world by not engaging in its politics and by maintaining his neutrality toward its conflicts and in this way not be a friend of the world and not be a spiritual adulterer and yet at the same time can commit literal physical adultery or fornication, thus sinning against his own body.

22. How may one take part in fulfilling Matthew 24:14 and yet pervertedly fall into a sin like that of Balaam’s?

²² It is likewise a perverted idea that just as long as one fulfills the prophetic command of Matthew 24:14 and reports much time at witnessing out in the field of service, one can indulge in bodily immorality with those of the opposite sex. Remember that the prophet Balaam was used by Jehovah as a mouthpiece to utter prophecy in a blessing upon the nation of Israel, but that later Balaam was killed for trying to promote sex worship and immorality in Israel at the close of forty years in the wilderness.—Num. 23:4 to 24:25; 25:1-3; 31:1-8, 15, 16; Rev. 2:14.

23. How did Paul show that Christian morality is a joint requirement with preaching?

²³ Personal witnessing to God’s kingdom is indeed a requirement for eternal life, but Christian morality is also a joint requirement. Paul cried out: “Really, woe is me if I did not declare the good news!” but just some sentences later he added: “I browbeat my body and lead it as a slave, that, after I have preached to others, I myself should not become disapproved somehow. . . . Neither let us practice fornication, as some of them [the Israelites] committed fornication, only to fall, twenty-three thousand of them in one day.”—1 Cor. 9:16, 27; 10:8.

24. By committing physical immorality, whose friend does one make himself, and hence what other kind of immorality is it also?

²⁴ Let no one deceive himself: Committing adultery or fornication is a making of oneself a friend of the world. It is therefore a committing of spiritual adultery or fornication also. It certainly is not a making of oneself a friend of God or of his congregation. It is an imitating of this world, using the world as a model. It is a display of the spirit of the world. It is a proof of love of this wicked world, “because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—does not originate with the Father [Jehovah God], but originates with the world.” (1 John 2:16) Therefore, immorality demonstrates that the fornicator belongs to the world and is a misplaced person inside the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses.

25. By what two drastic acts did Jehovah illustrate what must be done with such immoral members of the congregation?

²⁵ Jehovah cut off 23,000 fornicators from his congregation, not in a year, but in one day. Fornicators have to be disfellowshiped from his congregation. He even cut off, during the battle near Shiloh, the two priests, Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of High Priest Eli, because they would wickedly commit adultery with the women that were serving at the entrance of the tent of meeting, with reproach to Jehovah God.—1 Sam. 2:12, 22-25; 3:13, 14; 4:4-11, 17.

26. (a) What does Paul say to show whether there are other sins for which disfellowshiping is needed? (b) What should be the heart condition and the procedure of one who wakes up to his wrongdoing?

²⁶ There are other sins besides fornication for which disfellowshiping is the need. Paul wrote the congregation: “I am writing you to quit mixing in company with anyone called a brother that is a fornicator or a greedy person or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even eating with such a man. . . . Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” (1 Cor. 5:11, 13) If anyone commits sin deserving of disfellowshiping but wakes up to the baseness of his wrongdoing and how far he has displeased God, what should be his heart condition? A grieved one; he should be painfully grieved and should repent. He should confess his sin not only to God, who already knows of it from observation, but also to God’s visible organization through its local theocratically appointed servants. It is a critical time to seek reconciliation with God and his people through Christ, appealing for mercy. In harmony with this, the Scriptural advice is: “Is there anyone [spiritually] sick among you? Let him call the older men of the congregation to him, and let them pray over him, rubbing him with oil in the name of Jehovah. And the prayer of faith will make the indisposed one well, and Jehovah will raise him up. Also if he has committed sins, it will be forgiven him. Therefore openly confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may get healed.” (Jas. 5:14-16) This course of self-humiliation and confession of spiritual need assists the sinner to reconciliation with God. It helps him to keep strict watch thereafter on how he walks before God.

Helpers Toward Walking Wisely

1. How must overseers carry out the command of Isaiah 58:1, and how does Matthew 18:15 set a course for them?

SPIRITUAL overseers must watch strictly how the congregations under their charge walk or conduct themselves. It is not enough to carry out the command of Isaiah 58:1 with reference only to Christendom: “Call out full-throated; do not hold back. Raise your voice just like a trumpet, and tell my people their transgression. and the house of Jacob [Israel] their sins.’ The theocratic overseers should not merely call attention to sinfulness in the enemy organization of Christendom. They must be impartial, balanced and just in applying a principle. Hence they must call attention to any transgressions and sins even in the congregations over which they have the oversight. If the overseer observes some offense or receives the report of some offense committed by any member against the congregation, then the overseer has something against the offender; for what affects the congregation affects him. He must investigate the matter and take steps concerning it in the spirit of Matthew 18:15: “Moreover, if your brother commits a sin, go lay bare his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.”

2. In that case, what does the congregation servant have the right and obligation to do, and what is the primary purpose of such action?

² Accordingly the congregation servant, together with the other members of the congregation service committee, has the right and is under obligation to summon the offender, or apparent offender, in order to come to a factual understanding of what has gone on. He must establish directly the guilt or guiltlessness of the apparent