which control had not existed since the captivity of which Paul warned.

11. Who directs the Christian New World society?

¹¹ Who controls the organization, who directs it? Who is at the head? A man? A group of men? A clergy class? A pope? A hierarchy? A council? No, none of these. How is that possible? In any organization is it not necessary that there be a directing head or policy-making part that controls or guides the organization? Yes. Is the living God, Jehovah, the Director of the theocratic Christian organization? Yes!

12. What vital facts prove the foregoing answer?

¹² Because of the vital fact that the law that governs the operation of the theocratic New World society is the Word of Jehovah God, and because of the fact that the heaven-enthroned Christ Jesus is Jehovah’s Executive Officer carrying on his work in the earth, and because of the further fact that the spirit of God by Christ Jesus is operating through his Word and upon the hearts and minds of his dedicated servants, the New World society is theocratic, meaning “God-ruled.”

13. (a) How are appointments of ministerial servants made? (b) Prove such appointments are theocratic. (c) Over whom is theocratic control?

¹³ Does Christ Jesus come to earth and make appointments of the individual ministerial servants, overseers and assistants and other such ministers throughout the congregations in the earth? No. Then how are such appointments made? They are made by the visible governing body associated with the legal agency or Society, which in 1884 witnesses of Jehovah incorporated for that purpose, now named Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. They are theocratic because they act in accordance with the great Theocrat’s written Word and with the model organization of the early Christian church or congregation as launched by Christ Jesus. “Farfetched,” do some say? But let those who contend that Jehovah’s witnesses are not a theocratic organization point out wherein they are not. In word and in deed, in doctrine, organization and practice, the New World society endeavors sincerely to conform to the Word of Jehovah God and to insist on its principles, and therefore it is a Scriptural, Christian, theocratic or God-directed organization. It is through his Word that Jehovah expresses his mind to his people. There is no other organization in Christendom that conforms to the Bible pattern or model. Only the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses insists that those within its ranks do conform to the Scriptural pattern in matters both personal and congregational. This theocratic control and direction is not over all men; it is not even over all who may come in contact with it, or may be associated with the congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses, or attend their meetings. An individual must willingly submit or bring himself under the beneficent control by his personal dedication to Jehovah God; and so the theocratic control and direction is only over dedicated ones.

14. For what purposes are theocratic appointments?

¹⁴ The present delegation of duties to the servants in the congregation and the other special representatives of the theocratic organization is for specific purposes. These must feed the flock of God, shepherding faithfully and with love. They must help Jehovah’s people everywhere to study the Bible, grow in maturity, be trained in the field ministry, preaching the good news of the Kingdom to others, and they must preserve virtue in the congregation throughout the New World society organization. This is necessary that corruptness, indecency of any kind, not be allowed to creep in and contaminate.

15. In what way is the theocratic principle of cutting off found in the New World society?

¹⁵ As we have previously observed, in the nation of typical Israel corruption of pure worship brought death to the wrongdoer. In the Christian congregation the members of the congregation do not take the life of an offender. There is, however, a Christian cutting off or disfellowshiping. This is not a taking of human life, but it is an expulsion from fellowship with the congregation of dedicated servants of Jehovah God, a disfellowshiping from the New World society. This is necessary, following the exhausting of the other provisions of Christian rule for handling such matters, and it is accomplished by the mature judgment and considered action of the appointed servants in the Christian congregation. This is their responsibility. If faithful, they must discharge this responsibility, without passion, for the interests of all concerned and for the honor of Jehovah and the cleanliness of his organization.

ATTITUDE TOWARD DISFELLOWSHIPMENT

16. Enumerate offenses that require cleansing.

¹⁶ The offenses that make disfellowshiping necessary include those which brought punishment at the time of the early Christian congregation. Such offenses include persistence in lying, stealing, dishonest practices in business, sexual offenses, teaching of false doctrine, repudiation of Jehovah’s provision by Christ Jesus, rebellion against the theocratic organization, causing dissension, slander, backbiting and other wrongs. These we know are not virtuous and we cannot imagine such things’ being practiced by Jehovah God or by his Son Christ Jesus.

17. In what ways is disfellowshiping an act of love?

¹⁷ The Christian law in these matters does not ignore man’s weakness nor does it overlook the ransom provision of Christ Jesus and Jehovah’s forgiveness and mercy. The disfellowshiping procedure takes all of these into consideration and is really a last resort after all other provisions have failed to maintain or to restore cleanliness and virtue. Disfellowshiping is therefore really an act of love, love on the part of Jehovah God and Christ Jesus, on the part of the theocratic organization itself and on the part of the servants in the congregation who properly take the action directly. This is so because it is done not in malice or unkindness but in obedience to the righteous laws of Jehovah. It is an act of faithfulness; failure to keep the organization clean would be unfaithfulness. It has a threefold purpose, (1) that of keeping clean the Christian congregation of the New World society; (2) helping the offender, if possible, through this drastic means, should it be that he can be impressed with his error and duly repent of it before Jehovah God; (3) it is in the interests of those who observe the action taken, both as to assuring them of the correctness of the theocratic organization and as a warning to them of the seriousness of deviation from proper conduct.

18. Compare sexual offenses with other transgressions of Christian law.

¹⁸ There are these various offenses, some of which we have named, that serve to weaken the individual and the congregations if persisted in. Most of them we can recognize as being offenses against another person, depriving the other of certain rights and therefore showing a lack of love. But some seem to have difficulty in understanding why the sexual offenses should be so objectionable to the Christian organization and why they are so strongly condemned by God himself in his Word, the Bible. It is the great Creator and Father who has made his provision for the transmission of human life, and this is a very wonderful and sacred thing. We have all received of its benefits, because we are living. If we accept its benefits we, of course, accept God’s method, and the acceptance of the benefit and the method by us makes it encumbent on us to accept God’s regulation of the entire process. Some might argue that sexual offenses do no harm, not even to the willing participants themselves; so wherein is it so wrong? Lying, yes! Stealing, yes! Such things deprive another of what is his due. But an offense such as adultery or fornication, is it not different? Since it is so commonly practiced in the old world, how can it be so bad for the members of the New World society to practice?

19. How does Paul show religion to be involved?

¹⁹ Perhaps the apostle Paul encountered such or similar reasoning. In any event in the sixth chapter of First Corinthians he shows that religion is involved, stating in part: “Flee from fornication. Every other sin which a man may commit is outside his body, but he that practices fornication is sinning against his own body. What! Do you not know that the body of you people is the temple of the holy spirit within you which you have from God? Also, you do not belong to yourselves, for you were bought with a price. By all means, glorify God in the body of you people.”—1 Cor. 6:9-20, NW.

20. Why must the Lord’s “other sheep” abstain from sexual impurities?

²⁰ Here Paul is addressing members of the body of Christ. But does this mean that this commandment to abstain from sexual impurities is not binding upon the Lord’s other sheep, who constitute the great majority of those in the New World society? That could not be the conclusion, but, rather, this injunction to moral cleanliness is equally binding upon all servants dedicated to God. Why? Because his spirit is upon his dedicated people as a group or body and as individuals. These other sins that are condemned, such as lying, stealing, teaching wrong doctrines, and rebellion, are sins outside the body of the individual member of the Lord’s “other sheep” but the sins of adultery and fornication are sins against the individual’s own body, which should be used to glorify God.

21. To glorify God, what must we do?

²¹ We cannot glorify God in this or in other matters if we refuse to be subject to the regulations that he laid down. Do the members of Jehovah’s other sheep have his spirit on them? They do. Therefore they dare not sin against their own bodies. The times in which we are living, which are critical and hard to deal with, demand exacting preservation of virtue and they demand this not only of the members of the remnant of the “body of Christ” but also of the members of the Lord’s “other sheep,” of all who compose or hope to compose the New World society. Back in his time Paul made reference to what he called the prevalence of fornication. It is no less prevalent now.

22. What about the privilege and responsibility of the entire congregation in this matter of preservation of virtue?

²² What about the privilege and responsibility of the entire congregation in this matter of preservation of virtue? We recall that in the case of typical Israel it was the congregation, the people, who executed the death sentence upon offenders who were worthy of it under the law of Jehovah God. In the Christian congregation all must sincerely wish to preserve Jehovah’s virtues among men. They must respect the decision of the servants in such a matter as disfellowshiping. This is supported by Titus 1:5-16: “Make appointments . . . that he may be able both to exhort by the teaching that is healthful and to reprove those who contradict. . . . unruly men, . . . shut the mouths of these, . . . keep on reproving them with severity, . . . They publicly declare they know God, but they disown him by their works, because they are detestable.” We see from this that unruliness is not to be permitted. Unruliness would be a second violation, and a second violation would not do good nor help the first violation of God’s law constituting the basis for the disfellowshiping action. One’s questioning the decision respecting the disfellowshiping action would be inconsistent with one’s profession of faith in God and his word and one’s profession of the desire to see the word of God operate among his people. It would be inconsistent with our joining in the New World society in its wonderful work of expansion of clean worship. It would show a lack of trust, whereas a co-operation by all in the congregation and a conformance to the disfellowshiping that was done in behalf of all is showing trust by those who are in fellowship. Therefore it is necessary that all in the congregation accept the policy of the congregation. To the Thessalonians, Paul wrote: “Now we request you, brothers, to have regard for those who are working hard among you and presiding over you in the Lord and admonishing you, and to give them more than extraordinary consideration in love because of their work.”—1 Thess. 5:12-27, NW.

23. To what extent must an erring individual be saddened because of his sin?

²³ Anger on the part of the disfellowshiped person is not associated with his repentance. A person is not both repentant and angry; therefore there must not be any misplaced pity and misplaced sympathy. Must the heart be made sad then? Yes, disfellowshiping should make the heart sad. On the part of the erring individual, for any violation of God’s laws, small or serious, there must be real repentance, which means sadness of heart. In the case of a disfellowshiped person, in order for the disfellowshiping to work for his good and possibly to reinstatement, the heart must be cut, the mind must be hurt, there must be a real sincere longing for virtue on his part, which longing will lead to repentance.

24. In what action can we show our dependence upon Jehovah and our love of his virtue?

²⁴ For genuine worship and preservation of God’s virtue, the entire congregation is under test. Following the obedient course brings Jehovah’s blessing. Thereby all in the congregation show consistently their dependence on Jehovah through Christ Jesus for everything; for the truth itself, for his spirit enabling us to maintain our integrity and to perform our ministry, and for even the common blessings of life. Where counsel and guidance and even severe discipline are applied and received, ‘whatever virtue there is, whatever praiseworthy thing there is,’ such is from Jehovah God through Christ Jesus. The theocratic New World society, decade after decade, consistently continues to merit our wholehearted support and co-operation as Christians worshiping Jehovah God in the preservation of virtue, in his virtuous triumphant kingdom. Turn to the New World society!

A Jesuitical Prayer

● The Roman Catholic Jesuit magazine America, in its issue of March 31, 1956, said in an article entitled “Our Brother, the Jew” the following: “On Good Friday the Church bids us pray ‘ . . . that our Lord and God may take away the veil from their hearts, so that they, too, may know Jesus Christ Our Lord.’” However, the Jesuits published in their magazine only part of the Good Friday prayer—a phrase from the middle of it. In its more complete version this famous prayer runs as follows: “Let us also pray for the perfidious Jews; may the Lord our God remove the veil from their hearts so that they, too, may acknowledge Jesus Christ our Lord. Almighty Eternal God, Thou who dost not exclude from Thy compassion even the perfidious Jews, listen to our prayers which we offer on behalf of this deluded people, so that they see and recognize the light of Thy truth which is Christ and may be rescued from their darkness by the same Jesus Christ our Lord.”