A NEW WORLD! Who can create such a thing? What will it be like? According to whose ideas will it be made? Will it suit everybody that lives? Shall it endure forever? The right answer, backed by authority that cannot be questioned, comforts those that mourn because of wicked world conditions, and quiets all fears of the future that is shrouded in darkness and uncertainty. It fills the heart of righteous persons with hope. Receiving that authoritative information, such ones are put at ease with the assurance that the new world will be absolutely perfect and will completely satisfy their heart's desire and more than fulfill their highest expectations. Trusting in that reliable information, and comparing it with the distress of nations and increasing perplexity and confusion, such favored persons are fairly overwhelmed with the conviction, yes, their
hearts bound up with joy, that THE NEW WORLD IS AT THE DOORS. Its light pierces through the gloom of earth and brightens up their faces. That cheering light they reflect to other hearts in sadness.
It is a time for all lovers of righteousness and truth to take courage and rejoice. It is a time for all who would live under a righteous rule to examine the facts in the light of that incoming new world and to learn the truth and then be guided by it. The difficulties in the way and the cost of time and study on your part are not to be compared with the rewards to you of knowledge, understanding, peace, joy and hope of life. The time is short. Those who do not inform themselves and who do not now choose the new world which Higher Powers shall establish will never live to enter into blessings and glories. It is for those who desire it and prepare for it. None shall be forced into it against their will and choice.
The new world means more than the nations realize. It calls for more than THEY can muster. The bald fact is that they do not want it. For that reason the promised new world of lasting peace, which world shall be what all lovers of right want, should not be confused with the so-called "new order" or "new world order" which is today held up by political and religious dictators as a lure to the people. The righteous new world is the very opposite of that selfish and ambi-
tious human scheme. Such scheme seeks realization by harsh, brutal might, by the destruction of millions of lives and peaceful homes, by the forcing of the common people contrary to their conscience and personal free choice, and, for shame! by the co-operation of religion to persuade the subjected peoples that such "new order" is according to the will of Almighty God. Set up by such means and ways and for such purposes, that proposed "order" could never be the expression of the will of a God of truth and justice. It shall never endure, even though backed up by religion. Because it stands in the way of the new world and poses as a counterfeit substitute for it, that "order" shall go down, and its allies with it.
Not by human wish and power and effort shall this be, but by the almighty power and decree of the great Ruler of the universe. He is the Great Authority on questions affecting the universe, including our earth and the nations and people thereon. He is the ONE SOURCE of dependable information that satisfies the longing of honest hearts for the truth. His revealed Word, the sacred Bible, was written by truthful men at His inspiration. It is his means or channel for bringing this unerring information to the teachable persons who seek righteousness and life. He is the One Interpreter of his own prophetic Word. He brings to pass in our day the conditions and events which fulfill and make
clear the hidden meaning of the prophecy, and then he opens the eyes of the searchers of his Word to see the agreement or correspondency between prophecy and the hard facts in evidence today. With confidence and without fear of disappointment, therefore, the sincere seekers can approach his Word: "knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the holy spirit." (Quoted from 2 Peter 1: 20, 21, Am. Rev. Ver.) Therefore, to the great Ruler of the universe all credit, honor and thanksgiving are due for all the revealed information on the new world which shall transform the lives of humankind on earth.
Great upheaval is under way on earth. With the new methods of warfare, with the modern means of travel and communication, with the startling discoveries of science, and with the truth flashing forth and exposing unfounded claims and doctrines of religion, there must be a change. The need of the new is admitted; the old must pass out. Humans are prone to cling to the old, because accustomed to it, notwithstanding it has been to their hurt. A few selfish men have reaped profit, advantage, power and control from the old and prefer it. Painfully aware of the forces moving in the direction of the new, they try to control the movement. They offer things which they
call new, but which are merely camouflaged with modern names and dress and are underneath the same old things to their selfish benefit. The suggested "new world order" is just such an instance, of where men call black white and white black. Careful investigation discloses that there are forces stronger than man which prevent him from setting up a truly "new order". Man can change only the surface appearance of a few things on parts of the earth and can make them look new for only a part of the time; he cannot control the things which are higher than man and unseen to him. However, the One who sits upon the throne of the universe has said and has had it recorded for our comfort today: "Behold, I make all things new. . . . Write; for these words are true and faithful. " —Revelation 21:5.
Man's talk about a "new world'' by human accomplishment is very recent and is really designed to check man's progress and freedom. Already six thousand years ago the Creator foretold the building and coming of the new world and that it would liberate obedient men from deception, oppression and death. In all those centuries since he has never forgotten that promise and covenant. In our day he redeems that irrevocable promise and proves his word faithful and true and hence trustworthy always. Concerning him it was said under inspiration:"His work is perfect." (Deuteronomy 32:4)
Why, then, in the very dawn of man's habitation on the earth did the Creator of perfection foretell a NEW world? For an answer to that question it is necessary to review the facts concerning the world which the Creator made originally and what happened to it, and then the facts concerning the world that now exists and the causes for its present distress.
"WORLD"
The word "world" as used by the great Creator is not limited to the earth and the things visible to man. The inspired Scriptures of truth show that "world" includes the heavens, or things higher and unseen to man, as well as the earth. It means the invisible and the visible together, the invisible affecting what is visible to the human eye and dominating it. Hence for our good cheer in the time of the seeming triumph of wickedness this sure word of Almighty God is given: "And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger." (Isaiah 13:11,13) This proves that the misnamed "new world order" shall be shaken out as wicked.
The world that God created originally and as man first knew it was altogether different from this world into which we have been born. It was different from what the new world shall be. The account of creation or of the genesis of man opens up, saying: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1) The material, visible things are to man the truthful evidence of the existence of higher and invisible things, particularly the existence of the Supreme One, the invisible Creator who is divine and therefore God Almighty. "For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity." Hence all who deny the existence of the Most High God are "without excuse" and show themselves to be fools. — Romans 1:20, A.R.V.; Psalm 14:1.
The first man "Adam", being the handiwork of Almighty God, was perfect. A wife and helpmeet, Eve, was made from bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, and she likewise was perfect. "For Adam was first formed, then Eve." (1 Timothy 2:13) Adam was therefore head over the woman, and she was the helpmeet to him. He was the one having communication with the invisible spirit representative of the Almighty God. As such Adam was a part, the visible and earthly Part, of that original world. What, then, was
the superior part, or the ''heavens", of that world? That part was spirit, just as God himself is a spirit, and hence was invisible to the perfect man. The fact that there was a spiritual power operating in Eden is proved by the fact that one of the creatures in Eden, the serpent, talked with Adam's wife concerning the things of God, miraculously. Unseen spirit power was behind that.
The creation of the heavens was first. Unmeasured time before man's creation the invisible Ruler of the universe created and surrounded himself with heavenly creatures and caused these spirit creatures to move throughout the universe in the obedient performance of his commands. Concerning them it is written: "Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word." (Psalm 103: 20) Receiving their life from the great Fountain of life, these were all "sons of God", spirit sons. Who was the first son of God created? The very one who is "the beginning of the creation of God" identifies himself to us. He is the same one that later was born as a man by the miracle of God and was called Jesus Christ. (Revelation 3:14) He is "the firstborn of every creature", firstborn not only in time of being created, but also firstborn in his priority or pre-eminence among all God's creatures. (Colossians 1:15) Being the first and direct creation of God, he is "the only
begotten Son" of God, "the only begotten of the Father." — John 1:14,18; 3:16.
All other sons of God, including the perfect Adam, were brought into existence by God the Father through his firstborn Son. This co-operation at the time of man's creation is indicated by the words: "And God said, Let us make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness." (Genesis 1:26) God's firstborn and only begotten Son was the mouthpiece of the Most High God and the Executor of His word to all the other sons of God. Hence he was called "The Word of God". In this position "The Word" was a mighty one, or "a god", and represented the Most High God; and concerning him it is written: "The same was in the beginning with God [Almighty]. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. And the Word [spokesman] was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." — John 1:1-3,14.
The creation of God's only begotten Son, "The Word," was only the dawn of creation by God. Shortly thereafter came the morning of creation by God through his firstborn and beloved Son. Therefore it appears that the one next thereafter created was called the "son of the morning". His name was Lucifer, and he is thus addressed: " O Lucifer, son of the morning!" The name means
"brilliant star", or, "lightbearer." (Isaiah 14:12, marginal reading) The title "star" designates a prince in God's heavenly organization, one who is first in time and position. Because God's only begotten Son, The Word, and Lucifer were princes, being brought forth at the very beginning of all creation, they are called "the morning stars". For a long time they worked together, and on special occasions of joy "the morning stars sang together" to the praise of the great Creator. (Job 38: 7) The Firstborn Son of God identifies himself as a "star", saying: "I am . . . the bright and morning star." And concerning his appearance among men in preparation for the new world it is written: "There shall come a STAR out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel . . . Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion." — Revelation 22:16; Numbers 24:17-19.
After the mighty "morning stars" the other spirit sons of God were brought forth, all perfect, glorious, and holy. All these were organised in an orderly manner for God's service and to carry out his good purposes. Some were given positions and service as seraphim, others as cherubim, and others as archangels, and others as angels, which last name means "messengers". All these organized countless myriads of glorious spirit creatures made up God's universal organization, all in harmony and in tune with him
and all subject to His direction. To Him the prayer rises: "Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth." (Psalm 80:1) Thus, over and above all his universal organization, the Almighty God held the supremacy and exercised the universal domination. Because this universal organization is subject to him and is united to him with a holy attachment, it is spoken of in God's own prophecies as his "woman", or "wife", to whom he, the Creator of her, is the "husband". He also gives her the name "Zion", and he uses her, that is, his universal organization, to bring forth or to produce the creatures that shall have the dominion in the new world. — Isaiah 54: 5,13.
Then God by his great Executive Officer, The Word, made the earth for man and prepared it for human habitation, specially planting a garden spot or paradise in Eden. He created and put the perfect man and woman therein. In their innocence and perfection these human creatures became the visible or earthly part of God's universal organization, and to them God assigned their duties as members of his organization. The Creator's will must be done in the earth as in heaven. His will and purpose was and is that the earth shall be made everywhere a paradise and shall be peopled with a righteous race, all the members of which shall be in God's image and likeness and live in peace and happiness on earth for ever, to the glory
of their Maker and Life-giver. Hence to Adam and Eve, the perfect and righteous ones, the great Universal Ruler said: "Be fruitful, and multiply, and [fill] the earth." (Genesis 1: 28) That command coming from the divine Being, it was the divine mandate to man. That would be a joyous privilege, but, together with the extending of the paradise of Eden to the four corners of the earth, it would present many problems to perfect man and woman. They were intelligent and capable and were the highest of earth's creatures, yet they were the most recent, and hence needed guidance and instruction from above. Furthermore, their Maker put them under a test of integrity or faultlessness of devotion to him, that they might demonstrate their perfection of obedience to him. He barred them from the eating of one fruit of the paradise garden, and gave the warning that to break God's commandment in this one particular would mean their loss of everything: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:17) To assist man in maintaining his integrity and to guide him in doing the will and the work of God, a guardianship over him would be helpful and a loving provision for man's good. It was provided.
"HEAVENS"
Adam in his perfection was the son of God. (Luke 3: 38) The great heavenly Father placed as invisible guardian over his earthly son the beautiful "morning star", Lucifer, to enlighten the path of his earthly charges. This was a weighty trust to Lucifer, and the good and worthy name of the Creator was implicated with it. By faithfulness to his trust Lucifer would act in support of the universal domination of Almighty God in the earth and also for the lasting welfare of man. Being anointed or designated to that protective position over perfect man, Lucifer was called "the anointed cherub that covereth". To him the words apply: "Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; . . . Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire." (Ezekiel 28:13,14) All things considered, it is plain that Lucifer did not work single-handed. Being a mighty one and also a prince, or "morning star", he was given and placed over a large body of lesser spirit creatures or angels, legions of them. These were organized into a working force under Lucifer to do their duties in the particular part of the universe, namely, the earth, to which the Supreme One assigned them. Thus all these angels with their princely head made up a special organization with a par-
ticular assignment, but this organization, as long as it remained faithful, was also a part of God's universal organization.
That special organization of angels under Lucifer was spiritual, higher than man and invisible to him, and hence they constituted "the heavens" of that original world. The perfect man who was given the dominion over the fish and fowl and land creatures was the visible part of that world. He was "of the earth, earthy", and he constituted what was called "the earth". That "heavens" and that "earth", therefore, composed the then perfect and righteous world. Did it remain such? Would it continue a part of God's universal organization and submit to his universal domination?
THEOCRATIC RULE
In that original world, what was the manner of rule over man? Was it totalitarian rule? Was it democratic rule? Was democratic rule purposed for the earth? Was the foundation there laid for democratic rule that it should not perish from the earth? Was man made to be the total ruler of earth's affairs? No! The Bible, God's Word, shows that it was a Theocratic rule. That is to say, the man derived his power to serve from God and he served by God's consent and authorization. The law given to man was not any law of a political party, and hence was not man-made, but was from God. That law ap-
plied not to one section or continent or local spot, but to all the earth and to all who should live therein. Man's obedience to that law would be his recognition of and submission to the universal domination of the Supreme Power, God Almighty, the Origin of all just, right laws. Man's departure from the Theocratic rule over earth proved to be his undoing and led to the great havoc visible on earth today.
Under the Theocratic rule all was happiness, peace and blessedness on the earth. Sickness and disease and want and fear were unknown, the worship of God was pure and free and in spirit and in truth, and man was at peace with the lower animal creatures, over which he held the dominion. Then Lucifer became ambitious and began to encroach on man's freedom to worship God his Maker. Lucifer began to crave from man the worship man was giving to God Almighty. He knew that the one whom man would worship was or would be the one whom man would serve. To gain the worship for himself, Lucifer, would mean that man would serve Lucifer, and that would take man out from under the universal domination of God. Serving in a subordinate position under God's universal domination and at the same time serving to maintain that domination in the earth became galling to Lucifer. In his heart he determined to challenge the universal domination of the Most High God and
to rebel against it. That was where iniquity, or lawlessness, entered into and seized the heart or moving power of Lucifer. He set his heart on making UNIVERSAL DOMINATION the issue that would rock all creation. Then it was true concerning him:" Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." — Ezekiel 28:15.
Trying to upset and take away the universal domination of the Supreme One will surely prove Lucifer's complete downfall shortly. Foretelling this for a certainty as if already accomplished, the prophecy tells the reason: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds: I will be like the Most High." (Isaiah 14:12-14) As long thereafter as that rebel lived that great issue would be pressing for a settlement.
SATAN APPEARS
Lucifer now departed from the ways of perfection and proceeded to carry out his iniquitous ambition. He rebelled against the Universal Governor and entered into a course of opposition to him. He there became
Satan, which name means "opposer; adversary, antagonist". Lucifer already had an organization under him, but, to start off his own domination independent of God, he would attack at the weakest and lowest part of that original world, namely, at man. He would capture the service of man by turning man aside from the worship of the Universal Ruler, who is God. But how?
Strange as it may sound, Satan proposed to do this by introducing religion into the world. Lucifer became religious and proceeded to set himself up as the founder and teacher of religion. He hated man's worship of God in spirit and in truth. Therefore the unfaithful Lucifer began to practice religious intolerance; he would uproot and destroy the worship of the true and living God from the earth. God's holy name was bound up in this matter, because the righteous creatures hallowed that name and loved it. God's sure and dependable word was also included. God had said, and would He do it? God's almighty power was also included. Could He exercise sufficient power to fulfill and keep his word in the face of stiff opposition? Never before had he been opposed. God's word had declared that man should die if disobedient. Lucifer, as the "covering cherub" over man, had been given the "power of death" as God's representative toward man. (Hebrews 2:14) By rebelliously refusing to exercise that power of death against
man if man would join him in rebellion against God Satan would bring God's name into disrepute, his word under suspicion, and his power into contempt.
RELIGION
Religion became Satan's means of attack, and he used the serpent as the symbol thereof. The serpent became his agent in the work of deception. Therefore it became a symbol of the great religionist, Satan himself. He approached the "weaker vessel", the woman Eve, and through the serpent he called into question both God's word and his good name for honesty and unselfish benevolence. "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Then after Eve repeated God's word of command and warning, Satan the great Viper told the first lie. It was a doctrinal lie contradicting God's word and his expressed purpose. It misrepresented God and slyly suggested disobedience to God's command under the idea that it would be for man's highest and everlasting welfare. "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4,5) That was religion. The undeniable proof thereof is the fact that all the religions today of "Christendom" and of heathendom teach as their fundamental doctrines the very things here
stated by Satan the Serpent. Here Satan laid the basis for "Christendom's" religious doctrines, namely, the inherent immortality of the human soul and that man becomes a spirit creature or angel after a merely physical death; also the existence of a "Purgatory" for such "immortal souls" and therefore the utility of offering masses and prayers for the human dead; and also the existence of a place, misnamed "hell", for the "eternal torture" of "immortal souls" in everlasting fire and among undying worms.
By these religious arguments of Satan the Serpent Eve was deceived; which proves that religion is a snare, entrapping the one who gets religion into disobedience to God and his word and command, as Eve disobeyed. Eve there began the practice of religion. She then proceeded to make someone else a proselyte to religion and succeeded with her husband, who under this test displayed love of self rather than love of God. Adam disobeyed God's command by joining Eve in eating the forbidden fruit to share the same destiny with her. Thereby he adopted religion and left off the worship of God. He turned from the word of God and followed the word of God's enemy, the teacher of religion, the Devil. By lying against God's word and thus slandering God's name, the rebellious Lucifer became the Devil, which name means "slanderer" against God. Religion, like its founder, slanders God, and
Adam and all religionists after him have believed the Devil's slander against God's name and word. Religion is therefore Scripturally defined as everything that is against doing the will of God. It is a form of worship, but which worship is given to the false god and hence given to a creature. It is based upon the sayings and ordinances handed down by creatures and hence contradicts God's word and disannuls it and makes it of none effect. It is the fear of creatures rather than the fear of Almighty God. It is the exact opposite of the worship of God, which worship is the serving and doing of the will of God as his only begotten Son does that will, and which is called "Christianity".
WORLD DOWNFALL
Man went over to the enemy's side of the controversy and joined Satan in bringing reproach upon God's name. Hence that name must be vindicated, that is to say, avenged, cleared, justified; and it shall be shortly. Satan had now gained man to his side, and so won over the visible or earthly part of that world. Satan turned next to the organization of angels which had been assigned to him. These also he corrupted with religion, using man's decision as an added argument and also holding out the promise of universal domination. (Ezekiel 28:16-18) That invisible spirit organization went over to Satan and thereby severed their connection with
God's universal organization. Those angels fell from holiness and purity and integrity and became demons, and Satan the head of the organization became the "prince of the demons". He darkened their minds with religion and became "the prince of darkness". Those angels left the estate to which God had assigned them in a righteous organization and forsook their habitation as sons of God. (Jude 6) On this wise Satan corrupted the invisible, spirit part ("the heavens") of that world and turned it against God.
God sentenced those rebellious angels to death, but did not at once execute that sentence; he took other action. He degraded them to the lowest as condemned and sentenced ones, and withheld from them all further light concerning his purpose. He put them under surveillance and thus reserves them to the time of the settlement of the great issue. On this it is written: "God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." (2 Peter 2:4, Am. Rev. Ver., margin) God likewise sentenced the sinner Adam to death and drove him and his companion in sin out of the garden of Eden for the carrying of that sentence into effect. They had now lost their innocence and perfection, they were no longer righteous, and they began to die amid conditions of sweaty labor and sorrow. They were permitted to reproduce their
kind, but could not carry out the divine mandate because no longer serving and worshiping God and no longer righteous nor having the right to life. The children they brought into existence were all imperfect, sinful, and unclean, and hence condemned and dying; they inherited death. Wherefore it is written: "By one man [as the servant of Satan] sin entered into the world [the visible earthly part thereof], and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." — Romans 5:12.
Great was the loss of privilege by angels and man. By religion Satan had caused the downfall of that original "heavens" and the "earth" beneath it, and thus he accomplished the downfall of that world. All by religion, mark you, Satan caused the revolting of that world from the universal domination of the Most High and Almighty God and he set out to use that world to gain universal domination for himself. Thereby he forced the issue of universal domination to the fore, and that question outweighs and overshadows all other issues now agitating angels and men. Satan's action and success with that world were a challenge to God's entire universe. On which side of the great issue do you take your stand, on God's or on Satan's? You must choose quickly, with the true facts before you, because the issue will now have an early settlement. The informa-
tion here given is to help you choose wisely with lasting good to yourself.
NEW WORLD PROMISED
Adam and Eve, by yielding to religion, broke their integrity, that is, their innocence, blamelessness, faultlessness, toward God. Satan's success with them was in effect a challenge to God to put on earth a man who under test by God's opposer would hold allegiance and maintain his integrity toward God. Thereafter, in so many words, Satan, before the angels of heaven, charged that God could not do so, and challenged Him to the test. Eight then in Eden God countered the early success of Satan with the solemn covenant or statement of purpose that in due time He would bring forth from his universal organization creatures of integrity and would set up a new world that Satan and all his organization or world could not and never will corrupt into breaking their integrity. In symbolic speech God said to the great Serpent, Satan: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." — Genesis 3:15.
Almighty God could have crushed the Serpent's head right there and destroyed the Devil. That, however, would not have answered the question as to the ability and the determination of those who shall have the
dominion in the new world to resist the Devil's fiercest onslaughts and to hurl the lie back into Satan's face by holding fast their integrity toward the great Universal Ruler. Such ones must honor and vindicate God's name and prove His word true. Therefore, in explaining why he has permitted Satan to continue living and slandering and reproaching God's name till this very day God said to Satan's representative, and hence to Satan: "For this cause have I allowed thee to remain, in order to show thee my power; and in order that they may proclaim my name throughout all the earth." (Exodus 9:16, Leeser) The new world shall be established in power, and it shall vindicate God's name and make it glorious for evermore.
That prophecy by God of and concerning the Seed whom he would bring forth from his "woman" or universal organization and who would destroy the Serpent and all its seed was the first prophecy given to humankind. It was concerning the new world. It was not given as a comfort to Adam and Eve; for they shall have no part in that new world. It was given as a challenge to them and to all like rebels against God's domination. That promise was given as a hope and comfort only to those of their offspring who should turn out of the steps of their first parents and put themselves under the rightful domination of the Supreme Ruler. Satan challenged God to produce any such. The Lord
God accepted the challenge. Not only did he let Satan remain alive, but, as the Scriptures show, God permitted Satan to remain in heaven with access to the angels who continued faithful, all for a test to them. Satan was to remain in heaven till he should be ousted at the beginning of the new world.
BEGINNING OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
Very few men today believe God's solemn promise of a new world, or even concern themselves about it. Instead, men turn to imperfect and dying creatures and organizations of men. They eagerly swallow down and put confidence in and even lay down their lives for the glowing promises of ambitious persons who consider themselves "men of destiny". The authentic record of the Bible names the first man who believed and acted upon God's promise of the new world. That man of faith was Abel, the second son of Adam and Eve.
Living away back there, Abel was one of the "elders" or ancients recognized by God. Eve may have conceitedly thought that she would be the mother or the "woman" who was to bring forth the promised seed. After her firstborn son and heir of the family, Cain, had grown up he, it appears, was credulous enough to think like his mother, that he, Cain, was the man of destiny, the seed who should make a name for himself in history and put the whole human race in debt
to himself. Cain's credulity and his being envious of anyone else who gained the favor of God showed that Cain was a religionist. His was a form of worship, but it was not accepted of God and hence was religion. He performed religious service at the altar in the hope of deceiving God and getting something out of it to satisfy his selfish ambition. He wanted to be God's pick, not for humanity's deliverance from the great Serpent, but for the personal glory and world domination he could get out of it. That was his religion, and it drove him to murder. Seeing the manifestation of God's acceptance of Abel's pure worship and proper sacrifice, Cain feared that Abel was his rival for his dream of world domination as the seed. Therefore Cain slew that righteous man who worshiped God and who witnessed for God's name and purpose to create the new world. Moreover, Abel maintained his integrity toward God, whom Abel believed. He was a proof that Satan's charge and challenge to God was a lie, and therefore Satan induced Cain to put Abel out of the way.
Abel was a man of faith, and hence not a religionist like his credulous brother. Abel hoped for the new world, and he had the substance of it, or the foundation for confidence in its coming, in God's prophetic promise in Eden. The new world did not begin to appear in Abel's day; he did not discern the physical facts of its establishment then. What he did
have was the word of God, and Abel's faith helped him to appreciate God's word and to frame and adjust in his mind and heart the vision of the new world which shall last for the ages, or forever. This frame of that new world was based solely upon God's word, so that what Abel saw with the eye of faith was not based on any circumstantial facts appearing in his day. This faith helped him to be a faithful witness for God to all those of Adam's family, and therefore it helped him to keep a clean and good report or record of integrity toward God. Concerning this faith triumphant it is written: "By it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed [adjusted to the understanding of men of faith] by the word of God, so that things which are seen [by faith's eye] were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he, being dead, yet speaketh." — Hebrews 11:1-4.
The apostle, writing to the Hebrews, gives a list of those "elders" or ancients who overcame the world by their faith, and Abel is rightly the first one in the list. The apostle describes their acts and deeds of faith, and immediately after refers to those faithful dead ones as those who testified to God, saying. "Wherefore seeing we also are com-
passed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin [religion] which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." (Hebrews 12:1) Abel was the first of a cloud of witnesses for God, "whose name alone is JEHOVAH." (Psalm 83:18) Therefore Jehovah's witnesses began with Abel. God made known to Abel His promise and revealed to him the proper typical sacrifice of worship, and thereby Jehovah God made Abel his witness. Hence no man is the founder of Jehovah's witnesses; God alone is. They must be and are all witnesses to the new world. Abel was in the world that had become ungodly, but because of his faith he was not of that ungodly world. He took his stand for and looked and pointed forward to the new world. Hence Satan had Abel slain.
FURTHER "NEW WORLD" PROPHECY
In the days of Adam's grandson Enos, "then began men to call themselves by the name of the LORD [Jehovah]." (Genesis 4:26, margin) Their lips mentioned his name, but their hearts were not devoted to him or the promised new world. They were religionists, like Cain, and had not faith in God's promise, and hence were not witnesses of Jehovah. The historic record at Genesis chapter five and the apostle's list at Hebrews chapter eleven name only one approved man
of faith during the period that followed. That man was Enoch, who walked with God, and not with the ungodly world about him. In hope of the new world he kept himself unspotted from the ungodly world and was a faithful witness to Jehovah. Satan would have had Enoch killed, as was Abel, but Jehovah God did not permit this. While Enoch was yet young as compared with life expectancy in those days, God translated him in a vision to see the new world wherein obedient men shall not die. Amid this rapture God took Enoch away from violent harm by Satan and his religionists and Enoch never experienced the pangs of death. (Genesis 5:21-24; Hebrews 11:5) Concerning the testimony of Enoch to the ungodly people of his day of and concerning the coming of the Seed who should bruise the Serpent's head, the apostle writes: "And Enoch also, the seventh [in line of descent] from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." — Jude 14,15.
LAST DAYS OF THAT WORLD
The period that followed the translation of Enoch is of great significance to us living
today, because that was the time of Noah, and what occurred during that turbulent period was a foreshadowing of what should occur and is occurring in our own day. Who said so? Why, the greatest prophet ever born and the most understanding commentator on historic events and their real meaning. The modern world conditions from and after A. D. 1914 only confirm the truth of his prediction. Said he: "But as the days of No'e were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matthew 24:37) "And as it was in the days of No'e, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." (Luke 17:26) Sixty-nine years after Enoch, and six hundred years before the greatest calamity of the ancient world, Noah was born. He and his sons survived that world catastrophe; which also is deeply significant. Besides the eating and drinking immoderately, and besides the selfish concern for marriage and material things and the ignoring both the signs of the times and Noah's bold warning of doom, another thing marked the conditions as unusual. Bear in mind the issue, universal domination, and Satan's false charge against Jehovah God. Satan's defiant position required that the domination of the "earth" must remain his; also all men of integrity must be corrupted or cleared off the earth. That meant that any or all witnesses of Jehovah must be wiped out and their witness work stopped!
What was Satan's plan of action? Toward the beginning of those six hundred years it appeared that he had practically succeeded. It appeared that there was just one man of integrity left on the earth among all the men that had multiplied on the earth. That man was Jehovah's witness named Noah, and he walked with God as Enoch did and was perfect in his generations. He was a preacher of righteousness. (2 Peter 2:5) To offset the power of Noah's testimony and preaching, the challenger of Almighty God worked out something new. It was the scheme of race contamination and a rule of violence to terrorize all men into continued obedience to demon rule or the domination by the wicked heavens, the invisible, spirit part of that world.
The demons had not been cast out of heaven. Now according to Satan's strategy many of the demons came down and materialized in flesh as giants or bullies. They were called "Nephilim", that is, "fellers," and they felled or caused to fall down the religious ones and those who stood in fear of creatures and who worshiped heroes, creatures of might and prowess. Men in general feared to confess the name of Jehovah God or to own his supremacy. The Nephilim bullied all the people and bossed them in a dictatorial fashion, and those who did not conform readily they dealt with summarily. Violence increased and filled the earth. To
add to this, many spirit "sons of God" were drawn to likewise materialize in the flesh, but their thought was to marry and cohabit with the fair daughters of men. What well-intentioned plans they had for purifying or bettering the race or bringing forth a ''master race"! Alas, the offspring that this intermixture of materialized angels and human daughters brought forth were "mighty men", supermen, so to speak, men who made renown for themselves but did not magnify the name of God before men. The divine record on this reads:
"The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. There were giants [Nephilim] in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown." (Genesis 6:2,4) As a result the wickedness of men became great, and God was not in all their thoughts and imaginations. Lawlessness and wickedness filled the place which God had purposed to be inhabited by peaceful, godly and perfect men in joyful obedience to the law of God and lovingly submitting to his universal domination. The one man that could not be coerced, neither contaminated, was Jehovah's witness, Noah. He kept on witnessing and preaching righteousness, which righteous-
ness included the vindication of God. In due time Noah married an uncontaminated woman, and in the sixth century of his life he begat and raised a family of three sons. These he himself instructed at home and brought them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and led them in His ways.
Then came God's announcement of the end, not of his wondrous creation, the earth, but of the ungodly world. God also instructed Noah to provide a hiding-place to survive during that end. It had not rained on earth during all those days of man on the earth. Floods were till then unknown, but Jehovah's witness kept integrity and obeyed God in faith and built the ark. He brought his sons into this service work of faith. High on an elevation of land he built the ark, where the first impact of the flood waters would not crush or engulf it. The apostle's record of Jehovah's witnesses reads:
"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." (Hebrews 11:7) This is a historic guarantee that Satan will be whipped in his further efforts to wipe all the righteous servants of Jehovah God off the face of the earth, in harmony with God's promise: "The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them." (Psalm
34: 7) It is a historic example that the small number of Jehovah's witnesses CAN be the only ones who are on the side of right, truth and security, although all the world sneer and be arrayed against them with its religion, politics and commerce. It is a historic proof that at the coming of the greater world catastrophe which the Flood foreshadowed men will witness "things not seen as yet" and it will be a strange "act of God". It is a historic answer to Satan's false charge and challenge, and proving that Almighty God can put on earth men who under pressure of an opposing world will maintain their integrity toward Him, keeping themselves unspotted from that world and keeping their faith in and devotion to God's new world complete.
As it was in Noah's day, so it must be today. This is according to the authority of Matthew 24: 37. Persons of good-will who love righteousness must come out of the Devil-ruled world and take their stand for God's new world. In Noah's day his three sons shunned the wicked and condemned world and joined their father in the work God assigned to him. Also three young women left the debauched race and sought shelter with Jehovah's faithful witness Noah and became the wives of his three sons. This pictures how some in the "last days" of this "present evil world" pull away from the jazzing, hilarious, self-seeking course of this
world and become companions of God's approved servants in giving witness both to men and to angels." Noah and his companions maintained their integrity in that ancient time; so, too, thousands today forsake the present fast-fading world because they love righteousness, and these hold fast in their devotion to God. So doing, they give answer to Satan's false charge and challenge and have a part in proving that Almighty God can and does have on earth human creatures who love Him and who resist the world pressure and maintain their integrity toward Him. Are you or do you desire to be one of these?
WORLD DESTROYED
Back there that was not a mere local flood or washout; it was the end of a world, and therefore took in both "heavens" and "earth". It was a manifestation of the power of Almighty God showing that he can decide the question of world domination. Such showing of power over the combined opposition was given after God's name had been declared in the earth by his faithful witness and the world had been given due warning, especially while the ark of safety and deliverance was under preparation. Concerning the Bringer of that catastrophe and the extent thereof the inspired writer says: "God . . . spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of right-
eousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly." (2 Peter 2:4,5) That demonstration of divine power to destroy a world of long standing should serve as a solemn warning to all humankind, particularly "Christendom", so called.
Religious persons have no faith in God's word of warning. Rather than turn from their selfish course and path of ease and of least resistance they willingly choose to forget that that original world which God created in righteousness according to the word of his decree, but which world was corrupted by the bringing in of religion, was destroyed by the watery cataclysm. The religionists scoffed at Noah's warning, and "as the days of No'e were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be". The scoffing at God's Word today is therefore a sure token of certain things warned of to come. The very ones whose loud religious professions bind them to accept the "sure word of prophecy" are scoffing, "and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby [on account of which heavens and earth becoming ungodly, unbelieving and disobedient] the world that then
was, being overflowed with water, perished." — 2 Peter 3: 3-6.
That "old world", "the world of the ungodly," perished, but the earthly globe upon which the ungodly generation of men were corrupting their way remained and was cleansed of that crowd. "One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever." (Ecclesiastes 1: 4) "The earth which he hath established for ever." (Psalm 78: 69) The literal earth is the creation of Him whose "work is perfect" and who pronounced the earth good. His divine mandate to fill it with righteous men and women and to beautify it forever as the footstool of his universal domination shall be fulfilled. The time of fulfillment thereof during the new world is so near that persons of good-will living today look forward eagerly to having an obedient part in that blessed privilege.
It was the symbolic "earth", the visible human part of that corrupted "old world", that perished. All the wicked generation of men that scoffed at God's word and that religiously served the demons were destroyed. Their perishing may be considered as cutting them off from any part in the resurrection of those who are dead in the graves. Eight persons, just Noah and his household, were carried over alive through the Flood. Though they had been in that old world, they were not of it. None of those of that old world sur-
vived; all perished with it. Only those with faith and hope of the new world and keeping themselves unspotted for life in it were delivered from the world destruction and preserved for God's further service on the earth. As for the symbolic "heavens" of that "world of the ungodly", they also were affected by the world disaster.
The demons, or Nephilim, that had materialized in the flesh as rowdy giants to cause a reign of terror, were obliged to quit this direct manifestation of themselves among creatures on earth. To this day there has been no repeating of this, evidently due to God's forcible restriction upon the anarchistic spirits. The overspreading of the earth with violence in these days appears to want or need nothing because of the failure or inability of the Nephilim to reappear. Furthermore, the Scriptures clearly show that an internal reorganization then took place in the spirit organization of that old Serpent, the Devil. His organization thereafter came to be symbolized as a leviathan monster, 'a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads; and his tail.' It became a "wonder in heaven'', the time not having then come to begin the "war in heaven" against it and to cast the Devil and his demons out of the heaven and down to the earth. (Revelation 12: 3,4) Thus the old or former organization of those demon "heavens" disappeared.
A rearranged organization appeared that was new and different. Truly the old world had perished!
TYPICAL FULFILLMENT
That typical event casts light upon the events which are immediately before us. That living prophecy did not end with the stopping of the forty days of continuous downpour or with the subsiding of the waters and the draining off the waters from the land into the great ocean beds created to receive and contain them. That prophetical pattern of preservation and deliverance was not complete until the door was opened and Noah and his companions came forth from their hiding-place and set foot upon the dry land. Possibly of some symbolic significance is the fact that the great ark landed on top of a mountain, Ararat, which name is understood to mean "holy ground". The Flood survivors came forth into a cleansed earth, and they gave thanks to their great Preserver and immediately engaged in the worship of Jehovah God. Certainly that was typical of great and blessed events to come, and what God said in connection therewith must likewise be typical. Except for those eight righteous survivors the earth was depopulated; and an uninhabited earth was not God's purpose. Therefore as Noah and his companions worshiped, the divine word came to them. As it is written: "And God
blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein." And then God's rainbow, symbolic of his everlasting covenant with humankind concerning the sanctity of the blood of life, appeared in the sky. — Genesis, chapters eight and nine.
That was a restatement of the divine mandate, which divine mandate had first been given to Adam and Eve when righteous in Eden. Noah and his sons, because of their faith and obedience as servants and witnesses for Jehovah, were considered righteous. Hence the divine mandate was fittingly restated to them, as there was then harmony between man and the great heavenly Universal Ruler, Jehovah. Noah's name means "rest", or, "comfort." He was so called because at his birth it was prophesied: "This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed." (Genesis 5: 29) Immediately after Noah came forth from the ark and engaged in worshipful sacrifice to God, then, as it is written, "the LORD smelled a savour of rest," and he foretold the lifting of the curse from the earth. (Genesis 8: 20-22, margin) Therefore Noah was typical of a Greater One to come who should bring rest and comfort to men of good-will in the new world. Accordingly the
Bible discloses that Noah did not take part in fulfilling that divine mandate. His companions, or sons and daughters-in-law, did so.
Being imperfect and not having the right to everlasting life, Noah's sons could fulfill the mandate in only a typical or pictorial sense. Therefore the account given in the tenth chapter of Genesis lists their names and the names of their offspring and generations as just seventy, the name of the wicked, rebellious hunter Nimrod not being included in that perfect number, a multiple of ten times seven. Ten and seven each symbolize completeness. With those seventy the typical picture of the fulfillment of the divine mandate ends, and thereafter other events of new prophetic significance came to pass. Sufficient evidence, however, is to be found in the type or prophetic pattern to show that during the new world the divine mandate will be fulfilled in perfectness, to vindicate God's word.
