From Kingdom Ministry April 2005
Congregations earth wide will study the brochure Keep on the Watch! during the weeks of May 23 through June 20, 2005, at the Congregation Book Study. Please use the following questions when preparing for and when conducting this meeting. During the study, read the printed material, and read the cited scriptures as time permits.
Our consideration of the brochure will help us to "keep on the watch" and prove ourselves ready. May our public ministry always reflect the urgency of the angelic proclamation: "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of the judgment by him has arrived."
-Matt. 24:42, 44; Rev. 14:7.
Week of May 23
WHERE IS THIS WORLD HEADING?
Serious problems and shocking events have become everyday news around the world! What does it mean?
PERSONAL SECURITY: Bombs set off in marketplaces. Teachers and students shot in school. Infants snatched away when parents turned their backs. Women and elderly men mugged in broad daylight.
THE RELIGIOUS SCENE: Churches back factions in war. Clergy charged in genocide. Priests sexually exploit young people; church cover-up. Decline in attendance; church buildings sold.
THE ENVIRONMENT: Forests stripped for commercial ventures. Woodlands laid bare by the poor in search of fuel. Groundwater polluted, unsafe to drink. Fishing ruined by industrial waste and some modern methods. Air choked with pollution.
EARNING A LIVING: Per capita income for sub-Saharan Africa reported to be about $480 (U.S.) a year. Corporate greed leads to business collapse, leaving thousands without work. Fraud causes investors to lose life savings.
FOOD SHORTAGES: Some 800,000,000 people worldwide regularly go to bed hungry.
WAR: Over 100,000,000 people lost their lives as a result of war in the 20th century. Enough nuclear weapons on hand to destroy all mankind many times. Civil wars. Terrorism reaches out to engulf the globe.
PESTILENCE AND OTHER ILLNESS: Starting in 1918, the Spanish flu killed 21,000,000 people. AIDS has now become "the most devastating pandemic in human history." Cancer and heart disease bring grief worldwide.
Look beyond the single news items. Are they isolated events? Or are they part of a global pattern that has real significance?
Pages 3-4 Questions: Which of the situations listed here have especially affected your life? What indicates to you that these situations are not merely isolated local events?
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Does God Really Care?
Distressed by shocking events or by severe personal loss, many people wonder why God does not intervene to prevent such things.
God does care. He provides sound guidance and genuine relief now. (Matthew 11:28-30; 2 Timothy 3:16,17) He has laid the basis for permanently putting an end to violence, sickness, and death. His provisions show that he cares not merely for people of one nation but for people of all nations, tribes, and tongues.-Acts 10: 34,35.
How much do we care? Do you know who the Creator of heaven and earth is? What is his name? What is his purpose? He answers these questions in the Bible. There he tells us what steps he is taking to put an end to violence as well as sickness and death. In order to benefit, what is required on our part? We need to learn about him and his purpose. How can we expect to benefit from his provisions unless we show faith in him? (John 3:16; Hebrews 11:6) It is also necessary to obey his requirements. (1 John 5:3) Do you care enough to do that?
To comprehend why present conditions are permitted by God, we must understand a vital issue. The Bible explains it. On page 15 of this publication, this issue is identified.
Page 5 Questions: What convinces you that God truly cares? What may indicate how much we care about God and what he is doing?
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WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
JESUS CHRIST said: "The conclusion of the system of things" would be identified by war, food shortages, pestilence, and earthquakes.-Matthew 24:1-8; Luke 21:10, 11.
Since 1914 life has been marred by wars between nations and between ethnic groups, often as a result of political interference by clergymen and now by widespread terrorist attacks.
In spite of scientific developments, extreme food shortages are the lot of hundreds of millions of people earth wide. Each year millions of people die because of shortage of food.
Pestilence, that is, widespread epidemics of infectious disease, is also part of the sign given by Jesus. Following World War I, an epidemic of influenza claimed over 21,000,000 lives. Unlike fairly localized plagues in ages past, it touched nations earth wide as well as remote islands. AIDS is now sweeping the globe, and such plagues as TB, malaria, river blindness, and Chagas' disease persist in developing nations.
Reportedly, there are tens of thousands of earthquakes of varying intensity every year. Regardless of available equipment and improved reporting methods, disasters in population centers as a result of earthquakes have become frequent news.
The Bible also foretold: "Know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power; and from these turn away."-2 Timothy 3:1-5.
Do you not agree that we are living in "critical times hard to deal with"?
Have you observed that people, to an excessive extent, are lovers of self, lovers of money, and driven by pride?
Who would dispute that the world is filled with people who are demanding but unthankful, not open to agreement, disloyal?
Are you aware that disobedience to parents along with a shocking lack of affection has dramatically increased, not only in a few places but around the globe?
The Last Days of What?
Not the last days of humankind. For those who do the will of God, the Bible holds out the prospect of living forever. -John 3:16,36; 1 John 2:17.
Not the last days of the earth. God's Word promises that the inhabited earth will endure forever.-Psalm 37: 29; 104:5; Isaiah 45:18.
Instead, these are the last days of this violent, loveless system of things and those who cling to its ways.-Proverbs 2:21,22.
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No doubt you realize that we live in a world that is intoxicated with love of pleasure but is lacking in love of goodness. That is how the Bible describes attitudes that would prevail in "the last days."
Is more needed in order to identify the time in which we live? Jesus also foretold that during this same time, the good news of God's Kingdom would be preached in all the inhabited earth. (Matthew 24:14) Is that being done?
The Watchtower, a Bible-based journal that is devoted to announcing the good news of Jehovah's Kingdom, is regularly printed in more languages than any other periodical.
Every year, Jehovah's Witnesses devote more than a billion hours to witnessing personally to others about God's Kingdom.
Is the Bible Really God's Word?
Repeatedly, the Bible prophets wrote: "This is what Jehovah has said." (Isaiah 43:14; Jeremiah 2:2) Even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, emphasized that he 'did not speak of his own originality.' (John 14: 10) The Bible itself clearly says: "All Scripture is inspired of God."-2 Timothy 3:16.
No other book is published in as many languages--over 2,200, as reported by the United Bible Societies. No other book has such a large circulation--now more than four billion copies. Is that not what you would expect of a message from God that is for all mankind?
For a fuller discussion of the evidences that the Bible is inspired of God, see the book The Bible--God's Word or Man's?, published by Jehovah's Witnesses.
If you read the Bible with appreciation for the fact that it truly is God's Word, you will greatly benefit.
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Literature explaining the Bible is currently published by them in some 400 languages, even languages that reach remote and small population groups. Jehovah's Witnesses have reached all nations with the good news; they have also preached in many islands and territories that are too small to be significant in the political world. In most lands, they carry on a regular program of Bible education.
Indeed, the good news of God's Kingdom is being preached in all the inhabited earth, not to convert the world, but to give a witness. People everywhere are being given an opportunity to show whether they care who created the heavens and the earth and whether they will show respect for his laws and demonstrate love for their fellow-man.-Luke 10:25-27; Revelation 4:11.
Soon now, God's Kingdom will cleanse the earth of all the wicked and make it a global paradise.-Luke 23:43.
What Is God's Kingdom?
It is the government in heaven that expresses rulership by the true God, Jehovah, the Creator of heaven and earth. -Jeremiah 10:10, 12.
The Bible identifies Jesus Christ as the one to whom God gives such ruling authority. (Revelation 11:15) When on earth, Jesus demonstrated that he already had amazing authority from God--authority that enabled him to control the natural elements, to cure all sorts of illnesses, and even to raise the dead. (Matthew 9: 2-8; Mark 4:37-41; John 11:11-44) Inspired Bible prophecy foretold that God would also give him "rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him." (Daniel 7:13,14) That government is called the Kingdom of heaven; it is from heaven that Jesus Christ now exercises his rulership.
Pages 6-8 Questions: What does Matthew 24:1-8, 14 say about the meaning of present world conditions? As shown by 2 Timothy 3:1-5, in what time period are we now living? Of what are these the last days? What convinces you that the Bible really is God's Word? What is the Kingdom about which we preach?
WHERE IS YOUR LIFE HEADING?
- Many people are so wrapped up in the affairs of daily life that they give little thought to where they are heading.
- The Bible alerts us to wonderful events ahead. It also warns of a coming global upheaval in human institutions. For us to benefit and to avoid calamity, positive action is urgent.
- There are some people who know what the Bible says and try to apply it but who let the anxieties of life push them off course.
- Are you happy with the direction that your life is taking? When you plan activities, do you consider how these could affect your long-term goals in life?
What Is Most Important to You?
How would you rate the following? Number them.
Many of them have a proper place in life, but when you have to choose, what comes first? second? and so forth.
___ Entertainment/recreation
___ My job or my career
___ My health
___ Personal happiness
___ My mate
___ My parents
___ My children
___ A nice home, fine clothes
___ Being the best at whatever I do
___ Worship of God
Pages 9-10 Questions: Why should we carefully consider our daily decisions and our priorities in life? (Rom. 2:6; Gal. 6:7) As you review the questions on page 10, what scriptures come to your mind that should have a bearing on what you do?