lack a love for right and hate for wrong. They know the world is corrupt to the core. Yet they are apparently satisfied with it. At least they stick with it, and scoff when Jehovah’s witnesses expose it. They seem to “love to have it so”. (Jer. 5:31; 6:13) The corruption around them gives license to their own lusts, deadens any feeble protests of anemic consciences, scuttles any remaining scruples. They fear only punishment, not evil-doing: “Because the sentence upon an evil deed is not quickly executed, therefore the minds of the sons of men are fully determined to do evil.” (Eccl. 8:11, AT) They do not zealously “seek righteousness”, nor do they “sigh and cry” because of any offended sense of righteousness, but only when wrongs curb or halt their pursuit of selfish ends. (Ezek. 9:4; Zeph. 2:3) They are repelled by Jehovah’s message because it demands a separation from this corrupt, immoral, pleasure-mad world.

17. Who are they unlike? What will honest ones do even without a specific message from God?

¹⁷ They are not like Noah was, for he was repelled by his fellow man whose “whole bent of his thinking was never anything but evil”. They are not like Lot was, for “that righteous man by what he saw and heard while dwelling among them from day to day was tormenting his righteous soul by reason of their lawless deeds”. They are not like those who are marked for preservation at Armageddon, who “sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done”. They are not like men of good will toward God today who gladly separate from the world because they have nothing in common with its corruption. (Gen. 6:5; Ezek. 9:4, AT; Jas. 1:27; 4:4; 2 Pet. 2:8, NW) They do not have to hear a specific message from God to be repelled by this world’s wickedness; not if they love right and hate wrong. Even without God’s Word men by nature and by conscience can note right and wrong. (Rom. 2:12-16) Those with honest hearts will sicken of this world, and more so as we advance toward Armageddon, for right up to that time “wicked men and impostors will advance from bad to worse, misleading and being misled”.—2 Tim. 3:13, NW.

18. How do some argue concerning ignorance, and why wrongly so?

¹⁸ Some argue that ignorance is an excuse that will gain a resurrection for many of Armageddon’s slain, such as those perishing because of community responsibility. They will cite Paul’s case. That former persecutor said: “I was shown mercy, because I was ignorant and acted with a lack of faith.” But he was shown this mercy during a judgment period, and did not spurn it. He used it to eliminate his ignorance and build up his faith. This show of mercy was also for another reason, to demonstrate divine long-suffering. (1 Tim. 1:12-16, NW) So to say Paul was saved because of his ignorance is wrong. Because he acted in ignorance repentance was possible for him, he had not unforgivably sinned against knowledge or the manifestation of the holy spirit. The world is full of Bibles, in more than 1,125 languages, and a glance at its pages is sufficient to convict the world’s conduct. But the masses of people remain ignorant “according to their wish”. (2 Pet. 3:5, NW) In some past times ignorance was overlooked by God, but it is not so during a judgment period, whether it be the one in Noah’s day, or Lot’s day, or Jesus’ day, or our day, or during the millennium. That is the point Paul was making when he said: “True, God has overlooked the times of such ignorance, yet now he is telling mankind that they should all everywhere repent.” Why? “Because he has set a day in which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth.” (Acts 17:30, 31, NW) As previously stated, that day for most men will be the millennial reign; but others have had or are having their judgment period earlier. Such periods are no time for ignorance, but for repentance.

WHY WE WITNESS NOW

19. Why is the view that ignorance will excuse many of Armageddon’s slain not conducive to zealous witnessing now?

¹⁹ If ignorance during this present judgment period is an excuse and is going to mean a resurrection for ignorant ones in the millennial reign, would it not be advantageous to let all remain ignorant now? If all those not personally preached to now and who are slain by Jehovah at Armageddon are going to return in the resurrection of mankind, why preach now at all? Even those who oppose the view that all Armageddon’s slain are forever dead will admit that those hearing but not accepting the witness now will perish eternally at Armageddon. Just for the sake of reasoning together, adopt their view for a moment. We preach to one thousand persons now, and perhaps one accepts the truth, while all the others reject it and die forever at Armageddon. But if we refrained from preaching to this one thousand, all would die at Armageddon but all would return in a resurrection, not having heard the message. Surely when they returned in that new world far advanced toward perfect paradise, with no corrupting humans around and demonic influence gone, so our opposers would incline to think and say, many more than one of that thousand would conform to new world requirements. Maybe only one would refuse. So why preach now and save one out of a thousand? Why not be silent now and save 999 out of a thousand?

20, 21. (a) Why would that course be folly? (b) How do John 5:28, 29 and Jeremiah 25:33 confirm the view that Armageddon’s slain remain dead?

²⁰ That, of course, would be folly. It would mean eternal destruction for the witness who remained silent. It means the stones would cry out the warning, if the watchman class failed to do so. (Ezek. 33:7-9; Luke 19:40) The gospel-preaching is going to be done earth-wide, for Jehovah says so. And whether it is done on the basis of personal or family or community responsibility, the peoples of all nations are going to be separated into “sheep” and “goat” classes, for Jehovah says so. Those whom he slays at Armageddon will remain forever dead, for his prophetic pictures made at the time of the Flood and at the time of Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction say so, along with the parable of the sheep and goats. This view is corroborated by John 5:28, 29 (NW): “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out.”

²¹ Note that John 5:28, 29 limits resurrections to those “in the memorial tombs”. This means that only those whose existence Jehovah retains in his memory will be resurrected, which remembrance is indicated or symbolized by the expression “memorial tombs”. That is why criminals considered unworthy of a resurrection were unceremoniously tossed into the Valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna, where their bodies were consumed, unlamented, unburied, without any tomb to remind of or memorialize their former existence. So those not “in the memorial tombs”, or not thus symbolized as being in God’s memory, will not be remembered at resurrection time. What this means to us today is that those now living in this time of judgment and who fail for one reason or another to take a stand for Jehovah, and are therefore slain by him at the battle of Armageddon, will not be retained in his memory for a resurrection. That this group will include the majority of humans now living on earth is shown by Jeremiah 25:33: “The slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.” These vast numbers slain by Jehovah and likened to dung strewn over the earth could hardly be considered as being “in the memorial tombs” for Christ to remember and call forth during the Millennium. He does not remember dung.

22. What baptism awaits this world?

²² At Armageddon Jehovah will baptize this world with destructive fire: “The heavens and the earth that are now are stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men. . . . Jehovah’s day will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a hissing noise, but the elements being intensely hot will be dissolved, and earth and the works in it will be discovered. . . . the heavens being on fire will be dissolved and the elements being intensely hot will melt.” (2 Pet. 3:3-13, NW) Notice that this period of last days climaxed by Armageddon is called a “day of judgment and of destruction”, after which comes the promised new world of righteousness, the millennial reign.

23. What other fire baptisms does the Bible mention?

²³ This baptism of fire was foreshadowed by an ancient one, when upon “Sodom it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed them all”. Later Jehovah “burned up Jacob like a flaming fire” and “poured out his wrath like fire” and “kindled a fire in Zion”, when in 607 B.C. he used Nebuchadnezzar to immerse Jerusalem and Judah in a fiery baptism because of their gross sins. (Lam. 2:3, 4; 4:11, AS) When Christ came to earth John the Baptist spoke of the nearness of a baptism of fire upon the nation of unbelieving natural Jews, when they would be as a tree “cut down and thrown into the fire” and as “chaff he [Christ] will burn [them] up with fire that cannot be put out [by man]”. (Matt. 3:10-12, NW) This baptism of fire came A.D. 70, when Rome’s imperial legions destroyed Jerusalem and killed 1,100,000 Jews and took 97,000 into captivity. A final baptism of fire will come upon those siding with Satan at the end of the thousand-year reign: “Fire came down out of heaven and devoured them.” (Rev. 20:9, NW) Like other fiery baptisms, this one comes at the end of a judgment period, a thousand-year one. There is certainly no resurrection from that baptism of fire, for it is tied in with second death, the lake of fire and sulphur. So fire is unquestionably the symbol for destruction that is final, whether used in connection with Armageddon or with the end of the millennial reign.

24. What points should disturbed ones remember?

²⁴ Those who are disturbed by this view of matters should remember several points. First, if Jehovah destroyed everyone there would be no injustice involved, since none has any inherent right to life. Second, the witness work will be done to the extent he deems necessary for separating all peoples and he will make no mistake. Did he not know before Noah ever preached or built that no others would join Noah and his household in the ark? Did he not know before Lot preached or angels performed miracles in Sodom that there were not even ten righteous ones there? Long before we can determine the bent of man’s mind toward sheeplikeness or goatlikeness Jehovah and Christ can judge and divide without making mistakes. And they are the Judges, not we. Third, the division is not completed yet, the judgment period not over. It is not the unfinished division now existing that counts, but the finished one that obtains at Armageddon’s start. Though we are in a judgment period, we need not view as finally destroyed all who die from various causes prior to the execution of judgment at Armageddon. Some in the preflood world who died before the deluge may be resurrected; some Sodomites who died before fire and brimstone rained down may return; some Jews of Jesus and the apostles’ day not destroyed by the Roman executional forces may live again. But not those slain by the Lord in the Flood, or in the fiery rain on Sodom, or in the judgments executed A.D. 70, or during Armageddon. Some may die during Armageddon who are not slain by Jehovah, such as some of his people whose physical organisms may not be able to endure the ordeal; but the vast majority will be “the slain of the LORD” who litter the earth like dung. They remain dead forever.

25. What do Bible prophecies indicate lies ahead?

²⁵ Also remember that Bible prophecies indicate that men and nations will intensify their assaults against Jehovah’s people and the work they are doing. Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 speak of demon-inspired forces coming against Jehovah’s restored theocratic organization: “You shall advance like a storm, you shall come like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many a people with you. . . . It shall come to pass in the end of the days that I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me.” When this vicious assault occurs, Jehovah says: “My fury shall rise in my nostrils.” His indignation and fiery wrath is so awesome and terrible that every living thing will tremble, mountains topple down and cliffs tumble to the ground. Peoples are thrown into confused self-slaughter and Jehovah adds his destructive forces to annihilate this wicked world. (AT) Intense persecutions and conspiracies will doubtless come against Jehovah’s witnesses before Jehovah’s fury rises to the point of launching his Armageddon destruction.

26. How will a further and sharper division yet be effected, with what added responsibility upon the people?

²⁶ What an unprecedented opportunity faithful endurance of all this by Jehovah’s witnesses will give for sheeplike ones to show favor and goatlike ones to manifest their indifference! Just as now many see our huge assemblies and marvel at the wonderful unity made possible by God’s spirit, so then they will see more than ever the unflinching integrity displayed by us with the help of Jehovah’s spirit. The preaching work yet to be done, the increases yet to come, the persecutions yet to be endured—all of this will be a further manifestation of Jehovah’s spirit working upon his people and will effect a further, sharper division of mankind before Armageddon strikes. It is not by our own power and might that we will work and increase and endure, but by God’s spirit. Those who fight Jehovah’s visible organization, upon which his spirit is manifest, sin against the holy spirit, unforgivably so. Those not participating in this opposition but condoning it or indifferent to it fit those the parable pictures as goats. Whether actively or passively or indifferently going along with the world in its assaults against Jehovah’s witnesses, individuals come under either personal or community responsibility therefor.—Zech. 4:6.

27. What should we now know?

²⁷ So let all know that this time of judgment of the nations is not a mere dress rehearsal for a future and decisive second judgment to come, thereby making the destruction of individuals at Armageddon not count for eternity. Know that all living at Armageddon will be baptized, either with fire for destruction with the wicked or with salvation for life with the theocratic organization. Know that off-focus sentimentality for creature salvation will not alter God’s Word or sway him from his purpose. Know that those really concerned in a practical way for their fellow man will not waste time fretting over the eternalness of Armageddon’s destruction, but will zealously preach to save both themselves and others. (1 Tim. 4:16) In short, know that God meant what he said when he warned: “Get out of her, my people.”

Questions From Readers

● One child lives because it has consecrated parents. Another dies with its wicked parents. Some persons hear the Kingdom message and live. Others may never hear it and die at Armageddon. Their opportunities are not equal. Would not justice require equal opportunity?—L. S., Ohio.

Justice could demand the death of everyone, since none are righteous of themselves. All are sinners and have earned sin’s wages, which is death. (Rom. 3:10; 6:23) Not justice but love inspired the provision of a ransom price, and its value or merit belongs to God and Christ for them to use as they see fit. Who are we to tell them how to use what is their own? In an illustration some vineyard laborers tried to do such dictating, when they thought they were not being fairly treated, and suffered severe rebuke. (Matt. 20:1-16) After God has shown in his Word that he sometimes operates on principles of family and communal responsibility, and after we see that some of such instances pictured Armageddon and involve a withholding of the ransom benefits from those destroyed, on what grounds can we thereafter argue that he should act contrary to these principles? Equal opportunity for every individual? What scriptures establish this as a divine principle, and eliminate those of family and community responsibility?

Actually, to secure equal opportunity for everyone in the absolute sense would involve far more than merely letting everyone hear the message. There are many influences outside the individual’s control that affect his stand toward the truth. Wicked parents that keep the message from their small children is only one case. Oppressive rulers that keep it from the peoples under their control is only another case. There are more. In one heathen country preaching has been done for many years, with practically no results so far as those steeped in the native religions are concerned. Is it their fault that they were born and raised in an environment that warped their minds beyond the reach of the truth? Some nationalities or races seem to have traits of stubbornness. Others are marked by qualities of humility and teachableness. More of the former reject the truth; more of the latter accept it. Not many wise or powerful or noble get the truth—it is not God’s purpose. He deliberately chooses more of the foolish and weak and ignoble to put the worldly great ones to shame. (1 Cor. 1:26-31) So it is not just wicked parents or dictatorial rulers that influence a person’s destiny. Other things beyond his control, such as the nation or race or station of life in which he was born, are weighty factors.

Aside from these big divisions there are many influencing elements. One person is raised by staunch Catholic parents and now is old. Another is raised by parents who did not indoctrinate him with any false religion and is young. Both hear the truth for the first time. Equal opportunity? Not in the absolute sense, for it is easier for the young, flexible mind free of false doctrine to embrace the truth than for the old, set mind cluttered with creedal