As Jesus said concerning Jehovah’s faithful witnesses: “Everyone that kills you will imagine he has rendered a sacred service to God.”—John 16:2, NW.

14. What can we see happening today?

¹⁴ Can you imagine that people bowing down to idols would claim to be worshiping Jehovah? Can you imagine that those feeding their minds on pagan doctrines would claim to be taking in Jehovah’s truths? Can you imagine that they would think they were serving Jehovah by persecuting his witnesses? Can you imagine such religious inconsistency? Actually, you do not have to imagine these things. You can see them happening with your own eyes. These ancient happenings of Israel’s time were prophetic. They were typical of our day, foreshadowing events to come to pass in our day. The unfaithful religious leaders of ancient Israel were prophetic types of today’s religious leaders of backsliding Christendom. The majority of religious people today backslide with their clergymen, and together they persecute the faithful minority of Jehovah’s witnesses who hold fast to true worship, who offer clean spiritual food, who sound the divine warning.

How to Avoid Backsliding Today

1. How will charges of falsehood and distortion be avoided, and what questions are here raised?

TO AVOID backsliding we must avoid the backsliders. And to avoid them we must be able to identify them. In fact, let them identify themselves. Then there can be no charges of prejudice or distortion or falsehood that might meet statements by us as to the spiritual condition of Christendom’s orthodox religions. Let the religious leaders of these systems speak on the subject and evaluate the spiritual worth of these institutions. Let the judgment be on the basis Jesus indicated: “Out of your own mouth I judge you, wicked slave.” Let the rule Jesus gave govern: “By your words you will be vindicated, and by your words you will be condemned.” Will the words out of their own mouths vindicate them as matching Israel’s faithful minorities or condemn them as paralleling that typical nation’s backsliding majorities? Which role do Christendom’s orthodox religions play in the modern fulfillment of the prophetic dramas enacted by ancient Israel?—Luke 19:22; Matt. 12:37, NW.

2, 3. What fault do two clergymen find with Christendom’s spiritual food, and have such conditions existed before?

² Do they provide nourishing spiritual food? Dr. Pettingill said: “Religious teaching that is dished out now is a curse and not a blessing. Most of it is false religion which ignores the teachings of Christ.”^a Lamented Bishop Pardue: “The vicious