Where Is the Truth That Can Set Us Free?

“Jesus went on to say . . . ‘You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”​—JOHN 8:31, 32.

1. What are some of the freedoms people in this world have desired?

FREEDOM! That word has stirred the minds and hearts of people for centuries! Wars have been fought for freedom. Millions of people have died for it. Many have felt as did American statesman Patrick Henry over 200 years ago when he declared: “Give me liberty or give me death.” During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called for “four freedoms”: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

2, 3. What must real freedom include?

² Yet, in a deeper sense, real freedom has to include more than that. For example, can any of those freedoms bring us freedom from human imperfection? Can they bring us freedom from sickness? Furthermore, no matter what measure of health a person may have, he is faced with the hard fact that sooner or later people grow old and die. What can a person enjoy in the grave? The Bible answers: “As for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all.” That is why it also says: “A live dog is better off than a dead lion.”​—Ecclesiastes 9:4, 5.

³ For us to be free in the fullest sense of the word, we have to be rid of the bondage of imperfection, sickness and death. And, yes, along with that we need to be rid of poverty, oppression, crime and war, awful things with which history has been filled. But who can give us freedoms like that? Can any doctor guarantee a cure for cancer, heart trouble and all other illnesses? Can any scientist keep us from getting old and dying or bring us back to life after we die? Can any political leader guarantee peace on earth and freedom from war forever? Is there any mayor or police chief in any city of the world who can bring about total freedom from crime? What economic system can produce freedom from poverty, unemployment or inflation, and deliver real prosperity for everyone​—permanently?

4. On what must real freedom be based?

⁴ If there is any hope that the many bad conditions now engulfing mankind can be eliminated, the answer has to be based on the truth. Real freedom cannot be based on deceptions or lies. Thus, if anyone, whether a world leader, a scientist, an economist or a clergyman, gives an opinion on what will bring longed-for freedoms, the question must be asked: Is he telling the truth? And mankind has had a long, long time to see whether the opinions, promises and efforts of humans have conformed to the truth.

Hopes Not Based on Truth

5. To what extent has the hope for freedom from sickness been realized?

⁵ For instance, some decades ago many people felt that with medical enlightenment mankind would be freed from disease. While there have been many medical advancements, have these brought freedom from sickness? No, for scourges such as cancer and heart trouble have reached epidemic proportions. At one time, too, it was thought that venereal disease would be conquered by new wonder drugs. Yet the respected British medical publication The Lancet reports: “The World Health Organisation concludes that throughout the world there are something of the order of 250 million new cases of gonorrhoea and 50 million new cases of syphilis annually. Other sexually communicable conditions may be even more common.”​—Compare Proverbs 7:10, 21-23.

6. Why can it be said that science and industry have been disappointing?

⁶ What, too, of the great hopes stirred by science and industry a century or two ago? As just one example, the automobile was hailed as a great advancement, and in some ways it was. But it has helped choke cities with congestion, noise and pollution. Throughout the world over 200,000 people are killed in vehicle accidents, and millions are injured every year! The disappointing results of technology were noted by Orville Wright, one of the inventors of the airplane. During World War II he wrote the following to Henry Ford: “Wilbur and I thought the plane would hasten world peace. So far it seems to have done the reverse. I suspect when you introduced mass production ​—one of the great inventions of the ages—​you little thought it would be used . . . in building tanks for world destruction. It seems that no beneficial thing can be introduced without some one finding a vicious use for it.”

7. Can any of this world’s economic systems bring prosperity for all?

⁷ Have all the centuries of experimenting with various economic systems produced one that is stable and brings permanent prosperity for all? No, for economic instability now is the order of the day. As Jack Weldon, a professor of economics at Montreal’s McGill University, declared: “Any economist who is competent and honest will admit that we really don’t know how to deal with the major problems that now confront most of the big industrialized nations.” The situation in the less developed nations is even worse. In one such country, reports Time magazine, there “live more than 2 million children who have been abandoned by their destitute parents and another 14 million who live in such poverty that abandonment almost seems preferable.” In another part of the world, the Philippine Daily Express stated: “Close to half a billion [500 million] Asians are estimated to be in the category of the ‘absolutely poor’ and their number is projected to increase further.”

8. To what degree has democracy brought personal safety to citizens?

⁸ During World War I it was said that the war was being fought to “make the world safe for democracy.” Today, few countries are democracies. Even where it is said to prevail, how safe are the citizens? In the United States one out of every three families is victimized by some sort of crime. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger declared: “We are approaching the status of an impotent society​—a society whose capability of maintaining elementary security on the streets, in schools, and in the homes of our people is in doubt.” He added: “For the last 10 years, many of our national leaders and those of other countries have spoken of international terrorism. But our rate of routine, day-to-day terrorism in almost any large city of the United States exceeds the casualties of all the reported ‘international terrorists’ in any given year.”​—Compare Ecclesiastes 8:11.

9. In this century, what happened to the predictions that war would end?

⁹ World War I also was described as “the war to end the wars.” The Encyclopedia Americana notes: “During the war politicians and publicists spoke of the great days to come, when there would be no more wars, no more armaments, no more clashes between nations.” But the truth proved to be just the opposite. A South African publication, The Natal Mercury, said recently: “President Woodrow Wilson described World War I as ‘the war to end the wars.’ His prediction would have been far more accurate if it had [been called] ‘the war to end peace.’” The article added: “Since 1914 the world has probably seen more violence and turmoil than ever since history came to be recorded.” World military spending now is well over $500 billion annually. Today the nations have enough nuclear weapons to wipe out more than a million large cities, far more cities than exist.

10. What is the truth regarding any progress made in various fields of human endeavor?

¹⁰ No, the truth is that whatever progress has been made in various fields, it has not set mankind free from exploitation, suffering, poverty, crime, war, fear, sickness and death. Thus, the claims, promises and opinions of this world’s leaders have not been based on the truth, as the evidence of centuries of time clearly shows. It is just as the Bible says at 2 Peter 2:19: “While they are promising them freedom, they themselves are existing as slaves of corruption.”

Testing Religious “Truth”

11. What test can be applied to claims of religious truth?

¹¹ Not only do we need freedom from the distressing conditions so common today but we need to be free from the mental bondage that comes from false religious teachings. Yet the religions of Christendom and of the rest of this world contend that their beliefs constitute truth. That is easy to claim, but what do the facts show? Remember, God’s Word states: “Faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26) Further, Jesus declared: “Be on the watch for the false prophets that come to you in sheep’s covering, but inside they are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will recognize them.” Yes, systems of religion can be recognized as true or false not just by what they claim but by what they produce. Of the false, Jesus warned: “Every tree not producing fine fruit gets cut down and thrown into the fire.”​—Matthew 7:15-20.

12. What does the condition of this world’s religions reveal?

¹² If a religion represents the truth, surely the very least fruitage it should bear is that of being a uniting force for those who follow it. Jesus said that those who had the truth should “all be one.” (John 17:21) God’s Word also says: “You should all speak in agreement.” “There should not be divisions among you.” “Be fitly united in the same mind and in the same line of thought.” (1 Corinthians 1:10) This must be the case for those who truly represent God, for “God is a God, not of disorder, but of peace.” (1 Corinthians 14:33) Yet the religions of this world are divided into thousands of sects and cults, with conflicting teachings and practices carried on not only between different religions but often within the same religion. Such confusion and error could not originate with God. Leaders’ Vision, a church magazine in Australia, admitted: ‘To live in a state of disunity is to exist in a state of biblical sin. We constitute a visible denial of the work of the Holy Spirit.’

13. (a) In what has the disunity of false religion resulted? (b) Where, then, does such false religion originate?

¹³ Further proof that such religions cannot represent the truth, and that they cannot be from God, comes in what results from their disunity. If a religion teaches the truth, it is certainly elementary that its members should at least not kill one another. Otherwise, what kind of truth, what kind of brotherhood would that be? Yet history shows that people of the same religions of this world have regularly slaughtered one another in time of war, by the millions, just because they lived in different countries. At times, people of the same religion slaughter one another inside the same country, in civil uprisings or revolutions. The Bible says, at 1 John 3:10-12, that it is “the children of the Devil” who slaughter their ‘brothers.’ (Compare Genesis 4:8.) The children of God do not do so, but, instead, they have unbreakable love for one another. Jesus plainly said: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”​—John 13:35.

14. Applying Jesus’ rule of “by their fruits,” what is the truth about worldly religion?

¹⁴ Thus, by their bad fruitage, their disunity, their warring, as well as the rampant immorality and hypocrisy so prevalent in this world’s religions, they stand exposed as not representing the truth​—not representing God. They are indeed bad trees, producing rotten crops, ready to get “cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Trusting the God of Truth

15. In whom should we put our full trust, and why?

¹⁵ The inability of humans to bring true freedom in the important things of life emphasizes what is said in the Bible at Jeremiah 10:23: “To earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step.” No, God did not create man with the ability or prerogative to be independent of His direction and be successful. This is one reason why God has allowed so many thousands of years of human rule independent from him, to demonstrate once and for all time that such rule cannot bring true freedom and happiness. Hence, Psalm 146:3 wisely counsels: “Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs.” Then whom can we trust? The Bible answers: “Trust in Jehovah with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding. In all your ways take notice of him, and he himself will make your paths straight.”​—Proverbs 3:5, 6.

16. What confidence can we have in Jehovah?

¹⁶ Why can we put such complete confidence in Jehovah? Because, as Psalm 31:5 says, ‘Jehovah is the God of truth.’ If we really want the truth about all the important issues of life and the answers to questions that perplex even world leaders, God has them. Since “it is impossible for God to lie,” what he says is what will be. “Jehovah of armies has sworn, saying: ‘Surely just as I have figured, so it must occur; and just as I have counseled, that is what will come true.’”​—Hebrews 6:18; Isaiah 14:24.

17. How has Jehovah provided a source of truth for sincere truth lovers?

¹⁷ God would certainly make his truths known to sincere truth seekers, for, at John 8:32, Jesus said: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” In prayer to God he also said: “Your word is truth.” (John 17:17) Where is God’s “word,” his truth, set forth? The apostle Paul answers: “All Scripture is inspired of God.” (2 Timothy 3:16) The almighty Creator of the universe thus claims to have authored the Bible. By means of his powerful active force, or holy spirit, he moved faithful men to write down his thoughts. So when we read the Scriptures, it is as though God is speaking to us.​—1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Peter 1:20, 21.

18. Why is it unreasonable to think that God did not author the Bible?

¹⁸ Some claim that God did not author the Bible. Yet humans can author books, and God created humans. Should the far superior Creator of humans be unable to do what vastly inferior humans can do? Scientists, by means of electronic equipment, send instructions to satellites in space, directing them in their course. A radio announcer speaks into a microphone, and his message is heard thousands of miles away. Even from the moon, television pictures of events have been transmitted into our home. But Jehovah made the ear, the eye, electricity and sound. Could he not, by means of his “dynamic energy” project his thoughts to his faithful servants on earth? Surely, the Creator of this magnificent universe could create a book!​—Isaiah 40:26.

19. Why did God author the Bible with some of it hard to understand?

¹⁹ ‘But,’ others say, ‘the Bible is hard to understand.’ Yes, some of it is. (2 Peter 3:16) Why did God author the Bible that way? Because then he is the One who determines who gets the truth. The apostle Paul said of God’s truths: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God kept making it grow.” (1 Corinthians 3:6) Paul also stated about God’s wisdom and sacred secret: “It is to us God has revealed them through his spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:10) God thus reserves the right to reveal his truths only to those who really want them and who are willing to live by them and serve him faithfully: “The Sovereign Lord Jehovah will not do a thing unless he has revealed his confidential matter to his servants.”​—Amos 3:7; Daniel 2:28, 47.

20. Where is the truth that can set us free?

²⁰ Yes, there is a God of truth. His truths are found in his inspired Word, the Holy Bible. He reveals the understanding of the sacred Scriptures to his humble, unified servants.

True Freedom Under Kingdom Rule

“The creation itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption and have the glorious freedom of the children of God.”​—ROMANS 8:21.

1. Who only can provide the freedoms mankind desperately needs, and why?

MANKIND desperately needs to be freed from the many distressing conditions that have prevailed for so long. But, as history has shown, it is beyond human ability to bring such freedoms. “Many are the plans in the heart of a man, but the counsel of Jehovah is what will stand.” (Proverbs 19:21) That “counsel” of Jehovah promises that “he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore.” (Revelation 21:4) What an inspiring outlook! How well it fits the description of the real freedom that the Bible says will come from Jehovah: “The creation itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption and have the glorious freedom of the children of God”!​—Romans 8:21.

2. What is the agency Jehovah uses to bring such freedoms?

² The agency that will bring about such marvelous freedoms is the government originated by Jehovah to rule the entire earth, the heavenly Kingdom of God. By means of it God’s will is going to take place “as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matthew 6:10) It is that same Kingdom that very shortly “will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms [existing today], and it itself will stand to times indefinite.”​—Daniel 2:44.

3. Why should we not be deceived by human schemes to solve this world’s problems?

³ No, God is not going to reform this corrupt world. It is far beyond recovery. So if anyone says that if some particular human scheme were to be followed, then the world would solve its problems, do not believe it. God’s Word truthfully shows, instead, that the miserable experiment of some 6,000 years of human rule independent from God is now deep into its “last days.”​—2 Timothy 3:1-5, 13.

One Government

4. What will the one Kingdom government mean for mankind?

⁴ The rule of God’s heavenly Kingdom will mean having only one government for all the earth. Its chief Administrator will be Jesus Christ, and with him a relatively small group of other faithful servants of God taken from the earth to serve as associate rulers. Think of what one government, ruled by God’s laws and principles, will mean for the earth! All boundary lines that now divide nations into hostile factions will fall. People will be united into one grand human family, free to move about the entire earth without hindrance. No more passports, visas or border guards.​—Philippians 2:9, 10; Revelation 14:4; 20:6.

5. How has the need for only one government for all the earth been recognized?

⁵ Some have long recognized the need for one government. In the Bulletin Today, a publication in the Philippines, columnist Gwynne Dyer relates: “A. J. P. Taylor, one of the leading historians of our age, told me recently that he believed the only hope of avoiding a catastrophic world war which would end civilization was for somebody to create a world empire. . . . Somehow or other we must get from our present condition of living in [over 150] separate sovereign states​—all armed to the teeth, and all equally vulnerable to destruction—​to a single world authority . . . And we must do so quickly. The pathetically weak and chronically divided state of the United Nations is a measure of how far we have to go. . . . The old slogan of the 1950s is still relevant: one world, or none.”

6. What type of administration will the Kingdom be?

⁶ It will be one world, under one government of God. What a blessing it will be to have an administration that will deal with everybody with kindness, justice and impartiality! Speaking of the heavenly King, Jesus Christ, the Bible prophetically says: “With righteousness he must judge the lowly ones, and with uprightness he must give reproof in behalf of the meek ones of the earth.” (Isaiah 11:3, 4) Yes, Christ will do what is right. He proved that while he was on earth, for he spoke the truth and exposed hypocrisy. He upheld the cause of the downtrodden and did not cater to the rich and powerful, although he did not discriminate against them either. With such a proved, capable Administrator working under Jehovah’s direction, “trueness itself will sprout out of the very earth, and righteousness itself will look down from the very heavens.”​—Psalm 85:11, 12.

True Peace and Prosperity

7. Those who will be preserved alive into God’s New Order will already have done what?

⁷ What a joy it will be to live no longer under divided human rule committed to huge armed forces and constant wars! No more wasting of earth’s resources for destruction. Instead, those resources will be used for peaceful, constructive purposes. In fact, those whom God will preserve alive through the coming end of this present system of things will already have fulfilled the prophecy of Micah 4:3: “They will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. They will not lift up sword, nation against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.” Who, today, among all of earth’s peoples already fulfill that prophecy? The record of modern history shows that it is Jehovah’s Witnesses. They are living testimony to the fact that earth-wide peace under God’s rule is going to be a reality because earth-wide peace already is a reality among them now!

8, 9. What will be the extent of peace and prosperity under Kingdom rule?

⁸ In God’s New Order peace will be extended to every part of the earth. Isaiah 32:17, 18 speaks of “quietness and security to time indefinite,” adding: “My people must dwell in a peaceful abiding place and in residences of full confidence and in undisturbed resting-places.” Imagine having such security that you will not even have to lock your doors, and that you will be able to walk anywhere at any time of the day or the night without fear of muggers or rapists. For good reason does the Bible say: “They will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”​—Psalm 37:11.

⁹ Prosperity will accompany that peace, instead of millions dying each year from malnutrition as is the case now. Since Jesus had the power to feed thousands by miraculously increasing only a few loaves of bread and a few fishes, under his Kingdom administration he will be able to lead mankind in the fulfillment of Psalm 72:16: “There will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; on the top of the mountains there will be an overflow.” And since God’s Kingdom will eliminate all political barriers, as well as commercial greed and wasteful competition, earth’s bountiful produce will flow freely for the benefit of all mankind, not just a few. Thus, gone for all time will be the awful specter of children with spindly arms and legs and with bellies swollen from hunger.

Fruitful, Enjoyable Work

10. How will work in the New Order differ from that of today?

¹⁰ Today many people are unhappy because of the type of work they have to do for a living. Millions of others have no work at all, being unemployed. But in God’s New Order people will find great pleasure in work. And they will be in no danger of seeing their efforts come to nothing because of bad economic conditions, some catastrophe or war. “They will certainly build houses and have occupancy; and they will certainly plant vineyards and eat their fruitage. They will not build and someone else have occupancy; they will not plant and someone else do the eating. . . . the work of their own hands my chosen ones will use to the full. They will not toil for nothing.”​—Isaiah 65:21-23.

11. What will the subjects of God’s Kingdom accomplish toward this earth and life on it?

¹¹ With such uplifting working conditions, and with people having genuine love of neighbor, the subjects of the Kingdom will accomplish, for the betterment of this earth and life on it, things a thousand times more wonderful than anything this world has ever seen. That is why Jesus could point forward to a coming Paradise. (Luke 23:43) As Isaiah foretells: “The desert will sing and shout for joy; it will be as beautiful as the Lebanon Mountains and as fertile as the fields of Carmel and Sharon. . . . Streams of water will flow through the desert; the burning sand will become a lake, and dry land will be filled with springs. . . . They will be happy forever, forever free from sorrow and grief.”​—Isaiah 35:2, 6, 7, 10, Today’s English Version.

No More Sickness and Death

12. How did Jesus demonstrate the grand healing program that he will administer in Kingdom power?

¹² Yet, it would be distressing to have all of that and then lose it because of getting sick, growing old and dying. But what doctors and scientists cannot now do, God will do under Kingdom rule. God created man’s body, mind and emotions. He knows what will make him well, perfect. When on earth Jesus demonstrated the healing power that he has been given by God and will use in the New Order: “Then great crowds approached him, having along with them people that were lame, maimed, blind, dumb, and many otherwise, and they fairly threw them at his feet, and he cured them; so that the crowd felt amazement as they saw the dumb speaking and the lame walking and the blind seeing.” (Matthew 15:30, 31) In addition, with mankind being raised to human perfection under Kingdom rule, ‘death will be swallowed up forever.’ (Isaiah 25:8) Jehovah’s love will extend, too, even to those long dead, for they will get the opportunity to live in God’s New Order by being brought back to life in the resurrection. The joy then will be repeated countless times, reminding of when Jesus resurrected a young girl and the eyewitnesses “were beside themselves with great ecstasy.”​—Mark 5:41, 42; John 5:28, 29.

13. What things might people choose to do in the New Order?

¹³ Think what you could do in a righteous New Order of peace and prosperity with a perfect mind and body​—and never dying! How many things you have wanted to do, but you could not take the time or could not afford it! Think of exploring and enjoying the majestic mountains, the refreshing forests, the flower-decked fields and gardens, the fascinating animal life, the sparkling streams and lakes free from pollution, the delicious foods of different peoples. Consider the talents that men and women will develop in craftsmanship, architecture, landscaping, home decorating, artistry and music. Without a doubt, mankind will be stimulated to new heights of expression and beauty. Think, too, of getting better acquainted with the One who makes all of that possible, Jehovah God. Increased knowledge of his awesome universe with its galaxies, stars and planets will also prove fascinating. Yes, indeed, “the creation itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption and have the glorious freedom of the children of God.”​—Romans 8:21.

Accepting the Truth

14. Why can we have full confidence in all of Jehovah’s promises?

¹⁴ Can you really believe all these promises of God? Yes, you can. You can feel as did God-fearing Joshua when he said: “Not one word out of all the good words that Jehovah your God has spoken to you has failed. They have all come true for you. Not one word of them has failed.” (Joshua 23:14) Really, you can stake your life on God’s promises because what he says is the truth and will, without fail, come to pass.​—Isaiah 46:9-11.

15. What attitude of this world do God’s servants reject?

¹⁵ The Bible clearly shows that there is truth, what it is, where it is and who has it. The question for each one is this: Do you really want the truth? ‘Well,’ some may say, ‘don’t most people want the truth?’ No, for Jesus said that the road to eternal life is narrow and relatively few are on it. (Matthew 7:13, 14) The vast majority of mankind today feels the way that the Bible describes at Job 21:14-16: “They say to the true God, ‘Turn away from us! And in the knowledge of your ways we have found no delight. What does the Almighty amount to, that we should serve him, and how do we benefit ourselves in that we have come in touch with him?’” But Job says, “The very counsel of wicked ones has kept far from me.” Their way of thinking is not based on the truth but is based on Satan’s lie that humans would be better off independent from God.

16. Why can we be certain that anyone who sincerely wants the truth will find it?

¹⁶ Any person who sincerely wants the truth, and who asks God to help him find it, will certainly be led to it. It does not matter where he lives or under what circumstances. Why not? Because while Jehovah uses his faithful servants on earth to preach the good news of the Kingdom before the end comes, the work of searching out truth lovers is not merely a human work. The heavenly King Jesus Christ and multitudes of his powerful heavenly forces are behind the message that is going forth throughout the world with ever-increasing power.​—Matthew 25:31, 32; Revelation 14:6, 7.

17. If a person really wants the truth, what must he do?

¹⁷ An entire system of things is about to come to its finish. If you really want the truth and want to keep living, you need to demonstrate this to God and man. Take in accurate knowledge of God’s Word. Assemble with his people. “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness.”​—Matthew 6:33; John 17:3; Hebrews 10:24, 25.

18. What benefits are reaped even now by those who live the truth?

¹⁸ As you do, you will reap many benefits even now. Those who learn the truth and live by it find enormous freedom mentally and emotionally, since they know why times are so bad and what the future holds. They are also freed from the futile way of life of people in this world who strive after material gain only, but who will lose it all when this system ends. (1 John 2:15-17) There is tremendous relief, too, in being freed from religious error.

19. What will you do if you have a love for the truth?

¹⁹ Do you really have a love for the truth? Then you will love the God of truth. You will love the wonderful truths he reveals about his Kingdom rule. You will love his visible organization on earth, made up of the people he is now gathering together for survival. (Isaiah 2:2-4) You will let nothing in heaven or on earth stop you from faithfully serving the God of truth who can set you free by his truth.​—John 8:31, 32.