be in the day near at hand when Jehovah God destroys Babylon the Great and, with it, every imitation Christian? We do not care to suffer fire loss and have all the product of our Christian building work disappear. We prefer to receive a reward for work of the right sort done with enduring, fire-resistant, noninflammable materials. Says 1 Corinthians 3:14, 15: “If anyone’s work that he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward; if anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved; yet, if so, it will be as through fire.”

“SAVED . . . AS THROUGH FIRE”

31. As a builder, why did Paul write his two letters to the Corinth congregation, and what reward did he want to have, according to his first letter to the Thessalonians?

³¹ The apostle Paul did not want to suffer any fire loss. That is why, in the case of the Corinth congregation, he wrote his two letters to the Corinthians. He said to them that he desired to “present you as a chaste virgin to the Christ.” (2 Cor. 11:2) That is why Paul wrote to the persecuted Christians in Thessalonica and said: “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, seeing that you accepted the word under much tribulation with joy of holy spirit, so that you came to be an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For what is our hope or joy or crown of exultation—why, is it not in fact you?—before our Lord Jesus at his presence? You certainly are our glory and joy.” (1 Thess. 1:6, 7; 2:19, 20) What a reward for Paul to present them as a product of his work!

32, 33. (a) What can be said about a builder who suffers fire loss, as to whether he himself will be saved? (b) To snatch him out of the fire, what will his brothers, “God’s fellow workers,” have to do?

³² Will a builder who has built on Christ as the Foundation with inflammable materials himself pass through the fire and at last be saved? Possibly not! He himself may be destroyed in the fire! However, if he is saved to life eternal, then it will be because he has come through the fire that destroyed his own building work on others. To gain such a salvation after proving to be such a poor builder, he will have to incorporate in himself building materials, Christian qualities, that will make him at last fire-resistant. He will have to be snatched from the destructive fire by the loving, timely intervention of his Christian brothers.

³³ As one modern translation of 1 Corinthians 3:15 (Mo) presents the case: “If a man’s work is burnt up, he will be a loser—and though he will be saved himself, he will be snatched from the very flames.” If he chooses to remain on the one true Foundation, Jesus Christ, his brothers as “God’s fellow workers” will have to do some rebuilding in him, building into him the noninflammable, fire-resistant Christian qualities. Hence Jude 22, 23 tells us:

34. How does Jude 22, 23 speak of a similar act of rescue?

³⁴ “Also, continue showing mercy to some that have doubts; save them by snatching them out of the fire. But continue showing mercy to others, doing so with fear, while you hate even the inner garment that has been stained by the flesh.”

35. (a) What course is too dangerous to rely upon for gaining salvation? (b) Can anyone escape coming into the fire test, and how do true lovers of Christianity desire to come through the fire?

³⁵ None of us who professes to be a Christian can escape coming into the fire of the decisive test. Every lover of true Christianity will desire to come through that fire, with tested Christian qualities, to the glory of God the Great Builder, whose fellow workers we are. For anyone carelessly to rely on escaping eternal destruction by at last being barely saved with merely suffering the loss of the product of one’s activity is too dangerous a course. What real lover of life in God’s service wants to be saved from annihilation by being snatched out of the fire? Sincere, wise fellow workers of God do not care to prove themselves poor builders and suffer fire loss. They appreciate the joyful reward that God holds out to all his faithful fellow workers. This is what they desire and what they are working for!

36. As regards personal benefit, what building work should we appreciate, and what action should we take toward it, in what way, with what result?

³⁶ Let us, then, appreciate all the Christian building work that God’s constructive theocratic organization is doing on each one of us. At the same time let us do God’s approved work in cooperation with that organization, as we continue building on the one right foundation, Jesus Christ, doing so with the noninflammable, fire-resistant materials of spiritual gold, silver and precious stones. This will result in our own everlasting life and that of others on whom we do building work.

What Price Government?

IN ORDER to get rulership or power in government, men have been ready to stoop very low. World history is filled with the names of rulers who have used bribery, lies, intrigue and murder to gain power. Men have murdered their wives, and wives their husbands; sons, daughters, mothers and close relatives have been imprisoned, enslaved, poisoned, beheaded and slaughtered in a lust for governmental power. Some have been willing to betray their country to an enemy nation—a terrible price to pay.

The Bible tells us that there have been seven great world powers that have succeeded one another in ruling over humankind in the world’s political field, namely, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and finally the Anglo-American Empire system. The world’s system of political government is pictured in the Bible as a “wild beast” having “seven heads.” How did this “wild beast” and the “seven heads” thereof get their authority in government and what price did the beast and its component governments have to pay for this authority?

WHAT THE THRONE IS

The Bible speaks of the “throne” or “seat” of the “wild beast.” (Rev. 13:1, 2; AV) Would this mean the capital city of the world power that happened to rule at any period of history? We know that during the rule of the seven world powers the capital city representing the dominant world power has changed with the change of political control. From the seventeenth century up until World War II, England dominated as the world power and in the