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<noinclude><pagequality level="1" user="" /></noinclude>DECEMBER 1, 1947

SlieWATCHTOWER..

to some place within their own land for the instructions necessary for this day. Shall we next turn our
eyes to the so-called "Eternal City", Rome, where
nine of the books of the Christian Greek Scriptures
were written by Paul and his inspired fellow servants t The answer is again in the negative. In addition to all its past unsavory history, nome has
become the seat of black Fascism. It is also the nextdoor neighbor of Vatican City, whose religious Hierarchy, placed in strategic positions in all parts of
the earth, have conducted a campaign of opposition
and persecution against Jehovah's witnesses. And
only recently a company of few more than ten witnesses of Jehovah has been organized in that ancient
city.
n Noting the movement of the apostle Paul westward to Rome and very likely even to Spain (Rom.
l5: 24, 28), and observing also that this magazine
The TV atchtou..'er is published still farther west, in
the so-called "Western Hemisphere", shall we'eliminate other locations and look to America for the
visible governing body t Especially so since America
is the leading and most powerful and mightily armed
uemocratic nation on the globe now and therefore
~iYes prestige to things springing from here! Therefore we ask the consecrated readers of The TV atchto!rer, both in this land and in other lands: Are you
Jev-oted people of the Lord God looking to America
for the visible governing body such as existed in the
first century in the times of the apostles t Your
unanimous answer, we believe, is a positive No! and
it is the right and Scriptural answer.
32 You thousands of readers of ,VATCR TOWER publications throughout the earth, from the year of the
first issue of Tll e TV atchtower at Pittsburgh, Pa., in
1879, surely you did not accept the message of the
kingdom of Jehovah God by Christ Jesus because it
issued forth from a city in America as a place of
publication of the message in print. It is not a product of Americanism. The fact that its principal pUblishing house since 1909 is situated in Brooklyn,
New York, does not make the message that you have
accepted an American message. The fact that sums
of money, contributed by many thousands of Jehovah's witnesses in America, have been used to buy
properties in various foreign countries for establishing Branch offices there does not Americanize this
message of the Kingdom. The further fact that JehoYah's witnesses in America have at times used the
diplomatic offices of the United States government
both here and in various foreign countries in order
to protect W ATCR TOWER properties and to get them
again after W orId War II and also to defend and
secure some relief for the persecuted brethren in
Greece, Germany, Yugoslavia, and other lands, does
31. Are you looking to AmerIca? and what answer Is right?
32. Despite what facts Is this messag" and work not American?

361

not make this organization and its message an American product.
33 To protect his right to preach the Kingdom
gospel throughout the realms of the Roman Empire
the apostle Paul at times insisted on his Roman citizenship and finally refused to let his case be handed
over to the court at Jerusalem but said: "I stand at
Cresar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged:
... I appeal unto Cresar." (Acts 16~ 37, 38 j 22: 25-29 j
25: 10-12) But did this frequent resort to his Roman
rights, exemptions and immunities make Paul's message a Roman onet Not by any means! Not otherwise in this day, when Jehovah's witnesses in the
land of America take advantage of their natural citizenship and of the democracy that exists here, and
when they use the many resources available here for
publishing the message wholesale j and when they
use the legal provisions and arrangements that are
guaranteed to all citizens alike. These facts do not
make the organization and its witness work an American institution. They do not make the messagp
American propaganda, the way that religious clergy.
men in Latin America and elsewhere speak of it. The
witness work carried on in foreign lands is not done
to Americanize the people and to educate the believers in American ways and culture. But as the Christian brethren of Macedonia and Achaia (Greece)
once contributed financially to the support of their
brethren in Jerusalem, so Jehovah's witnesses in
America use all the means, resources, opportunitie~
and advantages found in this land for the benefit and
help of God's work and organization both in thi:;;
country and in the many foreign lands.
NOT NATIOSALISTIC. BUT THEOCRATIC

Over in America it is not the case that themajority of the populace have accepted this Kingdom
message just because since 1879 it is published most
prominently in their own land of America. Out of a
population of more than 140 million in the United
States, there were only 73,512 witnesses of J ehovah actively publishing the message in the field
during the peak month of April j and the number of
persons interested and kindly disposed and reading
and studying the W ATCR TOWER publications is relatively small in comparison with the total population.
Regardless or the tremendous witness given to God's
kingdom in America it remains true of the witnesses
in this land as Jesus said : "A prophet is not withaut
honour, save in his own country, and in his own
house:'-Matt. 13: 57.
15 On the other hand, in 1946 there were in the
United States 24,402,124 Roman Catholics, 2,227,524
Episcopalians, 9,900,000 Methodists, 5,000,000 Lutherans, 14,000,000 Baptists, and 3,000,000 Presbyso

33. How does the case or Paul show this 18 no Amerlcan etIort?
34. 311. How popular Is Kingdom truth as aillinst the religions?

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