LET GOD BE TRUE

CHAPTER XVIII

SALUTES AND POLITICS

IN THIS postwar era support of all peoples will be drawn by the various worldly governments to the United Nations organization. Their efforts thus to unify the peoples will cause the issue of politics, political obligations and political saluting ceremonies of the nations to rise to a higher level of importance and interest. All people, as usual, will be requested by the rulers to participate in such activities. They will give no consideration to the exemption from such obligations usually granted to ambassadors and ministers domiciled in such nations. (Revelation 13:15-17) The refusal of conscientious persons to participate in the political, commercial and religious activities will require them to answer a number of interesting questions. Let us here anticipate some of these questions and put them up to the Bible to answer, to get an expression of God's will on these vital matters.

² A minister is one who performs services in any office. An ambassador is a minister of high rank, and almost always in modern times is a resident agent of a foreign government. Both

minister and ambassador serve their sovereign in an alien land. Jehovah's witnesses of today are ministers and ambassadors of the kingdom of Almighty God, His Theocratic government under Christ Jesus. The Scriptures clearly show that a follower of Christ Jesus is a witness of Jehovah and as such he is a minister or ambassador of God's kingdom. (2 Corinthians 5: 20; Ephesians 6: 20. Compare Jeremiah 49:14 and Obadiah 1.) Since Jehovah's government, standing forever, is the greatest of all governments, it follows that his ministers or ambassadors should have the same rights and exemptions as the ministers of this world have.

³ An ambassador of a foreign power is by the laws of this world exempt from payment of tax and the giving of allegiance to the government of the land where he is domiciled. He is relieved of rendering political obligations of any sort. The nation wherein he resides is without authority to impose any regulation that burdens or abridges the performance of his duty as such. Moreover, for like reasons, ministers of religion are exempt from burdens of government that are ordinarily imposed on all the people. The reasons for these exemptions is that benefits and advantages flow to the people and to the government from such ministers' activities, which relieve the government of certain work and responsibility. The influence up-

on the people from preaching is said to contribute to welfare and morals. It is also said to be good and great enough to justify such exemptions. Jehovah's witnesses, preaching the only message of real hope for the people, are entitled to claim these exemptions granted to all ministers of religion.

⁴ The time, energy and life of the witness of Jehovah are dedicated exclusively to the service of Almighty God. He has entered into a covenant or contract with Almighty God to perform faithfully his God-given preaching activity as long as he lives, and never to turn away therefrom. His turning aside from that assigned duty, to engage in serving another master, to perform other work assigned by the civil state, or his refraining from preaching because of compliance with arbitrary commands to stop, is in the eyes of Jehovah covenant-breaking. God has declared that covenant-breakers are worthy of death. (Romans 1: 31,32; Acts 3: 23) Since no man can excuse a minister of the gospel for unfaithfulness in performing his covenant obligations to Jehovah, no man can rightly require such minister to break such covenant with Jehovah. The liberal exemption granted to ministers by liberal governments avoids such predicament.

⁵ Inasmuch as Jehovah has chosen his witnesses out of the world to be ambassadors to the peoples of earth in behalf of his kingdom, they are not a part of the world. Since their allegiance is to Almighty God and his kingdom they do not participate in local, national or international elections or politics. From such they are exempt by the law of Almighty God, who commands them to remain unspotted from the world. (James 1: 27) Like Christ Jesus and his apostles, who set the example to follow, they are in the world but are not a part of it. (John 17:16,17; 15:17-19) Another reason why they abstain from the world is that the Devil is the invisible ruler thereof, and they know that to be a friend of the world is to incur the enmity of Almighty God. — 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 5:19; James 4: 4.

EXEMPTION

⁶ The preaching activity of Jehovah's witnesses as ministers entitles them to claim exemption from performing military training and service in the armed forces of the nations wherein they dwell. The exempt status of Jehovah's witnesses also relieves them of the performance of governmental work required of conscientious objectors to both combatant and noncombatant military service, because Jehovah's witnesses are ministers of the gospel and

are not religious, political or academic pacifists. They claim neutrality and the rights of neutrals because of their status as ambassadors of the kingdom of Almighty God. This is exactly the same position taken by Christ Jesus and his apostles. (John 18: 36) Additionally, that position was assumed at Rome by early Christians, who were thrown to the lions by the authoritarian rulers.

⁷ The perfect and supreme law of Almighty God has always provided for exemption of His ministers from performance of extraordinary services to the civil state. Indeed, in the first conscription act of the Israelite nation, whereby its manpower was conscripted for war, a provision was included to exempt priests and Levites who actively performed their ministerial duties. Obedience of the Israelites to all features of that conscription law was proper because theirs was a Theocratic government and the conscription was at the command of God. (Numbers 1:47-54; 2: 33; 26: 62) Following this precedent, enlightened nations, claiming to be Christian, have for centuries exempted ministers from military duty. Today one of the leading members of the United Nations organization, namely the United States of America, has declared Jehovah's witnesses to be a recognized religious organization and that its min-

isters are exempt from training and service in the armed forces.

⁸ For another reason each minister of Almighty God as a follower of Christ Jesus claims his exemption from military training and service : He is in the army of Christ Jesus, serving as a soldier of Jehovah's appointed Commander, Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 2:3,4) Inasmuch as the war weapons of the soldier of Christ Jesus are not carnal, he is not authorized by his Commander to engage in carnal warfare of this world. (2 Corinthians 10:3,4; Ephesians 6:11-18) Furthermore, being enlisted in the army of Christ Jesus, he cannot desert the forces of Jehovah to assume the obligations of a soldier in any army of this world without being guilty of desertion and suffering the punishment meted out to deserters by Almighty God.

⁹ The fact that some administrative board arbitrarily and capriciously refuses the exemption claimed by Jehovah's witnesses in no way proves that the minister actually preaching in truth and in fact is not a minister. His actual ministerial status is not dissolved or nullified by such arbitrary administrative denial of claimed exemption. In such case the misinformed or prejudiced board members, by imposing their ill-conceived private opinion as justifying such refusal, violate the law. They

are the ones that do the wrong rather than the minister who persists in claiming his exemption allowed by the law of the land and the law of Almighty God. Even the judicial courts before which the action of arbitrary boards has been brought for review have declared that Jehovah's witnesses are entitled to the same treatment and consideration that the popular orthodox clergy receive, in order to preserve equal justice under law.

¹⁰ Those classified as ministers of religion, both the orthodox clergy and Jehovah's witnesses, being exempted from doing military service, in no way helped (by carrying arms) to win the last war. However, peoples of all nations were served and greatly comforted by the preaching work Jehovah's witnesses did during the war. No truthful person can prove they did not do as much for the benefit of the people as did the orthodox clergy. From the standpoint of the Bible, Jehovah's witnesses did and continue to do more to comfort the spiritually sick, to aid those bereaved by death of their loved ones, and to relieve mental suffering of the wounded. That they did and do by carrying the comforting message of the kingdom of Almighty God to every house in all the nations. By this type of beneficent activity the good courage, the faith and the hope of millions, whether attending to hear a clergyman at church or not, were and are sustained. Thus the people were helped

more from the work of Jehovah's witnesses during the late war than from the work of the religious clergy.

REFUSAL TO IDOLIZE

¹¹ Following the Nazis' rise to power in the German Reich, as a part of their scheme to regiment the people, the political ceremony of saluting the swastika flag and heiling Hitler was imposed upon all inhabitants of that land. Jehovah's witnesses, for reasons both Scriptural and legal, refused to salute that flag or to heil Hitler. Consequently they were persecuted. Children were torn from parents. Men were imprisoned in concentration camps, as were also faithful women. Some were killed because of their faithfulness to Jehovah God in refusing to engage in such patriotic ceremonies. These facts are well known to all properly informed persons. Where the Nazi and Fascist scourge prevailed, in a great part of the earth the like fiendish practices and results followed. While the Nazi and Fascist prospered in their plans for world domination a similar patriotic move, as a supposed counter-measure to the Nazi-Fascist conspiracy, was launched in democratic lands. Persecution of faithful Christians, Jehovah's witnesses, in those lands, particularly in the United States of America, reached a height almost equal to that in Axis-dominated areas. In the United States those who refused

to salute the flag were beaten by mobs that were unrestrained in their violence. Children were taken away from parents. Thousands of children were denied the right to receive an education in the public schools because of their refusal to salute the flag of the nation. All this reached a climax of persecution when the Supreme Court of the United States, June 3,1940, declared that the compulsory flag salute was legal, not unconstitutional. Three years later, on June 14, 1943, the Supreme Court reversed its decision in favor of freedom of worship.

¹² Jehovah's witnesses do not salute the flag of any nation. History has shown that not only did they refuse to salute the flag of the United States and of other democratic nations, but also they refused to salute the Fascist flag, the German flag and the Japanese flag. Their position world-wide on this issue is a Scriptural one. Refusal to salute is based on the prohibitory laws of Almighty God expressed at 1 Corinthians 10:14, and elsewhere throughout the Greek Christian Scriptures as well as the Hebrew Scriptures. In chapter 20 of Exodus it is written: "I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou

shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing lovingkindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20: 2-6, A.S.V.) Because of their willful violation of this commandment in turning to worship an idol, image, or symbol, Jehovah punished the Israelite nation and its people, all of whom were in a covenant with Jehovah to remain faithful to him. — Exodus 32:1-8, 30-35.

¹³ Any national flag is a symbol or image of the sovereign power of that nation. Many national flags bear likenesses of things in heaven, such as stars, sun, etc.; others bear likenesses of things of earth or of its waters, such as eagle, lion, serpent, fish, etc. All such likenesses are embraced by Exodus 20:2-6. The flag of each nation is commonly regarded by that nation and the people giving allegiance to it as being sacred. (The Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 11, page 316) Regardless of whether all look upon the flag salute ceremony as religious or sacred, it is nevertheless a political ceremony whereby the symbol, the flag, is bowed down to or saluted.

¹⁴ The giving of the salute to the flag of any nation is an act that ascribes salvation to the

flag and to the nation for which it stands. The saluter impliedly declares through the salute that his salvation comes from the thing for which the flag stands, namely, the nation represented by the flag. A true ambassador of Christ Jesus and minister of Jehovah has for all time sworn his unbreakable allegiance to Almighty God, Jehovah, by consecration and covenant, and he cannot ascribe salvation to any other sovereign or a worldly power. His salvation or deliverance from evils and foes, seen and unseen, is from the ever-living Supreme Sovereign, Jehovah, and His Son, Christ Jesus. (Psalms 3:8; 20:5-7) Therefore no witness of Jehovah, who ascribes salvation only to Him, may salute any flag of any nation without a violation of Jehovah's commandment against idolatry as stated in His Word. — 1 John 5: 21.

¹⁵ Refusal by Jehovah's witnesses to salute flags is not the result of private misinterpretation of the Scriptures. Moreover, it is not a warping of the commandment of Almighty God. The conclusion reached by them is one that has been dictated by Jehovah God, who reveals the meaning of his commandments to all people in a covenant with him. Also, this conclusion is supported by the recorded cases in the Bible where other faithful servants of Jehovah refused to bow down to or salute images or symbols, whether man-made things or men. Almighty God's expressing approval of the course

taken by such faithful servants provides Jehovah's witnesses of today with precedents to follow, which prove that their conclusion is correct.

¹⁶ Ancient Persia's absolute ruler by decree required every person in the realm to bow down to his prime minister, Haman. Haman was a representative or image of the Amalekite persecutors of Israel, which Amalekites Jehovah God had condemned to be exterminated. Mordecai, a faithful Jew keeping covenant with Jehovah, refused to bow down as commanded. For this preparations were made to hang him and liquidate all the Jews. Because of his faithfulness together with Esther, Jehovah God saved him and the Jews from destruction. (Esther, chapters 3, 4 and 5) Earlier, before the Persian empire dominated the world, Babylon's dictatorial emperor made an image. He caused it to be set up and issued a decree that at a given signal all persons in the empire should bow down to that image of the political state. Three faithful Hebrew witnesses of Jehovah refused to comply with the order of the ruler. He cast them into the fiery furnace, made seven times as hot as usual. For their firm refusal to disobey Him, Almighty God JEHOVAH delivered them from the fiery furnace, unsinged. (Daniel, chapter 3) Thereby the Most High God plainly showed that one in a covenant with him cannot

salute the flag of any nation. Those experiences of those faithful men were not recorded for an idle purpose. The inspired writer points out that they "happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come".  — 1 Corinthians 10:11, A.S.V.

¹⁷ Although not one of Jehovah's witnesses salutes the flag of any nation, he does respect the good principles represented by the flag of the nation wherein he dwells. Such respect he shows by not casting reproach upon it through misconduct. Additionally, he shows respect for both the flag and the nation for which it stands by willingly obeying all valid laws of the land that do not conflict with the law of Almighty God. He complies with all such good laws because it is right and proper to do so as a Godfearing follower of his Master, Christ Jesus. Not because the law includes penalties for those who infringe it do Jehovah's witnesses obey the law. Courts of the liberal and enlightened governments of many lands have declared that it is not an illegal act or showing disrespect of the flag for Jehovah's witnesses to refuse to salute the flag.

¹⁸ Jehovah's witnesses are not against those who salute or desire to salute the flag of any na-

tion. Furthermore, they are not against nor do they oppose the desire of any person to serve in the armed forces of any nation. Also, Jehovah's witnesses do not oppose the efforts of any nation to raise an army by conscripting its manpower. If a person desires to salute a flag or to enter the armed forces of any nation, it is his right to do so, and Jehovah's witnesses regard it as wrong for them to oppose the efforts of such person or to condemn such person. They do not attempt to convert the world to a refusal to salute flags or to decline to bear arms. They merely keep their neutrality and their covenant obligations as ambassadors for God's kingdom, and they declare their reasons for refusing to break their allegiance to Almighty God Jehovah. Persons not in a covenant to obey Jehovah, and who do not desire to be Jehovah's witnesses, are not persuaded to take such stand. Even each one of Jehovah's witnesses must decide for himself what stand he will take on such issues, as he will not be interfered with or coerced by any other witness.

NOT SUBVERSIVE

¹⁹ Jehovah's witnesses are not subversive and do not engage in subversive activities within the nations where they dwell. They are not seditionists because they act within such nations as ambassadors for God's kingdom. All

enlightened nations guarantee freedom to worship Almighty God, which worship requires that the true servant of Jehovah be a minister of His government. People of all Christian nations have been taught to pray for the coming of God's kingdom to earth. Therefore those who, as ministers, advertise the answer of Almighty God to that prayer as being now near are not against the government of the nation wherein such preaching is done. As activities of the worldly ambassadors of foreign governments do not work against the interests of the countries wherein they each, respectively, dwell, so also the works of Jehovah's witnesses are not against the government of any land where they reside.

²⁰ Because Jehovah's witnesses announce the judgment of Jehovah God to destroy all evil governments of this world and to establish his everlasting kingdom of righteousness, it does not mean that Jehovah's witnesses will have a part in executing the judgment of destruction and the establishment of that new permanent government. They will not have a part in either. They act only as messengers of Jehovah, heralding world-wide his promised kingdom. By him they are not authorized to act as executioners. Only His Chief Officer, Christ Jesus, acting under Jehovah's direction, will do the act of destroying. (Ezekiel 9:1-7; Revelation 17:14)

For any of Jehovah's witnesses to attempt to take part in the destruction of a government by use of force or other unlawful violence is contrary to the law of Almighty God. Moreover, the everlasting kingdom of Jehovah will not be set up on this earth by Jehovah's witnesses. They will perform no overt act in the erecting of such government. Jehovah has already set it up in the heavens by Christ Jesus, its King. (Isaiah 9:6,7; Daniel 2:44; Psalm 2) Visible officers of that invisible government shall be only the faithful prophets, judges and witnesses mentioned in the Word of Jehovah. (Hebrews, chapter 11; Luke 13:28-30) They all died before the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. These having proved their integrity and faithfulness to Jehovah, he purposes to give them an early and better resurrection to assume their administrative duties under the King Christ Jesus as his children. (Psalm 45:16) They shall be earth's princes, ruling in judgment and righteousness. — Isaiah 32:1.

²¹ Religious enemies who falsely accuse Jehovah's witnesses of being against this world's governments because of their stand as ambassadors contend that Jehovah's witnesses should comply with every command of the rulers of this world. Such religionists insist that those rulers are the "higher powers" mentioned in the Bible and to which all should submit themselves.

The "higher powers" mentioned at Romans 13:1-5 are the principal ruling factors of Almighty God's congregation, or the invisible governing body of the Kingdom of God. The apostle's mention of the higher powers he did not intend to be applied to rulers of this evil world run by Satan who are visible to human eyes. The "higher powers" mentioned by the apostle are Jehovah God and Christ Jesus, and Christ Jesus is Jehovah's great Minister.

²² Many who importune them to break their covenant with Jehovah God contend that Jehovah's witnesses must comply with all commands of the officials of governments of this world because Jesus declared: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." (Mark 12:17, A.S.V.; compare Matthew 22:21) Enemies of Jehovah's witnesses perversely and privately interpret that saying of Jesus for their own purpose, aiming to have Jehovah's witnesses render unto "Caesar" the things that are God's. Jehovah's witnesses, like Christ Jesus, refuse to render unto "Caesar" the things that are God's. Even Pilate could find no fault with Jesus because of his claiming to be a King and refusing to give allegiance to Caesar. (Luke 23:2-4) No fault can properly be found with Jehovah's witnesses, followers of Christ Jesus, who render like allegiance to God. They rightly say: "We must obey God rather than men." — Acts 5: 29, A.S.V.