Halloween/Samhain

Cybele and Mystery Religions - The goddess CYBELE [sib'e-lee] also came to Rome (where she was called the Magna Mater, Great Mother) on the advice of the Sibylline books. She came in 205 B.C. in the form of a black stone from the Phrygian city of Pessinus, after the Delphic oracle had been consulted. Her temple was dedicated on the Palatine Hill and her festival was the Megalensia. Her priests, called Galli, performed ecstatic and colorful rituals, including self-mutilation, in their public processions.

Cybele: Anatolian nature goddess; adopted by Greeks and identified with Rhea.

Saturn, in Roman religion and mythology, god of harvests, later identified with the Greek Kronos. Little is known of the origins of his cult. His reign was regarded as the Golden Age. He was the husband of Ops and the father of Jupiter, Juno, Ceres, Pluto, and Neptune. It was said that after the fall of the Titans, Saturn fled to Italy, where he settled on the Capitoline Hill, civilized the people, and taught them the arts of agriculture. At his festival, the Saturnalia, held at first on Dec. 17 but later extended for several days thereafter, gifts were exchanged, schools and courts were closed, war was outlawed, and slaves and masters ate at the same table.

Each year around $7 billion is spent on Halloween in the United States. Only Christmas sees more cash flow. Halloween has tremendous retail potential. Movies are made, costumes are sown and candy is created for it. Halloween is hard to miss for your family. How will you handle the murky moral water of the holiday?
Appeasing the spirits
Before Jesus ever walked the earth, the Celtic festival that would later become Halloween was born. Samhaim celebrated the summer’s end, inviting the death of cold winter. It was believed that the spirits of death were unleashed during the festival to torment humans. Celtic pagans dressed as evil spirits to disguise themselves and avert torment. Celebrants also engaged in demonic activities to further camouflage themselves. The pagans may have also made animal and human sacrifices as well as committed cultic sexual acts. Samhaim was celebrated as a time when spirits could cross from the world of death into the present world freely.
In response to this pagan celebration, Christians launched the All Hallow’s Eve holiday (formerly All Saints’ Day) celebrated on November 1. All Hallow’s Eve was meant to combat beliefs associated with the pagan festival and show that only Jesus Christ could combat the powers of evil. Though the Christian roots of All Hallow’s Eve are evident, the holiday eventually became known as Halloween and was combined with elements of Samhaim, celebrated on October 31.
What’s in a pumpkin?
Whether you know it or not, many tokens of Halloween celebrations come attached with pagan meaning:
Trick or treat was originally a Celtic practice of giving food to evil spirits to appease them.
Jack-o-lanterns come from the Irish practice of carving demons on turnips (later pumpkins in America) as a sign to evil spirits that the family was friendly to them.
Black cats were believed to be reincarnated evil souls with magical powers.
Séances invoked spirits to be used by humans for personal power.
Bonfires may have come from the words “bones fires,” because human sacrifices in fire pits only left bones and ashes.
What’s the danger now?
Halloween is a sticky issue for Christian families. On the one hand, it’s a good opportunity to shine the light of Christ in a holiday with evil origins. On the other hand, participation may be condoning pagan customs. Yet, the holiday has become somewhat secularized, and how can you get your kids away from so much candy?
There are also some very real dangers in Halloween. More and more frequently we hear news reports about razors or poison hidden in candy. Letting your kids roam from house to house at night comes with its own worries.
If you do choose to participate in Halloween, be prepared. Consider trick or treating with your kids, especially if they’re under age 12. Prepare a trick-or-treat route or go to houses of neighbors that you know. Make sure your children are visible. Give them flashlights and something reflective on their costumes. Make sure that their costumes are safe. Tripping is actually the leading cause of Halloween injuries. Also, children need to have weather-appropriate costumes that allow for comfortable motion and breathing. And always inspect your children’s candy before they eat it, throwing out anything suspicious.
If your family decides not to participate in Halloween, there are more and more good alternatives these days. Many communities plan festivals around Halloween to provide families a safe, closed environment. Churches host carnival activities that even give your kids all the candy they want. Some churches even celebrate the old All Saints’ Day, dressing up in costumes of their favorite Christian figures.
Defend your decision
Regardless of how you choose to handle Halloween, use it as a good witnessing opportunity. If your family does go trick or treating, set your family apart in the holiday’s practice. Talk about the reality of evil, but recognize that Christians have nothing to fear. If your family decides to sit out of trick or treating, make sure that your kids really understand why. Talk about the foundations of the holiday. However your family prayerfully decides to handle Halloween, know the history and be able to defend your decision to your family and community.
Before Jesus ever walked the earth, the Celtic festival that would later become Halloween was born. Samhaim celebrated the summer’s end, inviting the death of cold winter. It was believed that the spirits of death were unleashed during the festival to torment humans. Celtic pagans dressed as evil spirits to disguise themselves and avert torment. Celebrants also engaged in demonic activities to further camouflage themselves. The pagans may have also made animal and human sacrifices as well as committed cultic sexual acts. Samhaim was celebrated as a time when spirits could cross from the world of death into the present world freely.
In response to this pagan celebration, Christians launched the All Hallow’s Eve holiday (formerly All Saints’ Day) celebrated on November 1. All Hallow’s Eve was meant to combat beliefs associated with the pagan festival and show that only Jesus Christ could combat the powers of evil. Though the Christian roots of All Hallow’s Eve are evident, the holiday eventually became known as Halloween and was combined with elements of Samhaim, celebrated on October 31.
What’s in a pumpkin?
Whether you know it or not, many tokens of Halloween celebrations come attached with pagan meaning:
Trick or treat was originally a Celtic practice of giving food to evil spirits to appease them.
Jack-o-lanterns come from the Irish practice of carving demons on turnips (later pumpkins in America) as a sign to evil spirits that the family was friendly to them.
Black cats were believed to be reincarnated evil souls with magical powers.
Séances invoked spirits to be used by humans for personal power.
Bonfires may have come from the words “bones fires,” because human sacrifices in fire pits only left bones and ashes.
What’s the danger now?
Halloween is a sticky issue for Christian families. On the one hand, it’s a good opportunity to shine the light of Christ in a holiday with evil origins. On the other hand, participation may be condoning pagan customs. Yet, the holiday has become somewhat secularized, and how can you get your kids away from so much candy?
There are also some very real dangers in Halloween. More and more frequently we hear news reports about razors or poison hidden in candy. Letting your kids roam from house to house at night comes with its own worries.
If you do choose to participate in Halloween, be prepared. Consider trick or treating with your kids, especially if they’re under age 12. Prepare a trick-or-treat route or go to houses of neighbors that you know. Make sure your children are visible. Give them flashlights and something reflective on their costumes. Make sure that their costumes are safe. Tripping is actually the leading cause of Halloween injuries. Also, children need to have weather-appropriate costumes that allow for comfortable motion and breathing. And always inspect your children’s candy before they eat it, throwing out anything suspicious.
If your family decides not to participate in Halloween, there are more and more good alternatives these days. Many communities plan festivals around Halloween to provide families a safe, closed environment. Churches host carnival activities that even give your kids all the candy they want. Some churches even celebrate the old All Saints’ Day, dressing up in costumes of their favorite Christian figures.
Defend your decision
Regardless of how you choose to handle Halloween, use it as a good witnessing opportunity. If your family does go trick or treating, set your family apart in the holiday’s practice. Talk about the reality of evil, but recognize that Christians have nothing to fear. If your family decides to sit out of trick or treating, make sure that your kids really understand why. Talk about the foundations of the holiday. However your family prayerfully decides to handle Halloween, know the history and be able to defend your decision to your family and community.

Prenatal Development

Prenatal Development

How can a drug cause devastating effects at one point in prenatal development but not at others?

During the earliest period of prenatal development –the stage of development from conception to birth—the fertilized egg divides, embarking on the process that will transform it in just nine months from a one-celled organism into a complex human being.

The dividing cells form  a hollow ball, which implants itself in the wall of the uterus. Two weeks after conception the cells begin to specialize: Some will form the baby’s internal organs; others will form muscles and bones; and still others will form the skin and the nervous system. No longer an undifferentiated mass of cells, the developing organism is now called an embryo.

The embryo stage ends three months after conception, when the stage of the fetus begins. At this point, although it is only 1 inch long, the fetus roughly resembles a human being, with arms and legs, a large head, and a heart that is beating and pumping blood through tiny arteries and veins.

The embryo and the fetus are nourished by an organ called the placenta. Within the placenta the mother’s blood vessels transmit substances to the embryo or fetus and carry waste products away from it. Although the mother’s blood never actually mingles with that of her unborn child, almost anything she eats, drinks, or inhales is capable of being transmitted through the placenta. If she develops an infection such as syphilis, rubella (German measles), HIV, the microorganisms involved can cross the placenta and infect the fetus, often with disastrous results. If she inhales nicotine, drinks alcohol, or uses other drugs during pregnancy, these too can cross the placenta, compromising the baby’s development (Harris and Liebert, 1991)

Even seemingly harmless over-the-counter drugs may have adverse effects on a developing embryo or fetus. For instance, a pregnant woman who takes an aspirin to alleviate a headache runs the risk of causing bleeding in her fetus. More potent drugs can do even greater harm, as we learned in the 1950’s when a drug called thalidomide, sometimes used to combat morning sickness, was found to inhibit development of an embryo’s arms and legs. More recently, the use of cocaine has taught a similar lesson. Babies whose mothers take cocaine are often born addicted, and they are often smaller and thinner than normal, prone to serious respiratory troubles and sometimes even seizures, and likely to suffer cognitive and social difficulties in childhood. (Lewis and Bendersky, 1995)

Alcohol is the drug most often abused by pregnant women, and with devastating consequences (Steinhausen, Willms, and Spohr,1993) Pregnant women who consume large amounts of alcohol risk giving birth to a child with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), a condition characterized by facial deformities, heart defects, stunted growth, and congnitive impairments. Even smaller amounts of alcohol can be harmful (Hunt et al., 1995)  Taking just two drinks a day during pregnancy is associated with having a child who functions more poorly than others both mentally and behaviorally (Shriver and Piersel, 1994) To be safest, pregnant women and those who are trying to become pregnant should not drink alcohol.


Please come back to read more on this subject in my next article thank you. I hope this helps you understand that drinking, drugs, smoking etc… affects not only your health but the health of your unborn child. Thank you.

Watching the World

Watching the World
Fear of Strangers
“More than 80 per cent of female motorists would prefer to spend the night locked in their broken down vehicles than to accept an offer of help from a stranger,” reports The Independent of London. A survey of 2,000 motorists conducted by Direct Line Rescue revealed that 83 percent of women and 47 percent of men would refuse offers of assistance if their vehicle broke down. Similarly, most motorists would not stop to help a stranded driver. Women in particular fear for their safety, worrying that the breakdown might be phony. Spokesman Nick Cole said: “It is a sad indictment of our times that, for many drivers, the prospect of sitting alone in their car all night seems a better option than the fear they experience when coming face-to-face with a stranger.”
Faithless Leading the Faithful
Female priests in the Church of England are “far more sceptical generally than their male colleag[u]es about . . . central Christian doctrines,” reports The Times of London. A survey of nearly 2,000 clergy in the Church of England revealed that “eight out of ten male priests believe that Jesus died to take away the sins of the world,” compared with only 6 out of 10 female priests. And while 7 out of 10 of the men believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, only 5 out of 10 of the women do. Robbie Low, spokesman for Cost of Conscience, which commissioned the survey, said: “There are clearly two Churches operating in the Church of England: the believing Church and the disbelieving Church, and that is a scandal. Increasingly, positions of authority are being placed in the hands of people who believe less and less. It is an intolerable situation where the faithful are increasingly being led by the unfaithful.”
Pessimism Despite Wealth and Health
Despite a report showing that in 2001 “economic and social conditions improved for the third year in a row,” Canadians are still pessimistic about their prospects, says The Toronto Star. Researchers at the Canadian Council on Social Development found that “Canadians felt less financially secure, more stressed in their jobs, less confident the social safety net would be there to help them, and more vulnerable to crime.” Among the sources of anxiety cited are “wage gains that barely kept pace with inflation, higher personal debt loads, . . . long waiting lists for some forms of medical treatment, rising drug costs, more traffic accident injuries, and unjustified fears that violent crime is on the rise.” The report’s authors state: “If we define security as a state of mind, then we are moving in the wrong direction.”
Lower Death Rate
In the United States, “improvements in emergency care over the last 40 years have helped to lower the death rate among assault victims,” states an Associated Press report. Researchers found that from 1960 to 1999, the rate of deaths from criminal assaults fell nearly 70 percent in the United States, even though there were nearly six times as many criminal assaults during the same time period. The study also revealed that in 1960, 5.6 percent of aggravated assaults ended in death, but only 1.7 percent of assaults in 1999 ended in death. Researchers credited a number of medical advancements that helped lower the death rate, including “the development of 911 services, rapid stabilization and transportation of trauma victims, better training for emergency medical technicians, and more hospitals and trauma centers,” states the report. Professor Anthony Harris, from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said: “People who would have ended up in morgues 20 years ago are now simply treated and released by a hospital, often in a matter of a few days.”
Remote Controls and Greenhouse Gases
Australia has the world’s highest greenhouse gas emissions per capita, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. A leading cause of this problem is “Australia’s obsession with remote controls.” How are remote controls related to the release of greenhouse gases? In order for a remote control to operate, TVs, video recorders, and other electronic devices must be left on standby power. Thus, they are rarely turned off fully. As a result, an additional five million tons of carbon dioxide gas is released into the atmosphere every year by power stations. Put another way, the power needed to keep electrical appliances on standby in Australia releases the same amount of greenhouse gas as the exhaust from one million cars. Commenting on the cost to Australia’s consumers, the newspaper says: “In 2000, the power sucked up by appliances on standby accounted for 11.6 per cent of the electricity used by households—an extra $500 million.”
“The Age of Titanium”?
Titanium is a light, strong, and highly corrosion-resistant metal. First purified by scientists in 1910, titanium’s durable properties make it ideally suited for use in aircraft and in the medical field. When implanted in the human body, it seldom causes inflammation, so it can be used to make artificial bones. A representative of the Japan Titanium Society said: “Because titanium is almost permanently resistant to corrosion, hardly any maintenance is necessary (for titanium products), and the metal need not be disposed of after just one use. From an environmental viewpoint, titanium will be the 21st century’s most sought-after metal.” The main drawback is that its cost is ten times that of stainless steel. However, as titanium’s applications expand, its price is expected to come down. According to Japan’s Daily Yomiuri, “the history of metal has shifted from copper to steel, and from steel to aluminum. The 21st century looks set to be the age of titanium.”
Poor Training for Marriage
More than 40 percent of couples who live together before getting married divorce before their tenth anniversary, reports New York’s Daily News. Figures compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics also show that couples who cohabit before marriage and remain married more than ten years are twice as likely eventually to obtain a divorce. “If you have a couple thinking about getting together [and] they don’t believe it’s right to cohabit,” says Matthew Bramlett, lead author of the report, “these are also the kind of people not likely to divorce.” Moreover, people who live together before marriage “seem to be much less willing to bear the pain that goes with working out a relationship,” states marriage counselor Alice Stephens.
The Church Search
“It used to be said that once a Methodist, always a Methodist. Not anymore,” reports The Sacramento Bee. According to Dexter McNamara, director of the Interfaith Service Bureau in Sacramento, “denominational ties are less important to people now . . . People are much more willing to try different churches.” In searching for a church, worshipers often consider such things as music, style of worship, length of service, youth programs, congregation size, and distance from home. “It’s a supermarket out there,” says Allan Carlson, director of the Howard Center on Family, Religion and Society. “In 1950, 85 percent of adults were the same denomination as their parents,” but now “they have a lot of other choices.”

Housekeeping

Housekeeping:

Detergent, paper towels, trash bags, small appliances. Housekeeping expenses seem to be minor compared with many of the “big ticket items” we have to buy from time to time. But if you’re not careful, these seemingly small expenses and up too big money. The reason? There’s no end to housekeeping. As soon as we take care of one chore, another needs doing, and the chore we completed last week needs to be done again this week.

The following tips will help you keep your housekeeping expenses under control. We’ll tour you home, and you’ll find a lot of small money saving ideas that can help take the pinch out of the hidden expenses of maintaining your abode.

Be happy with what you’ve got.

First things first. Most of us spend more than we should because we try to maintain a life-style beyond our means. The only way you’ll be able to achieve financial peace of mind and, ultimately, financial security is to live beneath your means, and the only way to live beneath your means comfortably is to be happy with what you’ve already got. If you spend some time thinking about all you have rather than all you’d like to have, you’ll probably discover that you’re already quite fortunate.

Read the label.

Always follow storage and care instructions on clothing and food. Spoilage and discards are money down the drain.

Buy it to last.

Many people seem to have forgotten that non disposable razors and cloth napkins still exist. These items will cost you more than their short-lived counterparts in the short term, but they’ll save you money in the long run.

Organize your storage rather than pay rent to a mini warehouse.

Mini warehouses were a great growth industry in the 1980’s. I guess we were acquiring so much so quickly during the “decade of greed” that we couldn’t store it all in our own homes. Having a mini warehouse was probably a status symbol. As you were pulling out of your driveway you could say to your neighbor, “I’m off to the mini warehouse to pick up our Wedgwood service for sixty for tonight’s banquet.” In the 1990’s this kind of nonsense is out. A little organization of your in-house storage area will almost certainly allow room for everything you have acquired. If you still have too much after you have reorganized your storage, hold a yard sale.

Please come back for the next series in being a penny pincher.
I hope this helps.

Bible Book Number 1G

Bible Book Number 1—Genesis
Writer: Moses
Place Written: Wilderness
Writing Completed: 1513 B.C.E.
Time Covered: “In the beginning” to 1657 B.C.E.
IMAGINE picking up a book of only 50 short chapters and finding in the first page or two the only accurate account of the earliest history of man and a record showing the relationship of man to God, his Creator, as well as to the earth with its myriads of creatures! In those few pages, you gain, too, a deep insight into God’s purpose in putting man on earth. Reading a little farther, you discover why man dies and the reason for his present troubled condition, and you are enlightened regarding the real basis for faith and for hope, even regarding identifying God’s instrument for deliverance—the Seed of promise. The remarkable book that contains all these things is Genesis, the first of the 66 books of the Bible.
2 “Genesis” means “Origin; Birth,” the name being taken from the Greek Septuagint translation of the book. In the Hebrew manuscripts, the title is the opening word, Bere´·shith´, “in the beginning” (Greek, en ar·khei´). Genesis is the first book of the Pentateuch (an Anglicized Greek word meaning “five rolls” or “fivefold volume”). Evidently this was originally one book called the Torah (Law) or “the book of the law of Moses” but was later divided into the five rolls for easier handling.—Josh. 23:6; Ezra 6:18.
3 Jehovah God is the Author of the Bible, but he inspired Moses to write the book of Genesis. From where did Moses get the information he recorded in Genesis? Some could have been received directly by divine revelation and some, under the direction of holy spirit, through oral transmission. It is also possible that Moses possessed written documents preserved by his forefathers as precious, valuable records of the origins of mankind.
4 It was possibly in the wilderness of Sinai in 1513 B.C.E. that Moses, under inspiration, completed his writing. (2 Tim. 3:16; John 5:39, 46, 47) Where did Moses obtain the information for the last part of Genesis? Since his great-grandfather Levi was the half brother of Joseph, these details would be accurately known within his own family. Levi’s life may even have overlapped that of Moses’ father, Amram. Further, Jehovah’s spirit would again assure the correct recording of this portion of the Scriptures.—Ex. 6:16, 18, 20; Num. 26:59.
5 There is no question as to who wrote Genesis. “The book of the law of Moses” and similar references to the first five books of the Bible, of which Genesis is one, are to be found often from the time of Moses’ successor, Joshua, onward. In fact, there are some 200 references to Moses in 27 of the later Bible books. Moses’ writership has never been questioned by the Jews. The Christian Greek Scriptures make frequent mention of Moses as the writer of “the law,” the crowning testimony being that of Jesus Christ. Moses wrote at Jehovah’s direct command and under His inspiration.—Ex. 17:14; 34:27; Josh. 8:31; Dan. 9:13; Luke 24:27, 44.
6 Some skeptics have asked, But how were Moses and his predecessors able to write? Was not writing a later human development? Writing evidently had its start early in human history, perhaps before the Deluge of Noah’s day, which occurred in 2370 B.C.E. Is there any evidence of man’s early ability to write? While it is true that archaeologists have assigned dates earlier than 2370 B.C.E. to certain clay tablets that they have excavated, such dates are merely conjectural. However, it should be noted that the Bible clearly shows that the building of cities, the development of musical instruments, and the forging of metal tools had their start long before the Deluge. (Gen. 4:17, 21, 22) Reasonably, then, men would have had little difficulty in developing a method of writing.
7 In many other respects, Genesis has proved to be amazingly consistent with proved facts. It is only Genesis that gives a true and factual account of the Flood and its survivors, though accounts of a deluge and survival by humans (in many cases as a result of being preserved in a vessel) are found in the legends of many branches of the human family. The Genesis account also locates the beginnings of the dwellings of the different branches of mankind, stemming from the three sons of Noah—Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Says Dr. Melvin G. Kyle, of Xenia Theological Seminary, Missouri, U.S.A.: “That from a central point, somewhere in Mesopotamia, the Hamitic branch of the race migrated to the south-west, the Japhetic branch to the north-west, and the Semitic branch ‘eastward’ toward the ‘land of Shinar’ is indisputable.”
8 The authenticity of Genesis as part of the divine record is shown also by its internal harmony, as well as by its complete agreement with the remainder of the inspired Scriptures. Its candor reflects a writer who feared Jehovah and loved truth and who unhesitatingly wrote of the sins of both the nation and those prominent in Israel. Above all, the unswerving accuracy with which its prophecies have come to fulfillment, as will be shown toward the end of this chapter, marks Genesis as an outstanding example of a writing inspired by Jehovah God.—Gen. 9:20-23; 37:18-35; Gal. 3:8, 16.
CONTENTS OF GENESIS
9 Creation of the heavens and the earth, and the preparation of the earth for human habitation (1:1–2:25). Reaching back evidently through billions of years of time, Genesis opens with impressive simplicity: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Significantly, this opening sentence identifies God as the Creator and his material creation as the heavens and the earth. In majestic, well-chosen words, the first chapter continues on to give a general account of the creative work relative to the earth. This is accomplished in six time periods called days, each beginning with an evening, when the creative work for that period is undefined, and ending in the brightness of a morning, as the glory of the creative work becomes clearly manifest. On successive “days” appear the light; the expanse of the atmosphere; dry land and vegetation; the luminaries to divide day and night; fish and fowl; and land animals and finally man. God here makes known his law governing kinds, the impassable barrier making it impossible for one kind to evolve into another. Having made man in His own image, God announces His threefold purpose for man on earth: to fill it with righteous offspring, to subdue it, and to have in subjection the animal creation. The seventh “day” is blessed and pronounced sacred by Jehovah, who now proceeds ‘to rest from all his work that he has made.’ The account next gives a close-up, or magnified view, of God’s creative work as regards man. It describes the garden of Eden and its location, states God’s law of the forbidden tree, relates Adam’s naming of the animals, and then gives the account of Jehovah’s arranging the first marriage by forming a wife from Adam’s own body and bringing her to Adam.
10 Sin and death enter the world; “seed” foretold as deliverer (3:1–5:5). The woman eats the forbidden fruit and persuades her husband to join her in rebellion, and so Eden becomes defiled through disobedience. God immediately points to the means by which his purpose will be accomplished: “And Jehovah God proceeded to say to the serpent [Satan, the invisible instigator of the rebellion]: ‘ . . . And I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.’” (3:14, 15) Man is expelled from the garden, to live in pain and sweatful toil among thorns and thistles. Finally, he must die and return to the ground from which he had been taken. Only his offspring may hope in the promised Seed.
11 The ravages of sin continue outside Eden. Cain, the first man-child born, becomes the murderer of his brother Abel, a faithful servant of Jehovah. Jehovah banishes Cain to the land of Fugitiveness, where he brings forth offspring later wiped out by the Deluge. Adam now has another son, Seth, who becomes father to Enosh; at this time men begin to call on the name of Jehovah in hypocrisy. Adam dies at 930 years of age.
12 Wicked men and angels ruin the earth; God brings the Deluge (5:6–11:9). The genealogy through Seth is here given. Outstanding among these descendants of Seth is Enoch, who sanctifies Jehovah’s name by “walking with the true God.” (5:22) The next man of notable faith is Enoch’s great-grandson Noah, born 1,056 years after Adam’s creation. During this time something occurs to increase the violence in the earth. Angels of God forsake their heavenly habitation to marry the good-looking daughters of men. This unauthorized cohabitation produces a hybrid race of giants known as the Nephilim (meaning “Fellers”), who make a name, not for God, but for themselves. Jehovah therefore announces to Noah that He is going to wipe out man and beast because of the continuing badness of mankind. Only Noah finds favor with Jehovah.
13 Noah becomes father to Shem, Ham, and Japheth. As violence and ruination continue in the earth, Jehovah reveals to Noah that He is about to sanctify His name by means of a great flood, and He commands Noah to build an ark of preservation, giving him detailed building plans. Noah promptly obeys and gathers his family of eight persons, together with beasts and birds; then, in the 600th year of his life (2370 B.C.E.), the Flood begins. The downpour continues for 40 days, until even the tall mountains are covered by as much as 15 cubits (c. 22 ft) of water. When, after one year, Noah is finally able to lead his family out of the ark, his first act is to offer a great sacrifice of thanksgiving to Jehovah.
14 Jehovah now blesses Noah and his family and commands them to fill the earth with their offspring. God’s decree gives permission to eat meat but demands abstinence from blood, which is the soul, or life, of the flesh, and requires the execution of a murderer. God’s covenant nevermore to bring a deluge upon the earth is confirmed by the appearance of the rainbow in the heavens. Later, Ham shows disrespect for Jehovah’s prophet Noah. Learning of this, Noah curses Ham’s son Canaan, but he adds a blessing showing that Shem will be specially favored and that Japheth also will be blessed. Noah dies at 950 years of age.
15 Noah’s three sons carry out God’s command to multiply, producing 70 families, the progenitors of the present human race. Nimrod, grandson of Ham, is not counted in, evidently because he becomes “a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah.” (10:9) He sets up a kingdom and starts to build cities. At this time all the earth has one language. Instead of scattering over the earth to populate and cultivate it, men decide to build a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that they can make a celebrated name for themselves. However, Jehovah thwarts their intention by confusing their language, and so scatters them. The city is called Babel (meaning “Confusion”).
16 God’s dealings with Abraham (11:10–25:26). The important line of descent from Shem to Terah’s son Abram is traced, supplying also the chronological links. Instead of seeking a name for himself, Abram exercises faith in God. He leaves the Chaldean city of Ur at God’s command and, at 75 years of age, crosses the Euphrates on his way to the land of Canaan, calling on the name of Jehovah. Because of his faith and obedience, he comes to be called “Jehovah’s friend [lover],” and God establishes his covenant with him. (Jas. 2:23; 2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8) God protects Abram and his wife during a brief stay in Egypt. Back in Canaan, Abram shows his generosity and peaceableness by allowing his nephew and fellow worshiper, Lot, to select the best part of the land. Later, he rescues Lot from four kings who have captured him. Then, returning from the fight, Abram meets Melchizedek, king of Salem, who as priest of God blesses Abram, and to whom Abram pays tithes.
17 God later appears to Abram, announcing that He is Abram’s shield and enlarging on the covenant promise by revealing that Abram’s seed will become as the stars of heaven for number. Abram is told that his seed will suffer affliction for 400 years but will be delivered by God, with judgment upon the afflicting nation. When Abram is 85 years old, Sarai his wife, still childless, gives him her Egyptian maidservant Hagar that he may have a child by her. Ishmael is born and is viewed as the possible heir. However, Jehovah purposes differently. When Abram is 99 years old, Jehovah changes his name to Abraham, changes Sarai’s name to Sarah, and promises that Sarah will bear a son. The covenant of circumcision is given to Abraham, and he immediately has his household circumcised.
18 God now announces to His friend Abraham His determination to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their heavy sin. Angels of Jehovah warn Lot and help him to flee from Sodom with his wife and two daughters. However, his wife, lingering to look at the things behind, becomes a pillar of salt. In order to procure offspring, Lot’s daughters get their father intoxicated with wine, and through intercourse with him, they bear two sons, who become the fathers of the nations of Moab and Ammon.
19 God protects Sarah from contamination by Abimelech of the Philistines. The promised heir, Isaac, is born when Abraham is 100 years old and Sarah about 90. Some five years after this, the 19-year-old Ishmael pokes fun at Isaac, the heir, resulting in the dismissal of Hagar and Ishmael, with God’s approval. Some years later, God tests Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac on one of the mountains of Moriah. Abraham’s great faith in Jehovah does not waver. He attempts to offer up his son and heir but is stopped by Jehovah, who provides a ram as a substitute sacrifice. Jehovah again confirms His promise to Abraham, saying that He will multiply Abraham’s seed like the stars of heaven and the grains of sand that are on the seashore. He shows that this seed will take possession of the gate of his enemies and that all nations of the earth will certainly bless themselves by means of the Seed.
20 Sarah dies at the age of 127 and is buried in a field that Abraham buys from the sons of Heth. Abraham now sends his chief household servant to obtain a wife for Isaac from the country of his relatives. Jehovah guides the servant to the family of Nahor’s son Bethuel, and arrangements are made for Rebekah to return with him. Rebekah goes willingly, with her family’s blessing, and becomes the bride of Isaac. Abraham, on his part, takes another wife, Keturah, who bears him six sons. However, he gives these gifts and sends them away and makes Isaac his sole heir. Then, at the age of 175, Abraham dies.
21 As Jehovah had foretold, Isaac’s half brother Ishmael becomes the head of a great nation, founded upon his 12 chieftain-sons. For 20 years Rebekah remains barren, but Isaac keeps on entreating Jehovah, and she gives birth to twins, Esau and Jacob, of whom Jehovah had told her the older would serve the younger. Isaac is now 60 years old.
22 Jacob and his 12 sons (25:27–37:1). Esau becomes a lover of hunting. Failing to appreciate the covenant with Abraham, he returns from the hunt one day and sells his birthright to Jacob for a mere swallow of stew. He also marries two Hittite women (and later an Ishmaelite), who become a source of bitterness to his parents. With his mother’s assistance, Jacob disguises himself as Esau in order to obtain the firstborn’s blessing. Esau, who had not revealed to Isaac that he had sold the birthright, now plans to kill Jacob when he learns of what Jacob has done, so Rebekah advises that Jacob flee to Haran to her brother Laban. Before Jacob leaves, Isaac blesses him again and instructs him to take as a wife, not a pagan, but someone from his mother’s household. At Bethel, on his way to Haran, in a dream he sees Jehovah, who reassures him and confirms the covenant promise toward him.
23 At Haran, Jacob works for Laban, marrying his two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Though this polygamous marriage is brought on him by a trick of Laban, God blesses it by giving Jacob 12 sons and a daughter through the wives and their two maidservants, Zilpah and Bilhah. God sees to it that the flocks of Jacob increase greatly and then instructs him to return to the land of his forefathers. He is pursued by Laban, but they make a covenant at the place called Galeed and The Watchtower (Hebrew, ham·Mits·pah´). Resuming the journey, Jacob is reassured by angels and grapples at night with an angel, who finally blesses him and changes his name from Jacob to Israel. Jacob peacefully negotiates a meeting with Esau and travels on to Shechem. Here his daughter, Dinah, is violated by the Hivite chieftain’s son. Her brothers Simeon and Levi take revenge by slaughtering the men of Shechem. This displeases Jacob because it gives him, as a representative of Jehovah, a bad name in the land. God tells him to go to Bethel to make an altar there. On the trek out of Bethel, Rachel dies while bearing to Jacob his 12th son, Benjamin. Reuben violates Rachel’s maidservant, Bilhah, the mother of two of Jacob’s sons, and for this he forfeits the birthright. Soon afterward Isaac dies, at 180 years of age, and Esau and Jacob bury him.
24 Esau and his household move to the mountainous region of Seir, the accumulated wealth of Esau and Jacob being too great to permit their dwelling together any longer. The lists of Esau’s offspring as well as the sheiks and the kings of Edom are given. Jacob continues dwelling in Canaan.
25 To Egypt for the preservation of life (37:2–50:26). Because of Jehovah’s favor and some dreams that he causes Joseph to have, the older brothers come to hate Joseph. They scheme to kill him but instead sell him to some passing Ishmaelite merchants. Dipping Joseph’s striped garment in the blood of a goat, they present it to Jacob as evidence that the young lad of 17 has been killed by a wild beast. Joseph is taken to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, the chief of Pharaoh’s bodyguard.
26 Chapter 38 digresses momentarily to give the account of the birth of Perez to Tamar, who, by strategy, causes Judah her father-in-law to perform the marriage due toward her that should have been performed by his son. This account again underlines the extreme care with which the Scriptures record each development leading to the production of the Seed of promise. Judah’s son Perez becomes one of the ancestors of Jesus.—Luke 3:23, 33.
27 Meanwhile, Jehovah blesses Joseph in Egypt, and Joseph becomes great in Potiphar’s household. However, difficulty pursues him when he refuses to reproach God’s name by fornication with Potiphar’s wife, so he is falsely accused and thrown into prison. There he is used by Jehovah in interpreting the dreams of two fellow prisoners, Pharaoh’s cupbearer and his baker. Later, when Pharaoh has a dream that greatly worries him, Joseph’s ability is called to his attention, so that he is quickly brought to Pharaoh from his prison hole. Giving the credit to God, Joseph interprets the dream as forecasting seven years of plenty, to be followed by seven years of famine. Pharaoh recognizes “the spirit of God” upon Joseph and appoints him prime minister to handle the situation. (Gen. 41:38) Now 30 years of age, Joseph administers wisely by storing up foodstuffs during the seven years of plenty. Then during the worldwide famine that follows, he sells the grain to the people of Egypt and of other nations who come to Egypt for food.
28 Eventually Jacob sends his ten older sons to Egypt for grain. Joseph recognizes them, but they do not recognize him. Holding Simeon as hostage, he demands that they bring their youngest brother back with them on the next trip for grain. When the nine sons return with Benjamin, Joseph reveals himself, expresses forgiveness toward the ten guilty ones, and instructs them to get Jacob and move to Egypt for their welfare during the famine. Accordingly, Jacob, with 66 of his offspring, moves down to Egypt. Pharaoh gives them the best of the land, the land of Goshen, in which to dwell.
29 As Jacob draws close to death, he blesses Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, and then calls his own 12 sons together to tell them what will happen to them “in the final part of the days.” (49:1) He now gives in detail a series of prophecies, all of which have since come to remarkable fulfillment. Here he foretells that the scepter of rulership will remain in the tribe of Judah until the coming of Shiloh (meaning “He Whose It Is; He to Whom It Belongs”), the promised Seed. After thus blessing the heads of the 12 tribes and giving commands concerning his own future burial in the Land of Promise, Jacob dies at the age of 147 years. Joseph continues to care for his brothers and their households until his own death at 110 years of age, at which time he expresses his faith that God will again bring Israel into their land and requests that his bones too be taken to that Land of Promise.
WHY BENEFICIAL
30 As the beginning of the inspired Word of God, Genesis is of inestimable benefit in introducing the glorious purposes of Jehovah God. What a basis it provides for understanding the later Bible books! Within its broad scope, it describes the beginning and end of the righteous world in Eden, the development and disastrous flushing out of the first world of ungodly people, and the rise of the present evil world. Outstandingly, it sets the theme for the entire Bible, namely, the vindication of Jehovah through the Kingdom ruled by the promised “seed.” It shows why man dies. From Genesis 3:15 forward—and especially in the record of God’s dealings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—it holds forth the hope of life in the new world under the Kingdom of the Seed. It is beneficial in pointing out the proper objective for all mankind—to be integrity keepers and sanctifiers of Jehovah’s name.—Rom. 5:12, 18; Heb. 11:3-22, 39, 40; 12:1; Matt. 22:31, 32.
31 The Christian Greek Scriptures make reference to every prominent event and person recorded in the book of Genesis. Moreover, as shown throughout the Scriptures, the prophecies recorded in Genesis have been unerringly fulfilled. One of these, the “four hundred years” of affliction on Abraham’s seed, commenced when Ishmael mocked Isaac in 1913 B.C.E. and ended with the deliverance from Egypt in 1513 B.C.E. (Gen. 15:13) Examples of other meaningful prophecies and their fulfillment are shown in the accompanying chart. Also of immense benefit in building faith and understanding are the divine principles first stated in Genesis. The prophets of old, as well as Jesus and his disciples, frequently referred to and applied passages from the book of Genesis. We will do well to follow their example, and a study of the accompanying chart should assist in this.
32 Genesis very clearly reveals God’s will and purpose concerning marriage, the proper relationship of husband and wife, and the principles of headship and family training. Jesus himself drew on this information, quoting both the first and second chapters of Genesis in his one statement: “Did you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife, and the two will be one flesh’?” (Matt. 19:4, 5; Gen. 1:27; 2:24) The record in Genesis is essential in providing the genealogy of the human family and also in calculating the time that man has been on this earth.—Gen., chaps. 5, 7, 10, 11.
33 Also of real benefit to the student of the Scriptures is the study of patriarchal society that Genesis affords. Patriarchal society was the community form of family government that operated among God’s people from Noah’s day until the Law was given at Mount Sinai. Many of the details incorporated in the Law covenant were already being practiced in patriarchal society. Such principles as community merit (18:32), community responsibility (19:15), capital punishment as well as sanctity of blood and of life (9:4-6), and God’s hatred of the glorifying of men (11:4-8) have affected mankind throughout history. Many legal practices and terms throw light on later events, even down to the days of Jesus. Patriarchal law governing the custody of persons and property (Gen. 31:38, 39; 37:29-33; John 10:11, 15; 17:12; 18:9) and the manner of conveying property (Gen. 23:3-18), as well as the law governing the inheritance of one who received the right of the firstborn (48:22), must be known if we are to have the background needed to gain a clear understanding of the Bible. Other practices of patriarchal society incorporated in the Law were sacrifices, circumcision (given first to Abraham), the making of covenants, brother-in-law marriage (38:8, 11, 26), and the use of oaths to confirm a matter.—22:16; 24:3.
34 Genesis, the opening book of the Bible, provides many lessons in integrity, faith, faithfulness, obedience, respect, good manners, and courage. Here are a few examples: Enoch’s faith and courage in walking with God in the face of violent enemies; Noah’s righteousness, faultlessness, and implicit obedience; Abraham’s faith, his determination, and his endurance, his sense of responsibility as a family head and teacher of God’s commands to his children, his generosity, and his love; Sarah’s submissiveness to her husband-head and her industriousness; Jacob’s mildness of temper and his concern for the promise of God; Joseph’s obedience to his father, his moral uprightness, his courage, his good conduct in prison, his respect for superior authorities, his humility in giving glory to God, and his merciful forgiveness of his brothers; the consuming desire of all these men to sanctify Jehovah’s name. These exemplary traits stand out in the lives of those who walked with God during the long period of 2,369 years from the creation of Adam to the death of Joseph, as covered in the book of Genesis.
35 Truly, the account in Genesis is beneficial in building up faith, presenting as it does such magnificent examples of faith, that tested quality of faith that reaches out for the city of God’s building and creation, his Kingdom government that he long ago began to prepare through his Seed of promise, the leading sanctifier of Jehovah’s great name.—Heb. 11:8, 10, 16.

Housekeeping

Housekeeping:

Detergent, paper towels, trash bags, small appliances. Housekeeping expenses seem to be minor compared with many of the “big ticket items” we have to buy from time to time. But if you’re not careful, these seemingly small expenses and up too big money. The reason? There’s no end to housekeeping. As soon as we take care of one chore, another needs doing, and the chore we completed last week needs to be done again this week.

The following tips will help you keep your housekeeping expenses under control. We’ll tour you home, and you’ll find a lot of small money saving ideas that can help take the pinch out of the hidden expenses of maintaining your abode.

1. Be happy with what you’ve got.

First things first. Most of us spend more than we should because we try to maintain a life-style beyond our means. The only way you’ll be able to achieve financial peace of mind and, ultimately, financial security is to live beneath your means, and the only way to live beneath your means comfortably is to be happy with what you’ve already got. If you spend some time thinking about all you have rather than all you’d like to have, you’ll probably discover that you’re already quite fortunate.

1. Read the label.

Always follow storage and care instructions on clothing and food. Spoilage and discards are money down the drain.

1. Buy it to last.

Many people seem to have forgotten that non disposable razors and cloth napkins still exist. These items will cost you more than their short-lived counterparts in the short term, but they’ll save you money in the long run.

1. Organize your storage rather than pay rent to a mini warehouse.

Mini warehouses were a great growth industry in the 1980’s. I guess we were acquiring so much so quickly during the “decade of greed” that we couldn’t store it all in our own homes. Having a mini warehouse was probably a status symbol. As you were pulling out of your driveway you could say to your neighbor, “I’m off to the mini warehouse to pick up our Wedgwood service for sixty for tonight’s banquet.” In the 1990’s this kind of nonsense is out. A little organization of your in-house storage area will almost certainly allow room for everything you have acquired. If you still have too much after you have reorganized your storage, hold a yard sale.

Please come back for the next series in being a penny pincher.
I hope this helps.

The Hall of Shame

The Hall of Shame:

How to be a penny-pincher.

The twenty-five biggest wastes of your money

Now that you know where you stand as a penny-pincher, look at this list of shame and see if you ‘ve fallen victim to any of these money wasters:

1. Lotteries


2. Buy8ing a new car every few years


3. Anything that’s “new and improved”


4. credit life insurance


5. investing on the advice of someone you’ve never met


6. fancy restaurants


7. buying something on sale that you don’t need


8. courses that teach you how to buy real estate for no money down


9. optional cable television services


10. investing in something you don’t understand


11. life insurance for children


12. spending vested pension benefits when you change jobs rather than rolling them over into an IRA


13. boats


14. credit card loans


15. buying property you’ve never seen


16. gold cards


17. lavishing expensive gifts on loved ones and friends—or on yourself


18. driving to work alone


19. lending money to friends


20. holding on to investments for sentimental reasons


21. sunroofs


22. designer-label clothing


23. low-interest savings accounts


24. buying anything to keep up with the Joneses, such as family beepers or sit-down lawnmowers


25. t.v. shopping

Okay, so almost all of us have room for improvement. That’s what this series of excerpts will talk about. Check them out and see if you live beneath your means, and see how many you can incorporate into your life.

Man’s "New World Order" Near?
TODAY, millions of people are in bondage to false religion, and many choose to remain that way. At the same time, more and more are demanding political freedoms. The extraordinary events of the past few years in Eastern Europe and elsewhere have demonstrated that people want freer forms of government. As a result, many are saying that a new era of freedom is at hand. The president of the United States called it "a new world order." Indeed, world leaders everywhere were saying that the Cold War and the arms race were over and that a new era of peace had dawned for mankind.—Compare 1 Thessalonians 5:3.
2 Yet, even if human efforts resulted in fewer weapons and freer forms of rule, would true freedom really exist? No, because of the appalling problems that exist in all nations, including democratic ones, where the numbers of the poor increase and millions struggle to survive economically. A United Nations report states that in spite of advances in science and medicine, every day worldwide an average of 40,000 children die from malnutrition or preventable diseases. An expert in this field said: "Poverty is taking on structural characteristics that really threaten the future of humanity."
3 In addition, more people than ever are victimized by crimes that get more and more vicious. Racial, political, and religious hatreds are fragmenting various countries. In some places the situation is not far from that future time described at Zechariah 14:13, when people will be "so confused and afraid that everyone [will] seize the man next to him and attack him." (Today’s English Version) Drug abuse and sexually transmitted diseases are pandemic. Millions of people are infected with AIDS; in the United States alone, over 120,000 have already died from it.
Bondage to Sin and Death
4 However, even if none of those bad conditions existed, people would still not have true freedom. All would still be in bondage. Why is this the case? To illustrate: What if some dictator enslaved every person on earth and murdered them all? In effect, that is what happened to mankind when our first parents rebelled against God and became enslaved to the Devil’s oppressive rule.—2 Corinthians 4:4.
5 When God created humans, he purposed for them to live on earth forever in perfection, in a paradise, as Genesis chapters 1 and 2 show. But because of our forefather Adam’s rebellion against God, all of us are under a sentence of death from the moment we are conceived: "Through one man [Adam, mankind’s family head] sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men." As the Bible says, "death ruled as king." (Romans 5:12, 14) So regardless of how much freedom we may personally have, all of us are in bondage to sin and death.
6 Furthermore, the life that we do have now is very limited. Even for the fortunate, it is just a few decades. For the unfortunate, just a few years, or less. And a new study says: "Science and medicine have pushed human life expectancy to its natural limit." This is because our genetic system has imperfection and death built into it as a result of Adam’s sin. How sad it is that if we live to be 70 or 80, when we should be getting wiser and better able to enjoy life, our bodies break down and we end up as dust!—Psalm 90:10.
7 What type of human rule can prevent this enslavement to sin and death? Not one. No government officials, scientists, or doctors anywhere can free us from the curses of sickness, old age, and death, nor can any eliminate insecurity, injustice, crime, hunger, and poverty. (Psalm 89:48) However well-meaning humans may be, it is impossible for them to be the source of the true freedoms we want and need.—Psalm 146:3.
Misuse of Free Will
8 The human family is in this sad situation because Adam and Eve misused their free will. First Peter 2:16 says, according to The Jerusalem Bible: "Behave like free men, and never use your freedom as an excuse for wickedness." Hence, it is clear that God did not purpose that man’s freedom be unlimited. It was to be exercised within the boundaries of God’s laws, which were righteous and would work for the benefit of everybody. And those boundaries were wide enough to allow for much personal freedom of choice, so that God’s rule could never be oppressive.—Deuteronomy 32:4.
9 However, our first parents chose to decide for themselves what was right and what was wrong. Since they deliberately moved outside of God’s rule, he withdrew his support from them. (Genesis 3:17-19) They thus became imperfect, with sickness and death the result. Instead of freedom, mankind came into slavery to sin and death. They also became subject to the whims of imperfect and, often, cruel human rulers.—Deuteronomy 32:5.
10 God has allowed humans this experiment in supposed total freedom for only a limited period of time. He knew that the results would demonstrate beyond any doubt that human rule independent of God cannot succeed. Since free will, rightly exercised, is such a treasure, God in his love temporarily allowed what has happened instead of withdrawing the gift of free will.
‘Man Cannot Direct His Step’
11 The record of history has shown the accuracy of Jeremiah chapter 10, verses 23 and 24, which says: "It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step. Correct me, O Jehovah." History has also shown the accuracy of Ecclesiastes 8:9, which declares: "Man has dominated man to his injury." How true! The human family has gone from one calamity to another, with the end for all being the grave. The apostle Paul described the situation precisely when he said, as recorded at Romans 8:22: "We know that all creation keeps on groaning together and being in pain together until now." Yes, independence from God’s laws has been disastrous.
12 The book Inquisition and Liberty commented on freedom this way: "Independence is not, in itself, necessarily a virtue: it is not a thing to be proud of without further qualification. It may, in fact, be simply one of the baser forms of selfishness . . . Man is not, and cannot without absurdity even aspire to be, a wholly independent creature." And Prince Philip of England once said: "Freedom to indulge in every whim and instinct may be appealing, but experience teaches again and again, that freedom without self-restraint . . . and behaviour without consideration for others is the surest way to destroy the quality of life of a community, no matter what its wealth."
Who Knows Best?
13 Who knows best how a home should be organized—loving, capable, experienced parents or young children? The answer is obvious. Similarly, the Creator of humans, our heavenly Father, knows what is best for us. He knows how human society should be organized and ruled. He knows how free will should be regulated to bring the benefits of true freedom to everybody. Only the almighty God, Jehovah, knows how to lift the human family out of its bondage and provide true freedom for all.—Isaiah 48:17-19.
14 In his Word, at Romans 8:21, Jehovah makes this inspiring promise: "The creation itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption and have the glorious freedom of the children of God." Yes, God promises to free the human family completely from its present wretched condition. The following article will discuss how this will happen.

Will Plans for International Security Succeed?
"THE Cold War, which has gripped the world for over 40 years, appears in God’s mercy to have ended," states One World, a magazine of the WCC (World Council of Churches). "Significant happenings in Central and Eastern Europe . . . seem to bode well for peace and security in Europe and the rest of the world," adds Anglican writer John Pobee, of the WCC’s Programme on Theological Education.
Representatives of the WCC are not alone in linking God with man’s plans for international security. In April 1991, shortly after the Persian Gulf war, Pope John Paul sent a message to then UN secretary-general Javier Pérez de Cuéllar in which he said: "The bishops of the Catholic Churches of the Middle East and the West have confidence in the work of the United Nations . . . They hope that, through the United Nations and its specialized organizations, those whom the recent war has placed in a situation of acute need will not fail to find international sensitivity and solidarity."
Furthermore, the Vatican was one of the 35 States that formulated and signed both the 1975 Helsinki Agreement and the 1986 Stockholm Document. When the United Nations declared 1986 to be the "International Year of Peace," the pope responded by inviting representatives of the world’s major religions to participate in a celebration of the "World Day of Prayer for Peace." In October 1986, representatives of Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, Shinto, Anglican, Lutheran, Greek Orthodox, Jewish, and other faiths sat together in Assisi, Italy, and took turns praying for world peace.
Some years later, in a sermon he gave in Rome, the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury recalled the above occasion. "In Assisi," he said, "we saw that the Bishop of Rome [the pope] could gather the Christian Churches together. We could pray together, speak together and act together for the peace and well-being of humankind . . . At that initiative of prayer for world peace I felt I was in the presence of the God who said ‘Behold I am doing a new thing.’"
Other religions, although not represented at Assisi, are also optimistic about man’s plans for international security. An editorial in Die Kerkbode, the official journal of South Africa’s Dutch Reformed Church, said: "We are experiencing the transition into a new world order. What seemed inconceivable a few years ago is happening before our very eyes. The reconciliation taking place on the greater world scene between the Soviet Union and the West has wide regional implications. In our part of the world, traditionally opposing parties and sworn enemies are talking to one another, and the urge toward ‘peace’ is surfacing everywhere . . . From a Christian standpoint, all efforts to bring peace between people should be welcomed. We can pray for peace in our time."
Is God blessing man’s plans for international security?
What Does the Bible Say?
When it comes to relying on human endeavors, the Bible offers a straightforward warning: "Do not put your trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs. His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish." (Psalm 146:3, 4) Present-day progress toward peace may seem encouraging. But we have to be realistic. Men’s powers are limited. Often, events are bigger than they are. They can rarely discern the undercurrents, the hidden forces, that upset their best-laid plans.
Seven hundred years before the time of Jesus, in the days of the prophet Isaiah, Jewish leaders were planning for security through international treaties with neighboring countries in a way comparable to what is happening today. In those days too, the religious leaders supported what the politicians were doing. But Isaiah warned: "Plan out a scheme, and it will be broken up! Speak any word, and it will not stand." (Isaiah 8:10) Their scheme turned out to be a disastrous failure. Could the same thing happen today?
Yes, it could, since through that same prophet, God announced that He has His own way to bring security to the earth. It will be, not through any human organization, but through a descendant of the Israelite king David. (Isaiah 9:6, 7) This Heir of King David is Jesus Christ, who, when interrogated by Pontius Pilate, admitted that he was a King but said: "My kingdom is no part of this world." (John 18:36; Luke 1:32) In fact, Jesus’ Kingdom was to be heavenly. And it—not the United Nations or any earthly political nation—was to bring lasting, dependable security to this earth.—Daniel 2:44.
Jesus Christ predicted that his Kingdom would start ruling from the heavens at a time when there would be "wars and reports of wars," with ‘nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom.’ The fulfillment of prophecy marks 1914 as the time when that happened and identifies the years since then as "the conclusion of the system of things."—Matthew 24:3, 6-8.
What does this mean? That the time remaining for this present world setup is limited, and it will soon run out. Is that a cause for concern or sadness? Not if we remember the cruelty, the injustice, the oppression, the warfare, and all the suffering that have marked this system of things. It will surely be a relief to be under a ruler about whom God’s Word, the Bible, says: "Upon him the spirit of Jehovah must settle down, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of mightiness, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah."—Isaiah 11:2.
Real Security on Earth
In truth, there will not be real security on earth until, under God’s Kingdom, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled on a worldwide scale: "I am creating new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be called to mind, neither will they come up into the heart." (Isaiah 65:17) No matter how many prayers religious leaders offer in behalf of this world, human plans for international security cannot replace God’s way for bringing peace and security.
The worldwide, permanent security that God’s Kingdom ushers in will be glorious. Here is just one of the descriptions found in the Bible: "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. And they will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one making them tremble; for the very mouth of Jehovah of armies has spoken it."—Micah 4:3, 4.
Only security guaranteed by God himself can be permanent and reliable. Hence, rather than putting your trust in nobles, why not put your trust in him? Then you will find that the psalmist’s words are true: "Happy is the one who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Jehovah his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, of the sea, and of all that is in them, the One keeping trueness to time indefinite."—Psalm 146:5, 6.



The Catholic Church and International Politics
"Although Christ said that his kingdom was ‘not of this world,’ high-ranking ecclesiastics and the papacy as an institution have participated intensely in international and national political struggles since the time of Constantine."—The Catholic Church in World Politics, by Professor Eric Hanson of the Jesuit Santa Clara University.

This agreement is the first and most important of a series of accords signed in Helsinki by Canada, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 32 other countries. The official name of the chief agreement is the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Its primary goal was to reduce international tension between East and West.—World Book Encyclopedia.

MANS PLANS FOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

Man’s Plans for International Security
"When all this is over, we want to be the healers. We want to do what we can to facilitate what I might optimistically call a new world order."—U.S. president George Bush, January 1991, shortly after the beginning of the war with Iraq.
"President Bush’s concept of a New World Order stresses the importance of the rule of law and the belief that nations have a collective responsibility for freedom and justice. With the ending of the Cold War, a new era is emerging."—U.S. ambassador to Australia, August 1991.
"Tonight, as I see the drama of democracy unfolding around the globe, perhaps—perhaps we are closer to that new world than ever before."—U.S. president George Bush, September 1991.
MANY world leaders are, like President Bush, speaking optimistically about the future. Is their optimism warranted? Do events since World War II give a basis for such optimism? Do you think politicians are able to bring international security?
Man’s Great Plan
"During the last two years of the second world war," explained the television documentary Goodbye War, "over one million people were being killed each month." At the time, the nations felt an urgent need for a plan that would prevent such a war from happening again. While the war was still in progress, representatives of 50 nations produced the greatest plan for international security ever devised by man: the Charter of the United Nations. The preamble to the Charter expressed the determination "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." Prospective members of the United Nations were "to unite [their] strength to maintain international peace and security."
Forty-one days later, an airplane dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. It exploded above the center of the city, killing over 70,000 people. That explosion, and the one that followed three days later over Nagasaki, effectively brought an end to the war with Japan. Since Japan’s ally Germany had surrendered on May 7, 1945, World War II thus came to an end. However, was that the end of all war?
No. Since World War II, mankind has seen over 150 smaller wars that have claimed upwards of 19 million lives. Clearly, the great UN plan has not yet brought international security. What went wrong?
The Cold War
The UN planners failed to anticipate the rivalry that quickly developed between former World War II allies. Many States took sides in this power struggle, which came to be called the Cold War and was, in part, a struggle between Communism and capitalism. Instead of uniting their strength to stop war, the two blocs of nations supported opposing sides in regional conflicts and in this way fought each other in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
In the late 1960’s, the Cold War began to thaw. The thaw climaxed in 1975 when 35 States signed what is called the Helsinki Agreement. Included among the participants were the Soviet Union and the United States, together with their respective European allies. All promised to work for "peace and security" and "to refrain . . . from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations."
But these ideas did not bear fruit. By the early 1980’s, the struggle between the superpowers heated up again. Things got so bad that in 1982 the newly elected secretary-general of the United Nations, Dr. Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, acknowledged the failure of his organization and warned of a "new international anarchy."
Yet, today, the UN secretary-general and other leaders express optimism. News reports refer to "the post-Cold War era." How did this change come about?
"The Post-Cold War Era"
A noteworthy factor was a meeting of the 35-nation Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. In September 1986 they signed what is called the Stockholm Document, reaffirming their commitment to the 1975 Helsinki Agreement. The Stockholm Document contains many rules to govern the monitoring of military activities. "The results of the past three years are encouraging and the level of implementation is beginning to exceed the written obligations of the Stockholm Document," reported SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) in its Yearbook 1990.
Then, in 1987, the superpowers reached a remarkable agreement requiring the destruction of all their ground-launched missiles with ranges between 300 and 3,400 miles [500 and 5,500 km]. "The physical destruction of missiles and launchers is on schedule and the stipulations of the agreements are being duly observed by each side," says SIPRI.
Other measures have been taken to reduce the risk of nuclear war. For example, in 1988 the superpowers signed an agreement regarding "intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles." Before launching such weapons, each side must notify the other "no less than twenty-four hours in advance, of the planned date, launch area, and area of impact." According to SIPRI, such agreements "virtually eliminate the possibility of local incidents escalating to a world-wide nuclear war."
Meanwhile, plans to improve international security gathered speed. In May 1990, during a superpower summit in Washington, D.C., then Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev proposed that the two blocs of European nations sign a peace treaty. In July the 16 Western nations of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) met in London. Their response to Mikhail Gorbachev’s proposal was that both sides sign a "joint declaration in which we solemnly state that we are no longer adversaries and confirm our intention to refrain from the threat or use of force." The front-page headline of an African newspaper described this as "A Giant Step to World Peace."
Then, on the eve of a superpower summit in Helsinki, Finland, a U.S. government spokesman said that "the prospect of war [in the Middle East] is forging a new group plan for world peace." Peace had received a setback when Iraq invaded Kuwait and the Middle East seemed in danger of going up in flames. But under United Nations authority, an international force led by the United States drove the invading forces back into their own country. The international unity of purpose manifested in that war encouraged some to hope that a new era of cooperation had dawned.
Since then, world events have developed further. In particular, the very nature of what was once the Soviet Union changed dramatically. The Baltic States were allowed to declare their independence, and other republics in the Soviet Union followed suit. Violent ethnic rivalries surfaced in lands that had seemed monolithic under the centralized Communist control. By the end of 1991, the Soviet Union had officially ceased to exist.
These radical changes on the world political scene have opened the door of opportunity for the United Nations organization. In this regard The New York Times said: "The easing of worldwide tensions and the new spirit of cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union could mean a new, more powerful role in international affairs for the world organization."
Is it finally time for that 47-year-old organization to come into its own? Are we really entering what the United States called "a new century, and a new millennium, of peace, freedom and prosperity"?

The Unforgettable Flood
ABOUT 4,300 years ago, a catastrophic deluge inundated the earth. In one gigantic sweep, it wiped out nearly every living thing. It was of such magnitude that it left an indelible impression on mankind, and each generation passed the story on to the next.
Some 850 years after the Flood, the Hebrew writer Moses put the account of the earth-wide Deluge into writing. It has been preserved in the Bible book of Genesis, where we can read the graphic details in chapters 6 to 8.
Bible Account of the Flood
Genesis gives these details, obviously those of an eyewitness: "In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on this day all the springs of the vast watery deep were broken open and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And the deluge went on for forty days upon the earth, and the waters kept increasing and began carrying the ark and it was floating high above the earth. And the waters overwhelmed the earth so greatly that all the tall mountains that were under the whole heavens came to be covered."—Genesis 7:11, 17, 19.
Concerning the Flood’s impact on living things, the Bible says: "All flesh that was moving upon the earth expired, among the flying creatures and among the domestic animals and among the wild beasts and among all the swarms that were swarming upon the earth, and all mankind." However, Noah and seven other persons survived, along with a sampling of every beast, flying creature, and thing moving on the ground. (Genesis 7:21, 23) All had been preserved in a large floating ark that was about 437 feet [133 m] long, 73 feet [22 m] wide, and 44 feet [13 m] high. Since the only functions of the ark were that it be watertight and that it stay afloat, it had no rounded bottom, sharp bow, means of propulsion, or equipment for steering. Noah’s ark was simply a rectangular, chestlike vessel.
Five months after the Deluge began, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat, situated in present-day eastern Turkey. Noah and his family went out of the ark onto dry land one year after the Flood had started and began anew the normal routine of life. (Genesis 8:14-19) In time, mankind had multiplied sufficiently to begin building the city of Babel and its infamous tower near the Euphrates River. From there people were gradually scattered to all parts of the earth when God confused the language of mankind. (Genesis 11:1-9) But what became of the ark?
Searching for the Ark
Since the 19th century, there have been numerous attempts to find the ark on the mountains of Ararat. These mountains have two prominent peaks, one 16,950 feet [5,165 m] high and the other 12,840 feet [3,914 m]. The higher of the two is perpetually covered by snow. Because of the climatic changes that followed the Flood, the ark would soon have been buried by snow. Some investigators firmly believe that the ark is still there, buried deep in a glacier. They claim that there have been periods when the ice melted sufficiently to permit part of the ark to be exposed temporarily.
The book In Search of Noah’s Ark quotes George Hagopian, an Armenian, who claimed that he climbed Mount Ararat and saw the ark in 1902 and again in 1904. On the first visit, he said, he actually climbed on top of the ark. "I stood up straight and looked all over the ship. It was long. The height was about forty feet [12 m]." Regarding his observation on his subsequent visit, he said: "I didn’t see any real curves. It was unlike any other boat I have ever seen. It looked more like a flat-bottomed barge."
From 1952 to 1969, Fernand Navarra made four efforts to find evidence of the ark. On his third trip to Mount Ararat, he worked his way to the bottom of a crevasse in a glacier, where he found a piece of black wood embedded in the ice. "It must have been very long," he said, "and perhaps still attached to other parts of the ship’s framework. I could only cut along the grain until I split off a piece about five feet [1.5 m] long."
Professor Richard Bliss, one of several experts who examined the wood, said: "The Navarra wood sample is a structural beam and impregnated with bituminous pitch. It has mortise and tenon joints. And it’s definitely hand-hewn and squared." The estimated age of the wood was set at about four or five thousand years.
Although efforts have been made to find the ark on Mount Ararat, the definite proof that it was used to survive a cataclysmic deluge exists in the written record of that event in the Bible book of Genesis. Confirmation of that record can be seen in the great number of flood legends among primitive peoples all over the world. Consider their testimony in the following article.


The ark had a carrying capacity equal to that of 10 freight trains of about 25 American boxcars each!

THE FLOOD IN THE LEGENDS OF THE WORLD

The Flood in the Legends of the World

THE Flood of Noah’s day was such a devastating cataclysm that mankind could never forget it. Over 2,400 years later, Jesus Christ spoke of it as a fact of history. (Matthew 24:37-39) This awesome event left such an indelible impression on the human race that it has become legendary all over the world.
In the book Myths of Creation, Philip Freund estimates that over 500 Flood legends are told by more than 250 tribes and peoples. As might be expected, with the passing of many centuries, these legends have been greatly embellished with imaginary events and characters. In all of them, however, some basic similarities can be found.
Striking Similarities
As people migrated from Mesopotamia after the Flood, they carried accounts of the catastrophe to all parts of the earth. Thus, inhabitants of Asia, the islands of the South Pacific, North America, Central America, and South America have tales of this impressive event. The many Flood legends existed long before these people were exposed to the Bible. Yet, the legends have some basic points in common with the Biblical account of the Deluge.
Some legends mention violent giants living on the earth before the Flood. Comparably, the Bible indicates that before the Deluge disobedient angels materialized fleshly bodies, cohabited with women, and produced a race of giants called Nephilim.—Genesis 6:1-4; 2 Peter 2:4, 5.
Flood legends usually indicate that one man was warned about a coming deluge of divine origin. According to the Bible, Jehovah God warned Noah that He would destroy wicked and violent ones. God told Noah: "The end of all flesh has come before me, because the earth is full of violence as a result of them; and here I am bringing them to ruin together with the earth."—Genesis 6:13.
Legends concerning the Flood generally indicate that it brought about global destruction. Similarly, the Bible says: "The waters overwhelmed the earth so greatly that all the tall mountains that were under the whole heavens came to be covered. Everything in which the breath of the force of life was active in its nostrils, namely, all that were on the dry ground, died."—Genesis 7:19, 22.
Most Flood legends say that a man survived the Deluge along with one or more other persons. Many legends have him taking refuge in a boat he had built, and they have it land on a mountain. Comparably, the Scriptures say that Noah built an ark. They also state: "Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark kept on surviving." (Genesis 6:5-8; 7:23) According to the Bible, after the Deluge "the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat," where Noah and his family disembarked. (Genesis 8:4, 15-18) Legends also indicate that Flood survivors started to repopulate the earth, as the Bible shows that Noah’s family did.—Genesis 9:1; 10:1.
Ancient Flood Legends
With the foregoing points in mind, let us consider some Flood legends. Suppose we begin with the Sumerians, an ancient people who inhabited Mesopotamia. Their version of the Deluge was found on a clay tablet unearthed in the ruins of Nippur. This tablet says that the Sumerian gods Anu and Enlil decided to destroy mankind with a giant flood. Being warned by the god Enki, Ziusudra and his family were able to survive in a huge boat.
The Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh contains many details. According to it, Gilgamesh visited his ancestor Utnapishtim, who had been granted eternal life after surviving the Flood. In the ensuing conversation, Utnapishtim explained that he was told to build a ship and take cattle, wild beasts, and his family into it. He built the ship as a huge cube 200 feet [60 m] on each side, with six floors. He tells Gilgamesh that the storm lasted six days and six nights, and then he says: "When the seventh day arrived, the hurricane, the Deluge, the shock of battle was broken, which had smitten like an army. The sea became calm, the cyclone died away, the Deluge ceased. I looked upon the sea and the sound of voices had ended. And all mankind had turned to clay."
After the vessel grounded on Mount Nisir, Utnapishtim released a dove that returned to the boat when it could not find a resting-place. This was followed by a swallow that also returned. A raven was then released, and when it did not return, he knew that the water had subsided. Utnapishtim then released the animals and offered a sacrifice.
This very old legend is somewhat similar to the Biblical account of the Flood. However, it lacks the graphic details and simplicity of the Bible account, and it does not give reasonable dimensions for the ark nor supply the time period indicated in the Scriptures. For instance, the Epic of Gilgamesh said that the storm lasted six days and six nights, whereas the Bible says that "the downpour upon the earth went on for forty days and forty nights"—a continuing heavy rain that finally covered the entire globe with water.—Genesis 7:12.
Though the Bible mentions eight Flood survivors, in Greek legend only Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha, survived. (2 Peter 2:5) According to this legend, before the Flood the earth was inhabited by violent individuals called the men of bronze. The god Zeus decided to destroy them with a great flood and told Deucalion to build a large chest and get into it. When the flood subsided, the chest came to rest on Mount Parnassus. Deucalion and Pyrrha descended from the mountain and started mankind again.
Legends of the Far East
In India there is a Flood legend in which Manu is the human survivor. He befriends a small fish that grows to a large size and warns him of a devastating flood. Manu builds a boat, which the fish pulls until it is grounded on a mountain in the Himalayas. When the flood subsides, Manu descends from the mountain and with Ida, the personification of his sacrifice, renews the human race.
According to the Chinese flood legend, the thunder god gives a tooth to two children, Nuwa and Fuxi. He instructs them to plant it and to take shelter in the gourd that would grow from it. A tree promptly grows from the tooth and produces a huge gourd. When the thunder god causes torrential rainfall, the children climb into the gourd. Though the resulting flood drowns all the rest of earth’s inhabitants, Nuwa and Fuxi survive and repopulate the globe.
In the Americas
Indians of North America have various legends that carry the common theme of a flood that destroys all but a few people. For example, the Arikara, a Caddo people, say that the earth was once inhabited by a race of people so strong that they ridiculed the gods. The god Nesaru destroyed these giants by means of a flood but preserved his people, the animals, and maize in a cave. The Havasupai people say that the god Hokomata caused a deluge that destroyed mankind. However, the man Tochopa preserved his daughter Pukeheh by sealing her in a hollow log.
Indians in Central and South America have flood legends with basic similarities. The Maya of Central America believed that a great rain serpent destroyed the world by torrents of water. In Mexico the Chimalpopoca version tells that a flood submerged the mountains. The god Tezcatlipoca warned the man Nata, who hollowed out a log where he and his wife, Nena, found refuge until the water subsided.
In Peru the Chincha have a legend of a five-day flood that destroyed all men except one whom a talking llama led to safety on a mountain. The Aymara of Peru and Bolivia say that the god Viracocha came out of Lake Titicaca and created the world and abnormally large, strong men. Because this first race angered him, Viracocha destroyed them with a flood.
The Tupinamba Indians of Brazil spoke of a time when a great flood drowned all their ancestors except those who survived in canoes or in the tops of tall trees. The Cashinaua of Brazil, the Macushi of Guyana, the Caribs of Central America, and the Ona and Yahgan of Tierra del Fuego in South America are among the many tribes that have flood legends.
South Pacific and Asia
Throughout the South Pacific, legends of a flood with few surviving are common. For example, in Samoa there is a legend of a flood in early times that destroyed everyone except Pili and his wife. They found safety on a rock, and after the flood they repopulated the earth. In the Hawaiian Islands, the god Kane became annoyed with humans and sent a flood to destroy them. Only Nu´u escaped in a large boat that finally grounded on a mountain.
On Mindanao in the Philippines, the Ata say that the earth was once covered by water that destroyed everyone except two men and a woman. The Iban of Sarawak, Borneo, say that only a few people escaped a deluge by fleeing to the highest hills. In the Igorot legend of the Philippines, only a brother and sister survived by taking refuge on Mount Pokis.
The Soyot of Siberia, Russia, say that a giant frog, which was supporting the earth, moved and caused the globe to be flooded. An old man and his family survived on a raft he had made. When the water receded, the raft grounded on a high mountain. The Ugrians of western Siberia and Hungary also say that flood survivors used rafts but drifted to different parts of the earth.
Common Origin
What can we conclude from these many Flood legends? Though they differ greatly in details, they have some common features. These indicate an origin in some gigantic and unforgettable cataclysm. Despite vivid colorations over the centuries, their underlying theme is like a thread that ties them to one great event—the global Deluge related in the simple, uncolored Bible account.
Since the Flood legends are generally found among people who did not come in touch with the Bible until recent centuries, it would be a mistake to contend that the Scriptural account influenced them. Moreover, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says: "The universality of the flood accounts is usually taken as evidence for the universal destruction of humanity by a flood . . . Moreover, some of the ancient accounts were written by people very much in opposition to the Hebrew-Christian tradition." (Volume 2, page 319) So we can confidently conclude that the Flood legends confirm the reality of the Biblical account.
Living as we do in a world filled with violence and immorality, we do well to read the Biblical account of the Flood, as recorded in Genesis chapters 6 through 8. If we meditate on the reason for that global Deluge—the practicing of what was wicked in God’s sight—we will see in it a vital warning.
Soon the present wicked system of things will experience God’s adverse judgment. Happily, though, there will be survivors. You may be among them if you heed the apostle Peter’s words: "The world of [Noah’s] time suffered destruction when it was deluged with water. But by the same word the heavens and the earth that are now are stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men. . . . Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion, awaiting and keeping close in mind the presence of the day of Jehovah."—2 Peter 3:6-12.
Will you keep the presence of Jehovah’s day close in mind? If you do so and act in harmony with God’s will, you will enjoy great blessings. Those who thus please Jehovah God can have faith in the new world to which Peter refers when he adds: "There are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to [God’s] promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell."—2 Peter 3:13.

THE ATTACK BY GOG OF MAGOG

The Attack by Gog of Magog


THE Holy Bible reveals many marvelous things to us about the invisible realm of spirit persons. It discloses that Satan the Devil has an invisible organization of demons and that there are spirit princes in it. Daniel’s prophecy reveals that there was one such spirit prince in unseen charge of the Persian empire, when it dominated the world, and also that there was a spirit prince in charge of the rising power of Greece, which was to overthrow Persia and succeed it as the dominant world power. (Daniel, chapter 10) The Bible’s last book, Revelation, indicates that up to a certain date there would be seven such world powers having to do with Jehovah’s witnesses, these, in the order of their rise to dominance, being (1) Egypt, (2) Assyria, (3) Babylon, (4) Medo-Persia, (5) Greece, (6) Rome, and (7) the Anglo-American world power of today. According to what Daniel’s prophecy suggests, each of these seven world powers has had a spirit prince in secret charge of it. In Revelation Satan the Devil, their ruler, is pictured as a great fiery-red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns and upon its heads seven diadems. Thus the fact that Satan the Devil has headship over the seven princes of the seven world powers is pictured in that the great dragon in heaven has seven diademed heads. According to the facts of history, headship over Gog is not pictured in any of the dragon’s seven heads.
2 Of course, that was while the symbolic Dragon was still up in heaven. Then came A.D. 1914, a year of war not only for the earth but also for the invisible heavens, because that year Jehovah God enthroned the newborn kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ and "war broke out in heaven." The Dragon and its angels fought against the Kingdom but did not hold onto even a bridgehead in heaven. "So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him." (Rev. 12:7-9, NW) Thus the seven spirit princes were cast down, the Dragon’s headship over whom was indicated by its seven diademed heads.
3 The Dragon has a visible organization, of which the seven world powers have been dominant members. This entire visible organization is pictured as a wild beast, it too having seven heads, to correspond with those dominant world powers. This wild beast came up out of the sea. But upon the scene another wild beast appears, rising out of the earth. Its one head has two horns like a lamb’s. After performing great signs it recommends making an image of the seven-headed wild beast for mankind’s worship.
4 Briefly, the two-horned beast out of the earth pictures the two-membered world power of one speech today, the Anglo-American world power. The image that this Anglo-American world power took the lead in recommending was the League of Nations, today the United Nations. In Revelation, chapter seventeen, this League of Nations or United Nations is itself pictured as a wild beast of scarlet color and with seven heads, upon which the prostitute woman Babylon the Great sits as rider. That seven-headed wild beast really results from the preceding seven world powers, but it acts like an eighth king or world power. It is so spoken of in these words: "And the wild beast that was [before World War II] but is not [during World War II], it is also itself an eighth king, but owes its existence to the seven, and it goes off into destruction." (Rev. 17:8, 11, NW) In view of this eighth world power, the question now is, Did the seven-headed wild beast from the sea grow another head and become eight-headed? Did Satan the Devil then appoint an eighth spirit prince to supervise the League of Nations (now the United Nations) and thus did the great Dragon add another head to its seven? The Divine Record does not say so. When the Dragon is finally cast into the abyss at Armageddon and the wild beast from the sea is cast into destruction in the lake of fire, they are still understood as having each the same number of heads as before, just seven.—Rev. 19:19, 20.
5 One fact we must remember: The League beast or eighth world power is really under the seventh world power, for it was this Anglo-American combine that designed and then put breath of life into the League beast. Hence this eighth world-power beast is actually under the unseen control of the spirit prince of the seventh world power. This fact would do away with any need of an eighth demon prince. Despite the existence of the League or United Nations or along with its existence, the seventh world power and its spirit prince wield just as much power in Satan’s world as before the great Dragon was ejected from heaven and before the League of Nations was formed. Consequently there exists no eighth demon prince for the seventh prince to have a rivalry with or to be succeeded by. Such would be the case if Gog were a new and eighth spirit prince newly raised to power to act as Satan’s chief of staff on the battlefield of Armageddon. Since World War I Britain itself may have weakened, but her horn of power today is reinforced by the atomic bomb, and her partner America has become the world’s most powerful nation. In view of this fact the seventh world-power prince would still dominate in Satan’s unseen organization.
6 This seventh world power becomes the "false prophet" of Revelation (16:13; 19:20; 20:10), and when we see frogs hop out to croak and urge the world rulers on to Armageddon, what? It is not out of the mouth of the eighth world power or "image of the wild beast" that a frog hops, but it is out of the mouth of the "false prophet" and out of the mouth of the wild beast from the sea with still only seven heads. (Rev. 16:13-16) So there is visibly nothing on earth for any eighth spirit prince to be represented by in Bible symbolisms. Hence the suggestion of twenty years ago that Gog was an eighth demon prince is now seen to be without proof. However, that suggestion was leading us in the right direction for locating Gog, namely, in the spirit world and not in the visible earthly, human society. Therefore Gog still represents, not a visible human ruler or nation, such as Russia, but a spirit ruler. Whom, then, does Gog symbolize?
IDENTIFIED
7 It is evident now that Gog is a figure prophetic of the ruler of all seven demon princes, namely, Satan the Devil. So Gog pictures that original Serpent, the Dragon, not when up in heaven but when down here at the earth. That is to say, after he has been cast out of heaven and been restrained at the earth with his seven demon princes. Thus Gog pictures Satan during the short period of time that he has left between the end of the war in heaven and the battle of Armageddon. After his ejection from heaven Satan the Dragon is angry with God’s woman who gave birth to the Kingdom. So it is the Dragon that goes forth to make war upon the "remaining ones of her seed" who observe God’s commandments and have the work of bearing witness to Jesus. It is the Dragon out of whose mouth the frog hops to gather the world rulers to Armageddon. It is the seven-headed Dragon itself that takes charge of the final attack and the ensuing war at Armageddon.—Rev. 12:7-17; 16:13.
8 True, Jehovah God does use Jesus Christ to fight as his chief of staff at Armageddon. But why is that so? Because Jehovah had foretold that, because the Serpent misled our first parents into sin in Eden, the Seed of God’s woman would bruise the great Serpent at the head. At Armageddon Jehovah has Jesus Christ, the woman’s Seed, do the crushing. (Gen. 3:15; Rom. 16:20) This would not, however, call for Satan to mimic God in this respect and appoint a new, untried demon prince to fight as his chief of staff at Armageddon. The Dragon, having already tried out a full set of seven demon princes, now assumes charge personally to face Christ on the field. He now knows that Christ is the woman’s Seed assigned to bruise him at the head as a serpent. So would the Dragon trust some inexperienced spirit prince with this vital task of conducting field maneuvers to stave off the crushing heel of the woman’s Seed from "that original serpent," the Dragon? Never! Armageddon is his big fight, like that of a roaring lion cornered in his lair. Furthermore, Ezekiel’s prophecy pictures this as Jehovah’s fight against Gog, hence against Satan the Devil, thus making it a fight between the true God and the false, between the God of the righteous new world and the "god of this world." (2 Cor. 4:4) "Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog."—Ezek. 38:3, AS.
9 It should not seem unusual that Gog is used to picture Satan the Devil. In the same book of Ezekiel the king of Tyre is used to picture the Devil from the time he was in Eden and when he became iniquitous and was cast out of God’s family and was abased as if being cast down to a Tartarus. But now, as Gog, Satan is pictured after he has been hurled from heaven down to the earth and is held in check here until at Armageddon he is transferred from his Tartarus condition into the abyss and put under a sealed cover there for a thousand years. (Rev. 20:1-3, 7) Incidentally, the allies of Gog in his final attack are nations that were heavy commercial traders with the king of Tyre.—Ezek. 27:2-25; 28:13-18.
10 Gog is said to be of the land of Magog. "Magog" was the name of one of Japheth’s seven sons, hence one of Noah’s grandsons. (Gen. 10:2) Where his land was is uncertain but it is usually located geographically in northeastern Europe and Central Asia, the land of the fierce Scythians and Tartars. However, this does not mean that in Ezekiel’s prophecy the "land of Magog" means now the land of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. At Revelation 20:8 Gog and Magog are mentioned, but there both are names of earthly lands and they have a different time-location from that of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel’s prophecy. In Ezekiel Magog is premillennial, whereas in Revelation Magog is located at the end of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. So, in Ezekiel’s prophecy, Magog corresponds with the realm of its chief ruler, Satan the Devil, and represents his spiritual realm. This agrees well with the fact that the Bible leaves the location of Magog indeterminate to man, hence a realm beyond man’s intimate knowledge. Magog is a limited spirit realm near the earth’s vicinity, for it is the location of Satan, the Dragon, after he and his wicked angels have been forced down there by the war in heaven. From that standpoint it is a degraded land, where the spirit inhabitants are subject to Jehovah’s disposition and held in reserve for him to express his further judgment.
11 The land of Magog, therefore, pictures the debased realm of the invisible part of Satan’s world since A.D. 1918. But Gog still has also a visible part to his world organization. He still has earthly allies and subjects, as is shown in Ezekiel’s prophecy, which addresses him as "Gog, the great prince of Meshech and Tubal." (Ezek. 38:3; 39:1, AT) Some translations render this, "Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal." (AS; Mo; Yg; Ro; LXX) And since the name "Rosh" really means, not Russia, but "head," it was reasoned that Rosh meant Satan the "head" and so Gog was a mere prince of Satan the Devil, a "prince of the chief." (AV, margin) But if we reason this way, it would also mean that Gog was a prince not of Satan the Devil only but also of Meshech and Tubal and subordinate to all three of them; which is not the case. However, other modern translations show that, instead of a subordinate prince, Gog is the "chief prince," the great chieftain. (RS; Soncino; Fenton) Some call him the "great prince." (AT; Bover-Cantera) Others call him the "sovereign prince." (Lienart; Crampon; Maredsous) Calling Gog by these superior titles in translating the Hebrew text again strongly indicates that he is Satan, "the ruler of the demons," and not an eighth subordinate prince who sallies forth to represent him on the field of battle. Gog, that is, Satan the Devil, does not stay back home in the rear in the land of Magog, to await the bursting in of God’s fire upon him there. No, he egotistically takes charge of his vast hordes of aggressors and madly leads them in attack upon the remaining ones of the Seed of God’s woman.
12 Meshech and Tubal, of which Gog is the sovereign prince, here picture a part of Satan’s visible organization. So do Persia, Cush (Ethiopia), Put (Libya), Gomer and the house of Togarmah, whose hordes form part of Gog’s final assault forces in the disastrous expedition that they are duped into undertaking by the symbolic frog, the "inspired expression," that leaps out of the Dragon’s mouth. Ancient Meshech and Tubal were both Japhetic. Like Magog, they derived their names from the sons of Japheth. But the Bible reports Meshech and Tubal as doing a great business with human slaves and brass utensils in the markets of the king of Tyre, who is also a prophetic picture of Satan the Devil. Meshech and Tubal were situated to the north of Palestine. They represent those who do business with Satan the Devil for commercial profit. By the time of Gog’s attack Persia, which was once the fourth world power, has declined so far that its forces become a minor part of the mixed army of Gog. Hence Gog’s attack could not have been away back there several centuries before Christ in the days when Persia was the dominant world power. Persia was the one that let the Israelites, the captives of Babylon, return to the Holy Land. So Persia knew of the restoration of Israel’s remnant to the Land of Promise. Even today the good news of God’s kingdom is being preached to some extent in the modern land of Persia or Iran.
13 The troops of Cush (or Ethiopia) and of Put were Hamitic. Since Put was southeast of Cush in Africa and corresponded to Somaliland, it shows how far south Gog’s influence extended and how far his call to arms was sounded. The men of Put as well as those of Persia once served in the army of Tyre as its soldiers, so that they were experienced in fighting on the side of Satan the Devil. The hordes of Gomer and Togarmah were Japhetic, their names also being taken from the sons of Japheth. Gomer’s descendants spread as far over as western Europe, whereas the house of Togarmah occupied what is Armenia and was spoken of as being "in the far north." (Ezek. 38:6, Mo) Thus when we look at the land they attack, the attacking forces of Gog are drawn from the far north and far south and hem their victim in, and they make up a conglomerate army of "many peoples." This fact is a warning that Jehovah’s New World society will be put in the squeeze by the invisible and visible hordes of the sovereign prince Gog. It accords with the prophecy that the New World society will be hated by all worldly nations.
TIME OF THE ATTACK
14 As a faithful Keeper of his people who bear his name, Jehovah is ever on guard for them and never slumbers nor sleeps. After these eighteen centuries since the days of Christ’s apostles he is not sound asleep but is now as keenly awake as ever, as this is His day, "the day of Jehovah," and the time has drawn close for the awe-striking demonstration of his power against his combined enemies. Timelily he rouses his faithful witnesses and alerts them to what is now due to take place. He opens their understanding as to who the real Gog is and reminds them that the assault by this powerful foe is soon to occur, this foe who comes from the far north. We know from God’s illuminated Word that the time has come close. Jehovah God himself has timed Gog’s assault, for he notified Gog that it would be after many days and in the end of the years. Since Jehovah said his witnesses were to announce this to Gog, they have to know of it in advance, and they do. This is the inspired announcement they can now make to the real Gog:
15 "Be ready, and keep ready, you and all your host mustered about you; keep yourself in reserve for me. For after many days you shall be called up for service, in the end of the years you shall march against a land restored from desolation, and inhabited by a people gathered from many a nation, against the mountains of Israel that were once a perpetual waste [or, once waste for a long time, Crampon], but are now inhabited by a people brought home from the nations, all of them living in security—you shall advance like a storm, you shall come like a cloud covering the land, you and all your hordes, and many a people with you." (Ezek. 38:7-9, AT) It will take great faith for Jehovah’s witnesses to face the fulfillment of this prophecy. It means such a frightful horde of attackers under the sovereign prince Gog storming against them.
16 The prophecy must apply in this "time of the end," particularly since 1919. From that year forward Jehovah began releasing his anointed witnesses, the remnant of his spiritual Israelites, from the power of this Babylonish world and restored them to the land that their enemies had desolated by persecuting them during World War I. Thus in 1919 a nation was brought forth at once and a land was born in one day, in the "day of Jehovah." (Isa. 66:7, 8) After that years had to be allowed for the restored remnant to get settled in the land and learn to live in security, trusting in Jehovah’s protection, and to build up the condition of the New World society to one of great spiritual prosperity so as to command the attention of this old world, the organization of sovereign prince Gog. The attack would therefore be timed by Jehovah God to fall at the close of the years of the "time of the end." This would be when Armageddon, "the war of the great day of God the Almighty," would be scheduled to begin. Since the "time of the end" began at the birth of God’s Messianic kingdom in 1914, we can appreciate that we are well along in the "last days" of prince Gog’s world organization. How we need to fortify ourselves against the impending attack, which we ourselves are now commissioned to announce in obedience to Jehovah God!—Ezek. 38:1-3; 39:1-3.
REASON FOR THE ASSAULT
17 Those of the New World society know that the attack must come, for the prophecy they now declare foretells its coming and must have a fulfillment in vindication of the sureness of Jehovah’s Word. But if the New World society knows the reason for the attack, it helps them to appreciate all the more why the attack must come and why they must now never leave it out of their calculations for the future. Naturally the sovereign prince Gog would have some selfish reason for launching his attack, and this would operate as a driving force upon him to enlist the service of his invisible demon forces as well as his visible earthly allies in his expedition against the New World society. The Almighty God calls attention to this selfish driving force of greed and covetousness behind Gog in these prophetic words:
18 "Thus says the Lord GOD [Jehovah, AS; Da]: On that day shall thoughts come into your mind, and you shall plan a mischievous scheme, saying, ‘I will march against this land of open villages, I will fall upon these quiet people who live in security, all of them undefended by wall or bar or gates,’ to despoil them, and prey upon them, to bring down your hand against the re-inhabited wastes, and against the people gathered from the nations, who are peacefully acquiring cattle and goods, as they live at the center of the earth. Sheba and Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all her magnates [young lions, AS], shall say to you, ‘Was it to despoil them that you came? Was it to prey upon them that you mustered your host? Was it to carry off silver and gold, to seize cattle and goods, to take great spoil?’ Therefore prophesy, O mortal man, and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD [Jehovah]: On that day when my people Israel are living in security, shall you not bestir yourself and come from your place in the farthest north—you and many a people with you, all of them riding on horseback, a great host, a mighty army—and fall upon my people Israel like a cloud covering the land? It shall come to pass in the end of the days that I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me, when I reveal my holiness in their sight, through my dealings with you, O Gog.’"—Ezek. 38:10-16, AT.
19 The same covetousness that produced Satan the Devil in the paradise of Eden now ferments in the heart of this sovereign prince Gog and courses through every fiber of his being. Especially is this so in these "last days" when he can contrast the condition of Jehovah’s restored remnant and their good-will companions and the condition of his old doomed world. With resentful eyes Gog views the spiritual prosperity of Jehovah’s remnant. He begrudges them this flourishing paradise condition in which their theocratic society dwells and worships Jehovah, and particularly so when he beholds the distress of nations in his own world and realizes that its display of pomp, power and artificial prosperity can last now for only a "short period of time" until he and his seed shall have their heads mashed in at the battle of Armageddon. If his own world organization cannot prosper and if it cannot enjoy lasting prosperity religiously, economically and nationally, then no other organization shall enjoy it either! That is Gog’s envious resolve.
20 However, Jehovah’s New World society is made up of faithful Christians who are persecuted world-wide. In the main they are poor in this world’s goods. What, then, could be the paradisaic prosperity that they are now enjoying and that this sovereign prince Gog could covet? This: that they have the precious possession of God’s name, by which they are called. For at least sixteen centuries Satan the Devil has apparently succeeded in keeping the adorable name of the true God out of the knowledge of people who professed to worship him. But now, since A.D. 1914, Satan the Dragon has suffered a great humiliation by being plummeted down from heaven to the degraded "land of Magog," whereas the hated name "Jehovah" has come up and is destined to rise to the zenith of its glory at the battle of the great day of God the Almighty.
21 Not only that, but Jehovah’s remnant by their deliverance from the enslaving power of this Babylonish world have had nationhood conferred upon them; they are a people distinct from every other people on the face of this earth and are organized into a theocratic society that stands first, last and all the time for Jehovah’s new world. Moreover, they have the most powerful message of any on earth, the Kingdom good news, with an expansive force that all of Satan’s restraining forces cannot hold in and confine, but it swells to the ends of the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations in obedience to Christ’s command. Irresistibly powering it is Jehovah’s spirit that is poured upon his people. (Ezek. 39:29) The method of propagating it, "publicly and from house to house," is most productive of results. (Matt. 24:14; Acts 20:20) It alone satisfies the yearning of those who seek happiness by the satisfying of the spiritual need, of which they are so conscious; and so hundreds of thousands of these are flocking to the land of the restored remnant to enjoy real and lasting spiritual prosperity. To the remnant these are like flocks and herds in their possession; also the restored old truths and the newly revealed truths concerning the new world are more precious than literal silver and gold. Nothing that Gog of Magog has compares with this spiritual wealth. Nothing that we have harmonizes with the propaganda and prosperity schemes of this old world. Operating theocratically in obedience to Jehovah, we carry on just counter to Gog’s old world, and yet we do not meddle in it by dictating to it or conspiring against it or planning armed violence against it.
22 As Jehovah God says, the restored remnant of the New World society "live at the center of the earth," or, dwell at the navel of the earth. Spread out though they are all over the earth in their preaching activities, yet the restored remnant in their theocratic organization are the nucleus from which the New World society on earth finally spreads out to encircle all the globe. All the theocratic human society of the new world revolves around them, and in restoring them from mystic Babylon the foundations of the "new earth" were laid by Jehovah God, the Creator of the new world. (Isa. 51:16) They are the most interesting, worth-while thing God has on earth, and his attention is focused upon them. So, too, the malicious attention of Gog of Magog is centered upon them. He despises the idea of a "new earth" in a perpetual new world!
23 Those whom Gog enlists in his army, pictured by Meshech, Tubal, Persia, Cush, Gomer and Togarmah, feel the same way about it as Gog does. They are the active seed of the Serpent and have his selfish, envious, greedy spirit and are stimulated by the same motives. Readily they enlist in his assault forces and volunteer for his nefarious work. There are others also who view Gog’s plan of attack with selfish interests and these are pictured by Sheba, Dedan and the lionlike magnates of Tarshish. In ancient days these were great commercial people and kept up regular trade with Tyre, whose king was used to symbolize the commercially minded Satan. (Ezek. 27:12, 15, 20, 22) At that time they were at the ends of the known inhabited earth, Tarshish being at the western end of the Mediterranean Sea, in what is now Spain, and Sheba being at what Jesus called the "ends of the earth."—Matt. 12:42, NW.
24 This denotes that in our day all the nations to the four corners of the earth will know of Gog’s planned attack against the New World society and will be interested in it because of the selfish gain they hope to make out of it, even if they do not themselves take a direct, active part in the attack. All the same, they hope that the attack will be a success and that they can do profit-making business with the victors afterward. They want to see the remnant of spiritual Israel despoiled and reduced to poverty, not that they have a commercial competition with the remnant of spiritual Israel, but because these do not represent nor speak bright prospects for the commercialism of this world, but warn that it will perish. It is not pleasant to hear that the world organization of Gog of Magog will be bankrupted and that their partnership with the god of mammon and his system of things will be dissolved. Because they have such selfish sympathy with Gog’s policy of aggression and against the life interests of the remnant of the least of Christ’s brothers, they are "goats," and they will perish with the Devil and his angels in the everlasting fire that is reserved for them.—Matt. 25:31-46.
25 Thus Gog of Magog and his hordes and selfish backers are bared as having a bad heart out of which nothing good can come. (Matt. 12:34, 35) Out of his own wicked heart, of his own accord, he proceeds to "plan a mischievous scheme" against an inoffensive, peaceable, God-fearing people, to vent his spleen against Jehovah. So he chooses his own course of self-destruction. According to promise, Jehovah has set his sanctuary, his tabernacle, in the midst of his restored remnant, by restoring to them his pure, theocratic worship as in the days of Christ’s apostles. (Ezek. 37:25-28) Gog of Magog would like to despoil this temple of what riches it might contain that are dedicated to Jehovah and break up this temple worship, which is now being rendered by even a "great crowd" of people of good will from all nations and peoples.
26 Gog’s attack is therefore nothing less than a low-down, premeditated outrage against Jehovah God, a violent expression of disesteem for Jehovah’s name and of sneering contempt for those who bear that sacred name and try to live up to it. Gog’s attack displays no respectful dread of Jehovah God, but, instead, a putting of him to the test just too far, beyond the point of further toleration. Gog likely remembers how, in the seventh century before Christ, Emperor Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came out of the north and assaulted Jerusalem and despoiled and destroyed the temple, and how, in our first century, the Romans repeated this performance, and they both got away with it. In fact, they were used to express Jehovah’s judgment upon the nation of Israel. So now Gog thinks he, too, can get away with it, and he would like to believe that his assault will serve as a divine judgment upon the restored remnant of spiritual Israel, for he comes out of the north, "the farthest north." Is that not the proper direction from which a divine judgment should come against Jehovah’s people? So forward with his plans and preparations for the final, all-out attack he goes. Never, now, throughout the rest of this "time of the end," should you of Jehovah’s New World society let out of your minds that Gog of Magog begrudges you your spiritual prosperity and covets your wealth of influence for the new world. Be sure of this: The New World Society Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses at Yankee Stadium, New York city, in 1953, will whet his greedy appetite still more. Consequently, be now on never-relaxing guard.
27 Gog schemes the final, do-or-die attack on the only part of Jehovah’s theocratic organization that he can get at, now that he has been permanently excluded from heaven. Regardless of Gog’s own self-induced motives, Jehovah God has his own supreme purpose to serve by permitting Gog’s attack. Without interfering with Gog’s own self-initiated schemes but, rather, working right along with them, Jehovah God maneuvers Gog into making the attack. Jehovah has no fear at all of this attack but, rather, welcomes it. To inform Gog of Magog so, he has his witnesses utter the prophecy: "Thus says the Lord GOD [Jehovah]: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the great prince of Meshech and Tubal; I will turn you round, and put hooks in your jaws; and I will lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all of them in full panoply, a mighty host, equipped with buckler and shield, all of them wielding the sword—Persia, Cush, and Put, all of them equipped with shield and helmet, together with Gomer and all his hordes, the house of Togarmah and all their hordes, from the farthest north—many a people with you. Be ready, and keep ready, you and all your host mustered about you; keep yourself in reserve for me. For after many days you shall be called up for service."—Ezek. 38:3-8; 39:1, 2, AT.
28 Jehovah’s hatred of the devouring Dragon, the original Serpent, is no less today than it was six thousand years ago. In the garden of Eden, after the treachery of Satan, the great Serpent, in luring Eve and Adam into sin, Jehovah published his hatred of the Serpent, advising him that Jehovah would put enmity between His woman and the Serpent and between her Seed and the Serpent’s seed; and that, although the Serpent would bruise her Seed at the heel, yet her Seed would bruise the Serpent at the head. (Gen. 3:15) Now, "after many days" and "in the end of the years," the fixed time has come for the original Serpent, at present known as Gog, to be crushed at the head with all his seed. Hence Jehovah draws Gog of Magog to his destruction as with hooks in his jaws. How? By letting Gog harden his heart against Jehovah, just as Pharaoh of ancient Egypt did after Jehovah had poured out the tenth and last plague upon Egypt. Some days later Pharaoh learned that the departed Israelites under Moses were apparently trapped unarmed in the entangling wilderness and with the Red Sea blocking the escape route. Forgetting the lessons he should have learned from the ten plagues, he mustered his mobile fighting units and went in pursuit, to drag the Israelites back to his slavepen. Against Pharaoh’s horsemen and chariots the Israelites were militarily helpless. By this fact Jehovah deluded Pharaoh and maneuvered him without any injustice to Pharaoh, letting him harden his heart to make a desperate assault upon Jehovah’s people. Seeing that Pharaoh was already a human vessel fitted to destruction because of his unchangeably wicked heart, Jehovah let him ride at top speed to his own destruction.—Ex. 14:3, 4, 28-31.
29 So, too, with Gog of Magog. By a delusion Jehovah draws him on to the destruction which he deserves and to which he was sentenced six thousand years ago. To Gog the New World society of the restored remnant and their good-will companions seems to be in such an exposed state, being unarmed with carnal weapons and hated by all nations. Hence the invasion, conquest and spoiling of it seem just an easy matter that can be done with impunity as by a "hit-and-run driver." Gog’s visible allies on earth have no faith in Jehovah’s purpose to step in in behalf of his spiritual Israel. So they are willing and ready to put him to the test just once more, not realizing that this time it may be tempting Jehovah too far and he might surprise them by intervening just as he used to do in the days of yore.
30 As for their invisible sovereign prince, Gog of Magog, he painfully knows he has but a short period of time. But he is resolved that, if he has to go down, what a blow it would be to Jehovah’s prestige for him to destroy the remaining ones of the seed of God’s woman as his last act before being crushed himself! It would put a feather in his cap and would be to Jehovah’s eternal reproach. He would have satisfaction as he went down into the abyss. He would bruise the remnant at their heel by wiping them out and would prevent their surviving the battle of Armageddon. Necessarily, this would mean also that their good-will companions would fail to survive. That promised preservation act by Jehovah at Armageddon is something for Gog to prevent. If all of his own in heaven and on earth have to be ruined, then he will ruin everything else visible on earth and make it a desolation. There will be no repeating of Noah’s preservation! That is what Gog viciously decides.
31 Therefore, when Jehovah holds out the hooks of delusion, by letting his people dwell in security in open villages with no city walls, bars or gates or other military defense, Gog yawns open his jaws wide and clamps them shut on the hooks and willingly, yes, even eagerly, submits to being led with all his army, horses and horsemen in full armor to the attack upon the New World society, to enrich himself at the expense of Jehovah’s people. By hooking Gog through this delusion and maneuvering him to an attack that merits having his head crushed, Jehovah does Gog no wrong. Gog is already a criminal with a long-deferred sentence of destruction dangling over his head, and Jehovah God does this long-condemned criminal no injustice by leading him with hooks out of the land of Magog to the execution to which he is justly sentenced.
32 This execution was long foretold and, accordingly, has long been held in store. This is denoted in these words: "Thus says the Lord GOD [Jehovah, AS]: Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who in those days prophesied for years that I would bring you against them?" (Ezek. 38:17, RS) This indicates that even Ezekiel, who delivered the original prophecy, spoke long in advance of it, twenty-five centuries in advance, not to mention also Joel (3:9-17) as possibly another prophet of Israel to tell of this final assault. How appropriate that Jehovah, in addressing Gog, really meaning Satan the Devil, should say to him: "Keep yourself in reserve for me"! (Ezek. 38:7, AT) "Hold yourself in reserve for me!" (Mo) "Hold yourself at my disposition." (Maredsous; Lienart) "Put yourself at my service." (L’École Biblique) Even after war was fought in heaven and the great Dragon was cast down to the earth, Jehovah’s holding of Gog of Magog in reserve for Armageddon has applied, for already it is thirty-five years since A.D. 1918, when World War I closed. Instead of destroying Satan and his demons and his earthly organization then, Jehovah cut the days of tribulation short and held Gog of Magog in store for final handling at Armageddon. This agrees with Jehovah’s words to Egypt’s Pharaoh after the sixth plague: "For this cause I have kept you in existence, for the sake of showing you my power and in order to have my name declared in all the earth."—Ex. 9:16, NW; Rom. 9:17, 18, NW; Matt. 24:21, 22.
33 To Gog of Magog all these years of this "time of the end" seem like a short period of time, and he is now itching to begin his final attack upon the New World society. Let him now have his wish, for Jehovah’s time to lead the condemned criminal out to his execution has come, to show Gog His power. "So that the nations may know me, when I reveal my holiness in their sight, through my dealings with you, O Gog." (Ezek. 38:16, AT) In this way Jehovah will vindicate his holiness, teaching all the universe that he is not to be mocked, but that what belongs to him is never to be mishandled, abused or treated as common, profane and free for misappropriation. Hence hands off the New World society bearing my name!
THE ASSAULT
34 The hour of execution arrives! By means of hooks in Gog’s jaws Jehovah the Almighty leads him and his hordes down from the north, down through Gilead and along the east bank of the Jordan River and toward the plateau of Moab on the east coast of the Dead Sea, according to the symbolic language of Ezekiel’s prophecy. Gog now poises himself for the attack! His overt act is committed! Now the Almighty God has him where he wants him, caught in the act. Now Jehovah God moves to crush Gog by means of the great Seed of his woman, Jesus Christ. The battle of the great day of God the Almighty begins. The battle account, written long ahead, says:
35 "And it shall come to pass in that day, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah, that my wrath shall come up into my nostrils. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; so that the fishes of the sea, and the birds of the heavens, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him unto all my mountains, saith the Lord Jehovah: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. And with pestilence and with blood will I enter into judgment with him; and I will rain upon him, and upon his hordes, and upon the many peoples that are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. And I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations; and they shall know that I am Jehovah."—Ezek. 38:18-23, AS.
36 Shocking surprise, consternation, fright, collapse of government and management, panic, wild anarchy, fratricidal warfare, tremendous upheavals of earth, landslides, falling defense and protective edifices, cloudbursts, overflowing flash floods, rain of corrosive liquid fire, terror in the air, on land, in the sea, are all written in that advance battle-account and destined for Gog’s attacking forces. Even normally, the sun and the atmosphere, working together to stir up a storm, will generate and release millions of times more energy than modern science can by detonating a hundred atomic bombs at once. Let the nations then release all at one time all the atomic and hydrogen bombs they possess. The global storm that shall then strike the nations of Satan’s world will be far worse than that. The great trembling of the earth’s crust that the Almighty Creator will then cause over all the globe will prove more powerful than hundreds of millions of atom bombs, and He will not have to explode plutonium, either, to do it. Horrifying and awful, too, will be the insane, selfish, fruitless fight for survival, man against man within the ranks of this world, in a mad scramble to save self, every man becoming his neighbor’s enemy. But all in vain! Those who may thus triumph in the fight of survival against fellow man will finally be executed through supernatural means by the fighting forces of Jehovah’s King of kings, the Seed of his woman, Jesus Christ. None of them shall escape. (1 Thess. 5:3) What a lot it seems to require to make the nations of this world know that the living and true God is named Jehovah!
37 The nations of earth are only willing dupes. The invisible wicked spirit forces in Satan’s organization are the troublemakers behind them all. Will they, then, escape the destructive release of Jehovah’s flaming fury? No! In notification of this he says to Gog of the degraded demon realm of Magog: "And I will send a fire on Magog, and on them that dwell securely in the isles; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. And my holy name will I make known in the midst of my people Israel; neither will I suffer my holy name to be profaned any more: and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord Jehovah; this is the day whereof I have spoken." (Ezek. 39:6-8, AS) Yes, Magog will be consumed as with fire when Jehovah’s fighting Seed of his woman, Jesus Christ, crushes the great Serpent and his demon seed, casting them chained into the abyss under an officially sealed cover for the thousand years of his reign.—Rom. 16:20; Eph. 6:12; Rev. 20:1-3.
38 Not only Magog in the invisible rear but also the battle-remote coastlands, or isles, shall feel the fire of destruction. That means that not only those on the military fighting front in Gog’s attack forces but also those staying at home and making up the civilian front backing up Gog’s hordes will be reached by the destructive forces from on high. Their dwelling securely, easy-going and indifferently will be rudely broken up. Such civilian backers of Gog’s attack must bear their community responsibility for their representative armies at the front. Protest Gog’s attack? No, not they. So they are condemned as heart and soul a part of Satan’s world organization. Jehovah rightly sends his fiery destruction upon them. Thus Satan’s entire seed, seen and unseen, perish.
SHARERS OF THE VICTORY
39 As the New World society see Gog of Magog mustering his forces should they get on the run? Eventually when they see Gog’s forces moving in to the attack like a growling, heavens-blackening storm cloud of living demons and human hordes, should they flee, at least, then? No! Never should they and never will the faithful remnant and their good-will companions abandon the newborn theocratic land of the New World society. This is the Beulah land of prophecy, to which the remnant are married, and never under any stress will they break their marriage ties, and their loyal companions will stick with them. (Isa. 62:4, 5) They will stand their ground, continuing to dwell in this theocratic land, trusting in Jehovah God for security and not in carnal weapons or in speed of compromising flight. Steadfastly doing so, they will witness his victorious demonstration of power over his combined old-world foes, the profaners of his holy name. They will glory in his triumph by Jesus Christ.
40 Even the once-terrified birds and beasts of the field will share in the benefits of his triumph. Jehovah bids his prophet to invite those long-mistreated birds and beasts to feast upon His great sacrifice, his slaughter of all his foes, whose carcasses will lie strewn upon the ground like fertilizer, unlamented, unburied, abhorred by the New World society, who survive. Let the birds and the beasts pick the skeletons of these white and clean. Let the bird and animal kingdom thus be repaid for all the wanton slaughter that Gog’s old world has inflicted upon them during the past 4,000 years since the Flood.—Ezek. 39:1-5, 17-20; Rev. 19:17-21.
41 Enormous will be the mass slaughter of that day of days, for tremendous will be the forces lined up on Gog’s side in that battle. That will indeed be a global conflict if ever there was one, for not a section of the globe will escape the destruction. By the prophecy we are informed that the wooden parts that are left of the man-killing weapons of Gog’s mob will be so abundant that it will take seven years for the surviving Israelites to collect them and use them up as firewood. (Ezek. 39:9, 10) But what about the bones of Gog’s slain hordes? Will they be left to pollute the soil of the "new earth"? No; but Jehovah will assign them a burial place, pictured by the valley of Abarim, where Jehovah brought Gog’s mob to a dead halt in destruction. It lies east of the Dead Sea. As the Dead Sea is a Scripture symbol of everlasting destruction, or "second death," this burial place pictures that those on Gog’s side are destroyed in second death. (Rev. 20:14, 15; 21:8, NW) So the burial of the bones is for cleansing the land and is not to symbolize any hope of a resurrection for Gog’s mob. The valley of burial will be called The Valley of Gog’s Mob, and the symbolic city nearby will be called Hamonah (that is, Mob), as a memorial of Jehovah’s victory over Gog’s mob.—Ezek. 39:11-16, AT; AS.
42 Courage, then, every one of you of the New World society! If we keep trusting in Jehovah and proving our trust by holding loyal to his theocratic government and to the proclaiming of the good news of his kingdom by Christ, we have no need to fear, neither from the formidable appearance of Gog’s mob nor from the awesomeness of Jehovah’s supreme display of his battle might, for Jehovah is with us! Cowardly flight could, but Gog will never, dislodge us from our God-given land. Deliverance lies in not running! During this "time of the end," this "day of Jehovah," we have been witnesses to Jehovah’s name and kingdom. Shortly now we are to be made eyewitnesses of the most magnificent spectacle when Jehovah reveals his glory at Armageddon in vindication of his creation-wide sovereignty. As beholders of this the New World society can serve as an everliving witness to Jehovah’s vindication victory by relating it to all the children born in the new world, yes, to all those who will be brought forth to life on earth by the resurrection of the dead. So here, in the face of gathering enemies, we stand today in the land of restored theocracy. God grant us to maintain our stand here immovable by ceaseless activity and a vigilant guard until his sublime victory over Gog of Magog.


{Footnotes]
This name, like Meshech and Tubal, would be the name of a country, not the name of an individual. Byzantine and Arabian historians often mentioned a barbarous people called Ross, who lived to the north of the Taurus Mountains and on the banks of the Volga River