Kingdom Ministers Meet the Challenge

“What, then, is Apollos? Yes, what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers.”​—1 CORINTHIANS 3:5.

1. (a) Religiously, what is being questioned today, and why? (b) What empire is being threatened, and what will happen to it?

THE authority of ministers of religion is being challenged today. More and more, this is the case as the political element of this world turns against religion, including the “Christian” religion, regarding it as a profit-seeking racket. Even graduates of religious seminaries are discounted as duly authorized ministers and are put under ban in nations that are turning antireligious. Yes, the world empire of false religion is under assault and is threatened with an earth-wide attack that will spell its annihilation. The divine Author of true worship foretold this and fixed his own due time for the fulfillment of his prophecy. Creature life in the whole universe will benefit from this stupendous event!

2. As to religion, what will remain and what will not?

² Yet, irreligion will not long remain to dominate the earth, but the vindicated Creator of the universe will remain! Yes, and the true religion of this deathless and Most High God will remain! For that matter, although earth’s billions deny the facts, right now practicers of God’s pure worship are alive and active on earth. And the following centuries-old statement is true today: “His invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable.”​—Romans 1:20.

3, 4. (a) How can it be proved that Jehovah has ministers on earth? (b) How do we know that the religious ministers of Babylon the Great will soon be out of a job?

³ When those words were written during the first century of our Common Era, Jehovah God had his ministers on the earth. Thus the apostle Paul could write: “What, then, is Apollos? Yes, what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers, even as the Lord granted each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God kept making it grow.”​—1 Corinthians 3:5-9.

⁴ Jehovah must also have ministers on earth today. But he is not using the religious ministers of Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion. In fact, they will soon be out of a job. That will be when Babylon the Great itself is put out of existence. Foretelling this, Revelation 16:19 says: “The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and Babylon the Great was remembered in the sight of God, to give her the cup of the wine of the anger of his wrath.”

5. What happened in ancient Babylon in 539 B.C.E., and what about ministers and other supporters of the religions of Babylon the Great?

⁵ What, then, about people who remain the loyal adherents of the religious systems served by the professional ministers of Babylon the Great? Well, consider what happened on that night of 539 B.C.E. when King Belshazzar and his invited lords were praising Babylonian gods at an outstanding feast in defiance of the besieging Medes and Persians. First, notice was served on the revelers when they saw miraculous handwriting on the wall of the banquet hall and heard the interpretation given by Jehovah’s prophet Daniel. Then, with Babylon’s fall that very night, the king and apparently the other banqueters extolling false gods were slain by the invading conquerors. (Daniel, chapter 5) A similar disaster awaits ministers and those remaining loyal to the religious systems of Babylon the Great.

God’s Ministers Urgently Needed

6. (a) In this critical period, what must God have for the human family? (b) When did the Gentile Times end, and what did Jesus say about this?

⁶ No one can reasonably question the fact that we are now living in the most critical period of human history since the global Flood of Noah’s day. (2 Timothy 3:1-5) So it is vital that there now be genuine ministers of the God of Noah. Surely, as Jehovah gave warnings to the people of Noah’s time and to the revelers at Belshazzar’s feast, He must have had an urgent message for the human family since 1914, when the first world war broke out. Actually, on a wide public scale, for some four decades God’s servants had pointed to that year as marking the end of the Gentile Times, regarding which Jesus said: “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”​—Luke 21:24, King James Version.

7. (a) Until when was earthly Jerusalem trodden down by non-Jewish nations? (b) To what was Jesus referring finally when he spoke of Jerusalem’s being “trodden down of the Gentiles”?

⁷ For some 53 years after 1914, or until the Six-Day War of 1967, earthly Jerusalem continued to be trodden down by non-Jewish nations. Evidently, however, Jesus was not referring finally to the Jewish Jerusalem of today but to what that city represented up until 607 B.C.E. And what did it represent? Why, the Kingdom of Jehovah God by means of his anointed King of the royal house of David!​—Luke 1:32; 1 Chronicles 29:11.

8. To whom would Jehovah give the kingdom of David, and why would humans not be able to see the foretold enthronement?

⁸ Jesus Christ was the one to whom Jehovah God would give the kingdom of his forefather David of old. Before Pilate as judge, Jesus said that His Kingdom was not of this world, meaning that it would be heavenly. (John 18:36) Logically, then, Jesus’ future installation in the Kingdom at the end of the Gentile Times would take place in the invisible heavens. Thus his enthronement would be invisible to human eyes, and that is why neither we nor the Gentile nations literally saw him enthroned in his rightful, God-given Kingdom in 1914. Those nations certainly did not believe that this event took place, despite the fact that it had been proclaimed by Jehovah’s people since the 1870’s.

9. (a) What did the nations do without regard for the Kingdom message? (b) In view of what the nations did in 1914, what became necessary?

⁹ Without regard for the Kingdom message, in the autumn of 1914 the nations became engulfed in war. As foretold at Psalm 2:1-12, they proved themselves to be Jesus’ enemies, refusing to “kiss” the newly installed King as a sign of their submission and allegiance. Hence, it became necessary to carry out Psalm 110:1, 2, where we read: “The utterance of Jehovah to my Lord is: ‘Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.’ The rod of your strength Jehovah will send out of Zion, saying: ‘Go subduing in the midst of your enemies.’”

10. (a) Under what circumstances did Jesus begin ruling in 1914? (b) Who have been representing Jehovah in the 20th century?

¹⁰ Jewish opposers displayed their enmity toward Jesus’ apostles when Jesus sat down at God’s right hand to await the time to start ruling amid his enemies. (Acts 4:24-26) Correspondingly, it was among enemies that the glorified Jesus Christ began his rule at the close of the Gentile Times in 1914. Thus in this 20th century, as in the past, it has been among enemies that Jehovah has had bearers of his message, his genuine ministers of the Kingdom. They are his witnesses.​—Isaiah 43:10-12.

Defending Our Qualification as Ministers

11. By whom has the authorization of Jehovah’s Witnesses as God-ordained Kingdom ministers been challenged?

¹¹ All along, it has been necessary for genuine God-ordained Kingdom ministers to defend their authorization for the ministry. That certainly has been true of Jehovah’s Witnesses in this 20th century. Their qualification as duly ordained ministers of God has been challenged and discounted. By whom? Particularly by Christendom’s theological-seminary graduates who receive a certificate of ordination and become paid clergymen. They consider themselves duly schooled and adequately qualified to be the exclusive professional ministers of the God of the Bible.

12. The authorization of what prominent first-century Christian was challenged, and how was anyone bringing a different sort of good news to be viewed?

¹² The situation was similar in the first century C.E. In the Roman province of Galatia, even the inspired writer of about half the books of the Christian Greek Scriptures met with a development that challenged his qualification as an apostle of Jesus Christ, for it put in question the correctness of what he was teaching as Christianity. So he was obliged to tell the Galatians: “I marvel that you are being so quickly removed from the One who called you with Christ’s undeserved kindness over to another sort of good news. But it is not another; only there are certain ones who are causing you trouble and wanting to pervert the good news about the Christ. However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to you as good news something beyond what we declared to you as good news, let him be accursed. As we have said above, I also now say again, Whoever it is that is declaring to you as good news something beyond what you accepted, let him be accursed.”​—Galatians 1:6-9.

13. Why should the Galatians not have questioned Paul’s authority?

¹³ True, that writer, the apostle Paul, did not first learn Christian teachings by personal contact with Jesus Christ or His 12 apostles. Later, Paul did spend some time with the apostle Peter, or Cephas. (John 1:42; Galatians 1:18, 19) But in defense of his being a qualified minister of the good news from God by Christ, Paul could tell the unstable Galatian Christians: “Yes, when they came to know the undeserved kindness that was given me, James and Cephas and John, the ones who seemed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of sharing together, that we should go to the nations, but they to those who are circumcised.” (Galatians 2:9) So those Galatians should have asked themselves: If Jesus’ disciples James, Peter, and John recognized Paul as a bearer of the true good news, what basis do we have for challenging his message and moving away from it?

14. Why is it not strange that the ministerial status of Jehovah’s Witnesses is challenged?

¹⁴ But what about Jehovah’s people today? Well, since a person like Paul was obliged to defend his qualifications as a minister of God and Christ, why should we be surprised if we, as dedicated, baptized witnesses of Jehovah, are challenged and have to defend our standing as Kingdom ministers? Of course, as in Paul’s case, such baseless challenging of us proves nothing.

Even Jesus Was Challenged

15. Who, ranking higher than the apostles, was also challenged as to his teaching authority, and to whom did he ascribe his authority?

¹⁵ The Lord Jesus Christ himself was challenged and confronted with the unwillingness of his own people to accept him as an authorized minister of God. For instance, we read: “When by now the festival [of tabernacles] was half over, Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. Therefore the Jews fell to wondering, saying: ‘How does this man have a knowledge of letters, when he has not studied at the schools?’” Jesus met that challenge head-on, declaring: “What I teach is not mine, but belongs to him that sent me. If anyone desires to do His will, he will know concerning the teaching whether it is from God or I speak of my own originality. He that speaks of his own originality is seeking his own glory; but he that seeks the glory of him that sent him, this one is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”​—John 7:14-18.

16. Why did the religious leaders of Judaism feel they had grounds for questioning Jesus’ teaching ability?

¹⁶ The religious leaders of Judaism looked upon Jesus Christ as a mere Galilean. Of course, they did not think that he could not read because of not having attended school, especially something like a theological seminary. After all, Jesus already had shown that he could read the text of the Hebrew Scriptures. (Luke 4:16-21) What proved unacceptable to such Jews of Judea and Jerusalem was that this former carpenter was not a theologian and could not be ranked with the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees of their nation. Why, then, should he publicly presume to know what the Hebrew Scriptures meant and how they applied, speaking with such authority as he did? This is what made those Jews too deaf spiritually to hear the ring of the divine truth. They were too proud to accept what came from a man who had not graduated from a theological school.

“Taught by Jehovah”

17. In connection with Jesus Christ, the Jewish religious leaders overlooked what Teacher, and what kind of scholar was Jesus?

¹⁷ Those worldly-wise Jews overlooked the One who really had been teaching Jesus Christ. Why, Jesus’ own skill as a teacher had come from “the greatest teacher of all,” Jehovah God! (Job 36:22, Today’s English Version) Referring to God in this capacity, Jesus said: “When once you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing of my own initiative; but just as the Father taught me I speak these things.” (John 8:28) So Jesus proved himself to be the finest pupil in the universal school of the highest Teacher in existence. This was a credit to the One who taught him. No wonder the Nazarenes said of their former townsman: “Where did this man get this wisdom and these powerful works?”​—Matthew 13:54.

18. (a) What sort of teacher should we want? (b) What did Jesus say about the greatest Teacher and those taught by Him?

¹⁸ To understand the Bible, we want and need the best teacher possible. And that teacher is the Inspirer of that unsurpassable Book. Speaking to those who were members of that Teacher’s visible, earthly organization during his earthly lifetime, Jesus said: “No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him; and I will resurrect him in the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by Jehovah.’ Everyone that has heard from the Father and has learned comes to me.” (John 6:44, 45) Jesus was there quoting Isaiah 54:13, which reads: “And all your sons will be persons taught by Jehovah, and the peace of your sons will be abundant.”

19. The “sons” of whom were to be taught by Jehovah?

¹⁹ However, we ask: The “sons” of whom were to be “persons taught by Jehovah”? That prophetic promise was made to a figurative “woman,” a prospective mother of certain “sons,” or children. This “woman” is the one addressed at Isaiah 54:1, where it is said: “‘Cry out joyfully, you barren woman that did not give birth! Become cheerful with a joyful outcry and cry shrilly, you that had no childbirth pains, for the sons of the desolated one are more numerous than the sons of the woman with a husbandly owner,’ Jehovah has said.”

20. In view of 2 Corinthians 13:5, what must dedicated Christians continue to do, and what bearing does this have on their qualification as Kingdom ministers?

²⁰ Since Jehovah is the One who addresses this “woman” and is to be the Teacher of her “sons,” he must be her figurative Husband, and she must be his womanlike heavenly organization. Her “sons,” or children, are students of “the greatest teacher of all.” Of course, it is vital that those “sons,” Jesus’ anointed followers, and their companions, the “great crowd,” continually apply the instruction provided by Jehovah. (Revelation 7:9) That surely is one way to heed Paul’s admonition: “Keep testing whether you are in the faith, keep proving what you yourselves are.” (2 Corinthians 13:5) If dedicated, baptized Christians continue to do this and remain diligent students of the greatest Teacher, they should have the needed qualification as Kingdom ministers authorized by Jehovah. We shall next see how God’s ministers prove their qualification.

God’s Ministers Prove Their Qualification

“And who is adequately qualified?”​—2 CORINTHIANS 2:16.

1. In today’s religiously divided world, what question may be raised in all sincerity?

IN TODAY’S religiously divided world, this question may be asked in all sincerity: Who actually is an authorized minister of God? Similarly, the apostle Paul asked: “Who is adequately qualified for these things?” When challenged, Paul and his colaborers could say, “We are”! (2 Corinthians 2:16, 17) But today, who have a solid basis, the right, and the courage to reply, “We are”?

2. What is the essence of Paul’s words at 2 Corinthians 2:14-17?

² Before answering that question, let us consider these words of Paul to Christians in Corinth: “But thanks be to God! For . . . wherever we go he uses us to tell others about the Lord and to spread the Gospel like a sweet perfume. As far as God is concerned there is a sweet, wholesome fragrance in our lives. It is the fragrance of Christ within us, an aroma to both the saved and the unsaved all around us. To those who are not being saved, we seem a fearful smell of death and doom, while to those who know Christ we are a life-giving perfume. But who is adequate for such a task as this? Only those who, like ourselves, are men of integrity, sent by God, speaking with Christ’s power, with God’s eye upon us. We are not like those hucksters​—and there are many of them—​whose idea in getting out the Gospel is to make a good living out of it.”​—2 Corinthians 2:14-17, The Living Bible; see The Watchtower, May 1, 1944, pages 133-4.

3. (a) How should we react to the thought of peddling God’s Word for selfish profit? (b) What did Paul do to avoid becoming a financial burden to those to whom he preached?

³ Peddling God’s Word for selfish profit​—how repulsive such a thought! Paul did not seek financial gain by preaching that Word so as to live a life of ease, eventually to retire from the ministry and take it easy the rest of his days. He was willing to make tents as sideline work to provide funds for himself and help his associates in Jehovah’s service. (Acts 18:1-4) Paul did not become a financial burden to those to whom he preached the good news. So he could ask the Corinthian Christians: “Did I commit a sin by humbling myself that you might be exalted, because without cost I gladly declared the good news of God to you?” (2 Corinthians 11:7) That question had to be answered with a positive no!

4. How do Jehovah’s Witnesses imitate Paul’s example in connection with God’s Word?

⁴ Today Jehovah’s Witnesses imitate the apostle’s fine example in not peddling the priceless Word of God but in making it available to all. They do not commercialize such a holy thing. Thus they have no paid clergy, their public speakers do not charge for lectures, and a collection plate is never passed at their meetings. If anyone desires to contribute money for the work, he can drop any amount, even one like the widow’s “two small coins of very little value,” into a contribution box at the Kingdom Hall or elsewhere. (Luke 21:1-4) Such freewill contributions are used to defray expenses and not to enrich any individual. Even private homes are freely opened for meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses.​—Philemon 1, 2.

“Adequately Qualified”

5. Who has qualified Jehovah’s Witnesses for sacred service?

⁵ But who today has qualified Jehovah’s Witnesses to carry on after such a Scriptural pattern despite all the persecution and opposition they constantly experience? No one can account for this but the Individual that adequately qualified Paul and his companions for sacred service. Please note the purity of Paul’s motive, in contrast with a religious peddler’s motivation, as he explained: “As out of sincerity, yes, as sent from God, under God’s view, in company with Christ, we are speaking.” (2 Corinthians 2:17) This is the way Jehovah’s Witnesses are speaking today. But are we recommending ourselves as ministers? Do we need to publish letters of recommendation from others?

6. (a) Why do Christendom’s clergy think they are “adequately qualified”? (b) But what is the basis for a person’s having adequate qualification for the true Christian ministry?

⁶ Paul disavowed qualification for his ministry as something he developed. He said: “Our being adequately qualified issues from God, who has indeed adequately qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant.” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6) Unlike Paul, the clergy of Christendom claim to be “adequately qualified” because of having graduated from theological seminaries. So they deny that those who are not seminary graduates are qualified ministers having authority to teach. But Paul’s special schooling in Judaism did not qualify him for the Christian ministry pertaining to the new covenant. Nor did Jesus establish any theological seminary for his 12 apostles or anyone else to attend. No less so today, a person’s being adequately qualified for the true Christian ministry must issue from Jehovah, the greatest Teacher. Of course, such a minister would have to furnish proof beyond all denial.

“Who Gave You This Authority?”

7. In what way did the religious leaders differ from Nicodemus in the way they viewed Jesus’ authority?

⁷ Religious leaders challenged the right of even God’s Son to preach the good news and perform miracles. In the temple, “the chief priests and the older men of the people came up to him while he was teaching and said: ‘By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority?’” (Matthew 21:23) They refused to draw the conclusion the Jewish ruler Nicodemus reached when he told Jesus: “Rabbi, we know that you as a teacher have come from God; for no one can perform these signs that you perform unless God is with him.”​—John 3:1, 2.

8. After more than three years of Jesus’ ministry, how did Jewish leaders react to proof of his identity and authority?

⁸ Jesus could have told his challengers, ‘Let my works speak for themselves!’ After more than three years of his public career, the chief priests and older men had many signs on which to base a correct conclusion as to Jesus’ identity and right to perform miracles and teach the truth about God’s Kingdom. They simply were too stiff-necked to accept all the evidence Jehovah was furnishing to prove that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

9, 10. (a) Why should it not surprise Jehovah’s Witnesses that their qualification as ministers is questioned today? (b) How did Jesus deal with religious leaders who challenged his authority, and what effect did this have?

⁹ In view of what happened in Jesus’ case, it does not surprise Jehovah’s Witnesses that their qualification as authorized ministers of his Father is called into question by religious leaders today. Since those who challenged Jesus’ authority ignored his many miraculous works, he raised a question that put them on the spot. And his present-day disciples can do the same thing in the case of those who willfully overlook the works of those disciples.

¹⁰ When the chief priests and older men asked Jesus, “Who gave you this authority?” he did not pose an abstract question but said: “I, also, will ask you one thing. If you tell it to me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism by John, from what source was it? From heaven or from men?” The account adds: “But they began to reason among themselves, saying: ‘If we say, “From heaven,” he will say to us, “Why, then, did you not believe him?” If, though, we say, “From men,” we have the crowd to fear, for they all hold John as a prophet.’ So in answer to Jesus they said: ‘We do not know.’ He, in turn, said to them: ‘Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.’” (Matthew 21:23-27) Today, Jehovah’s Witnesses can question the clergy Scripturally in a way that has a similar effect.a

11. What work did Jehovah’s people do prior to 1914, and how were their critics silenced?

¹¹ From 1876 onward, Jehovah’s people served notice upon the world, and particularly upon Christendom, that the Gentile Times would end in the fall of 1914. (Luke 21:24, King James Version) The clergy could not ignore this preliminary work of almost 40 years​—a work corresponding to that of John the Baptizer. Those clergymen waited eagerly to pounce upon this journal’s editor should 1914 pass without any outstanding events to correspond with those about which he warned. But, oh, how they were silenced when on July 28, 1914, peace was shattered by the outbreak of World War I!

12. What hardships accompanied and followed World War I?

¹² The war’s devastation and the withdrawal of many men from agricultural pursuits brought food shortages. Earthquakes shook various parts of the earth, causing much damage and suffering. In 1915 an earthquake at Avezzano, Italy, killed 29,970, and a tremendous quake in 1920 brought death to 200,000 in Kansu Province, China. In 1923, more than 140,000 died in the Great Kanto earthquake in Japan. On the heels of the war came the Spanish flu that in one year killed more victims than had four years of war. Not to be passed over was the persecution of Jehovah’s servants during that first world conflict, climaxed by the unjust nine-month imprisonment of the president and the secretary-treasurer of the Watch Tower Society and six of their co-workers.

13. What have Jehovah’s Witnesses asked Christendom’s clergy, and what would these critics have to admit if they answered honestly?

¹³ Since the end of World War I, Jehovah’s Witnesses have asked Christendom’s clergy: ‘Are the catastrophic events that have afflicted our earth from 1914 onward a fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy at Matthew 24:3-13?’ If those clerics honestly said yes, they would have to admit that Jesus Christ came into his heavenly Kingdom in 1914. Naturally, since Jesus said that ‘the world would behold him no more’ and he now is an immortal spirit person, his “coming,” or “presence,” is invisible. (John 14:19; Matthew 24:3, KJ; 1 Peter 3:18) But admitting all of this would debar the clergy from arguing that the world-shaking events of 1914-18 were merely a routine flare-up of nations in the course of history.

14. (a) If religious leaders made the right admission, in what work would this oblige them to share? (b) What makeshift for the Kingdom would they have to renounce, but what course have they pursued?

¹⁴ Moreover, if the clergy of Christendom admitted that the events of 1914-18 marked the start of the end for the old system of things, they would be obliged to acknowledge the other features of “the sign” of Jesus’ “presence” and would have to take part in the fulfillment of his words: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.” (Matthew 24:14) That would mean preaching, not the Gospel they have preached for centuries, but the good news of the Kingdom established in heaven at the close of the Gentile Times in 1914. They would have to renounce the League of Nations as “the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth” and view it and its successor, the United Nations, as ‘the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.’ (Matthew 24:15, KJ) But down to the year 1985, the clergy of Christendom refuse to brand the League of Nations and the United Nations as that “abomination,” or “disgusting thing.”

15. What future awaits the clergy, but what have Jehovah’s Witnesses been doing?

¹⁵ So Christendom’s clergy refuse to take a stand for Jehovah’s Kingdom by Jesus Christ. For failing to support it, they will be destroyed in the “great tribulation” just ahead. But unlike them, Jehovah’s Witnesses have abandoned Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, and are preaching the Kingdom message in 203 lands. This unparalleled work is an outstanding feature of “the sign” proving that in 1914 Jesus was installed as heavenly King, to rule amid his enemies.​—Matthew 24:3, 14, 21; Psalm 110:1, 2; Revelation 18:1-5.

Any Need for a Recommendation?

16. What questions arise as to recommendation, and what did Paul have to say about this?

¹⁶ Are we baselessly recommending ourselves as Jehovah’s anointed witnesses? Or are we adroitly maneuvering matters so as to establish such a recommendation for Jesus’ “other sheep”? (John 10:16) Paul did not do such a thing but could say to those Corinthians who became Christians due to his tireless efforts: “Are we starting again to recommend ourselves? Or do we, perhaps, like some men, need letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts and known and being read by all mankind. For you are shown to be a letter of Christ written by us as ministers, inscribed not with ink but with spirit of a living God, not on stone tablets, but on fleshly tablets, on hearts.”​—2 Corinthians 3:1-3.

17. Why can it be said that Paul was adequately qualified for the ministry, and in this regard, what may be said of Jehovah’s Witnesses?

¹⁷ With the help of Jehovah’s spirit, Paul wrote a number of Bible books and made many converts to Christianity. So he certainly proved to be adequately qualified for the Christian ministry. In a modern parallel, especially since this journal was first published in 1879, the anointed remnant of Christ’s disciples, though not inspired as was Paul, have produced much Bible literature. Since 1920, they have published thousands of millions of books, booklets, magazines, and tracts in many languages. This literature has been distributed at reduced cost, much of it being given free to the poor. The Watch Tower Society has also arranged for free Bible lectures and has sent missionaries to unserved territories around the globe. Tens of thousands have responded to the printed and vocal message and have symbolized their dedication to Jehovah God by being baptized, particularly since 1935 when it was first made clear that an unlimited “great crowd” of Jesus’ “other sheep” can look forward to eternal life in a restored paradise on earth.​—Revelation 7:9-17; Luke 23:43.

18. If challenged to prove their qualification as ministers, to what can the anointed remnant point?

¹⁸ Consequently, what if the clergy challenge the anointed remnant to produce certificates as Doctors of Divinity? Why, these servants of Jehovah can provide far more significant evidence! They can now point to over two and a half million “other sheep” earth wide and can say: ‘There is our letter of support!’ They can take up Paul’s words and declare to members of the “great crowd”: “You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts and known and being read by all mankind.” (2 Corinthians 3:2) Let Christendom’s clergy read that living letter made up of dedicated, baptized Christians who are serving Jehovah God day and night at his temple and who are helping to ‘preach this good news of the kingdom in all the earth for a witness to all the nations.’ (Matthew 24:14) Like the anointed remnant, they are proving themselves to be adequately qualified for the Christian ministry.

19. What unique letter of recommendation will be preserved through Har–Magedon?

¹⁹ This unique letter of recommendation will not be wiped out in the impending “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at the symbolic place called Har–Magedon. (Revelation 16:14-16) Rather, it will be guarded and preserved by the Omnipotent God for display in the post-Har–Magedon system of things under Christ the King. What a powerful letter that “great crowd” will be to the billions of human dead whom Jehovah God, by Jesus Christ, will then resurrect from the memorial tombs all around the earth! So keep on writing, you anointed remnant! And keep on assisting them, you “great crowd” of the Fine Shepherd’s “other sheep”!

[Footnotes]