blondie	Re: "Clear light broke forth"
	That is one of the premiere flip-flop doctrines. w96 5/1 pp. 13-14 God and Caesar In 1929, at a time when laws of various governments were beginning to forbid things that God commands or demand things that God’s laws forbid, it was felt (why the passive voice; who felt?) that the higher powers must be Jehovah God and Jesus Christ. This was the understanding Jehovah’s servants (Rutherford's view) had during the crucial period before and during World War II and on into the Cold War, with its balance of terror and its military preparedness. Looking back, it must be said that this view of things, exalting as it did the supremacy of Jehovah and his Christ, helped God’s people to maintain an uncompromisingly neutral stand throughout this difficult period. w96 5/1 p. 14 God and Caesar In 1961 the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures was completed. Its preparation had required an in-depth study of the textual language of the Scriptures. The precise translation of the words used not only in Romans chapter 13 but also in such passages as Titus 3:1, 2 and 1 Peter 2:13, 17 made it evident that the term "superior authorities" referred, not to the Supreme Authority, Jehovah, and to his Son, Jesus, but to human governmental authorities. In late 1962, articles were published in The Watchtower that gave an accurate explanation of Romans chapter 13 and also provided a clearer view than that held at the time of C. T. Russell (yet look at what CTR believed below). w96 5/1 p. 13 God and Caesar As early as 1886, Charles Taze Russell wrote in the book The Plan of the Ages: "Neither Jesus nor the Apostles interfered with earthly rulers in any way. . . . They taught the Church to obey the laws, and to respect those in authority because of their office, . . . to pay their appointed taxes, and except where they conflict with God’s laws (Acts 4:19; 5:29) to offer no resistance to any established law. (Rom. 13:1-7; Matt. 22:21) Jesus and the Apostles and the early church were all law-abiding, though they were separate from, and took no share in the governments of this world." This book correctly identified "the higher powers," or "the superior authorities," mentioned by the apostle Paul, as human governmental authorities. BUT w50 11/15 p. 442 Subjection to the Higher Powers The fact stands unassailable that Jehovah God is the Chief of the Superior Authorities. Every soul should be subject to him.   Blondie
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