the harlot and will make her devastated and naked, and will eat up her fleshy parts and will completely burn her with fire. For God put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose.” Jehovah lets harlotrous religion’s political paramours destroy her for her infidelity to him. We can already see radical political elements that are United Nations members turning against religion and casting it off, and this spirit will increase until false religion is devastated.

And what then? These “wild beast” nations “will battle with the Lamb, but, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb will conquer them.” This is the climax of Jehovah’s war of Armageddon and is when the wild beast will “go off into destruction.” At this climactic time Satan and his demons will be put out of existence, and thus will be erased the disunifying forces. Jehovah’s promised new world of righteousness will usher in complete unity.—Re 17 Vss. 1-3, 8, 16, 17, 14, NW.

It is only a dream for men to think they will establish a unified world. Regardless of the system of government, the men who run it are imperfect and selfish and frequently corrupt. Men would have to change, and they cannot change themselves. By studying the Bible men can make their minds over, strip off their old personality and don a new one devoted to righteousness and morality. (Rom. 12:2; Col. 3:5-10) But today’s world leaders, along with multitudes of persons, think the Bible impractical and shun it. And even if they did conform themselves to the Bible principles unity would not be attained. Why? Because Satan would still be the god of this world. (2 Cor. 4:4) Man cannot crush this invisible tyrant god.

Eleven years ago Winston Churchill took off on a flight of pretentious oratory and said the Allies look ahead to “when we shall have finally beaten down Satan under our feet.” He not only borrowed this from the Bible but edited it, substituting the Allies for God. Only God will crush Satan underfoot. (Rom. 16:20) Ten years later Churchill had not walked all over Satan and was not nearly so confident of handling matters, for he said: “A fearful question confronts us: Have our problems got beyond our control?” They always were and always will be. Satan is the cause of present woes, and only Jehovah can eliminate that cause. We can see Satan’s works, just as we can see the devastation wrought by a hurricane or splitting atoms; but we cannot see Satan, any more than we can see the wind or the atoms.

There are things we can do. We can study the Bible, obey it, declare its message to others and sound the warning of Armageddon’s impending destruction. By having the truth declared Christ is separating people as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. When that is done Armageddon will strike. Satan will be abyssed. The earth will not be burned up. Just as we would not burn down a barn to kill the rats, Jehovah will not burn up the earth to kill the goats, or Satan. He will destroy this present wicked system and replace it with a righteous system, his new world. Obedient men, at unity with Jehovah, his King, his Word and purposes, will live therein forever. Disunity started when disobedience to God started. It will end when disobedience to God ends. We can end our disobedience now; Jehovah will end Satan’s at the close of Christ’s thousand-year reign. We should do what we can; Jehovah will do what we cannot. Only in this way can men escape the present nightmare of disunity and attain a new world of unity and everlasting life.

Then, in that new world of Jehovah’s building, our unity will match that of the heavens, that of the locusts who do not break rank, that of the many varied colors of nature, that of the countless sounds of different pitch and volume that fill stream and field, woodland and mountain. Our unity will match theirs because it will come from the same source, from Jehovah the God of unity,the Creator of the righteous new world of unity, the Inviter of unity lovers to enter it and live eternally. Will you accept his invitation? Will you live in this new world of unity, which men can only dream about, but which only Jehovah can accomplish?

Who Are Born Again?

CHRIST himself introduced the subject of being “born again.” It is a subject that, down through the centuries, has been little understood. Many religious teachers today hold to the view that if one is not “born again” there is no salvation. In other words, being “born again,” they say, is the only way to salvation. Supporters of this teaching readily point to Jesus’ words, those words he spoke one night to Nicodemus: “Most truly I say to you, Unless anyone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3, NW) Did Jesus here mean that it is necessary for anyone who hopes for life to be “born again”? What really does it mean to be “born again”?

To understand what it means to be “born again” one must know who are “born again.” Note carefully that, in discussing this matter, Jesus did not say that all who would gain everlasting life must be “born again.” Rather, what he said was that unless one was “born again” he could not see the “kingdom of God.” Now the kingdom of God is heavenly. Jehovah has purposed that the Kingdom be the capital or ruling part of his universal organization. Jehovah also purposed that a limited number, taken from among mankind, would reign with Christ Jesus as associate kings. For this sublime privilege they must be resurrected and given spirit bodies, since, as the apostle said, “flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom.” That the Father has set a limitation on the number of those who will reign with his Son in the heavenly kingdom is manifest from Jesus’ words: “Have no fear, little flock, because your Father has approved of giving you the kingdom.” The exact number of the “little flock” approved by the Father to be Kingdom heirs was not known until Christ, through an angel, revealed it to be 144,000 “who have been purchased from the earth.” This “little flock” of 144,000 Kingdom heirs, then, are those ones from among mankind who are “born again.”—1 Cor. 15:50; Luke 12:32; Rev. 14:1-3, NW.

Hence it is a gross twisting of the Scriptures to throw open Jesus’ words at John 3:3 to make them embrace all mankind. This is because the vast majority of mankind who receive salvation will not be part of the “kingdom of God” but will live on the earth under the rule of God’s kingdom. For in addition to his “little flock” of Kingdom