Pagină:Obadiah-part-I-1936.djvu/9

JUNE 15, 1986 hovah by Christ Jesus and his army will completely annihilate all of the enemy. When Jchovah says here, ‘Arise ye,’’ it means to battle ‘‘against her’’, the enemy. This battle spoken of is now in progress, and is a battle of truth against entrenched lics. It is a battle between Jchovah’s witnesses on one side and hypoeritical rcligionists, particularly the Roman Cath- olie Hierarchy, on the other, and takes place just pre- ecding and preliminary to ‘‘the battle of that great day of God Almighty’’. 5° Note now the corroborative proof given by the prophet: ‘And I will lay my vengcance upon Edom by the hand of my ‘people Israel [spiritual Israel ; Jehovah’s faithful witnesses]: and they [Jchovah’s witnesses] shall do in Edom according to mine anger, and according to my fury; and they [the Edomites] shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God.”? (Mack. 25:14) In further corroborative proof sce verse 18 of Obadiah’s propheey. It is the Edomites, the religion- ists, and particularly the Roman Catholic Hicrarchy, that now make war upon dehovah’s witnesses, and this they do under the command of the ficld marshal of Satan. Jchovah’s witnesses must fight with the sword of the spirit, that is, the Word of Cod, firmly and boldly declaring the truth which exposes and un- covers the hiding place of the Hes of the modern Indomites, 81°We should expect the Devil to use every subtle means at his command to lull God’s anointed ones to slecp and to cause them to cease their fighting; but the true and faithful will not be deceived and lulled to sleep, Jesus says that the Devil and his agents ‘‘shall shew si¢ns and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the eleet’’, (Mark 13:22; Matt. 24:24) To seduce mneans to turn one away froin the right path into the way of Satan the evil one, and doing violence to God’s people. The Devil would use some now to induec Je- hovah’s witnesses to believe that they should slack up their work and not expect to do anything particularly important until after Armageddon. To influence or induee one to take such a course is seducing or turn- ing one aside from the rignt way. But the Lord shows that it is not possible to deecive the very clect. (Matt. 24:24) Those who are fully devoted to the Lord will refuse to be influenced or sedueed by such efforts to keep them quiet. They will be on the alert at all times and resent any and all subtle influence of the Devil, which may appear to be put forward by him through any ereature, whether that ercature claims to he con- secratcd to the Lord or not. God has eommanded his people to ‘‘rise up against her in battle’? now, By his prophet Iizckicl he commands his anoimted ones, “the man elothed with linen’’, saying, ‘Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cheru- bims; . .. And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and seatter them over the Fhe WATCHTOWER 185 city. And he went in in my sight. And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cheruhims, and tock thereof, and put it [fire] into the hands of him that was clothcd with linen; who took it, and went out.’’ —Ezek. 10: 6, 2,7. 82 Such work by the anointed is doing the ‘slaying’ part of the Elisha work, which he was anointed to perform. The Lord graciously revealed this matter and caused it to be published in Vindication, Book One, page 116 e¢ seqg., and that no doubt for the instruction and guidance of his anointed, that they might be fully equipped and furnished for all good work. Yet it ap- pears that some who should have learned what is pub- lished, and should be performing these dutics as God has commanded, instead have been seduced, and by some wrongful influcnee, and are interfering with the work and endeavoring to make the anointed belicve that their chief work is to be done after Armageddon. The eleet will not be deccived or seduced. These faith- ful anointed ones will not slack the hand in this day of war, but with the zeal peculiar to the Lord's house they will continue to press the battle against the enemy. The remnant will not engage in the destructive work at Armageddon. The part performed by the remnant is to proclaim the message by the Lord as he has commissioned and commanded them to do. The Lord Jesus Christ and his heavenly host will do the slaushtcr work, That is made clear by many prophetie statements.—2 Chron, 20: 16-22; Hzck. 9: 4-6. 33-The remnant have a work to do now before the destructive work of Armageddon begins, and which work they must complete before that destructive work does begin, (Matt. 24: 14,21) From the time Jehovah put his name upon his anointed ones, giving to them the ‘‘new name’’, he commissioned and sent them forth to perform their part by declaring the day of his vengeanee. As they go forth to the nations bearing testimony to the name of Jchovah, the Most Tigh says to them: ‘Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.’’—Jsa. 62: 2, 3. 84 Jehovah exhibits his anointed witnesses before the Esau crowd and thus shows his favor to his witnesses ; and because he puts his favor upon them the fire of the enemy is drawn against Jchovah’s witnesses and the battle goes on. The enemies of God, particularly the religionists, are designated under the name of “sau’’, “Edom,” ‘‘Ephraim,’’ ‘Philistines,’’ ete. All such refer to the Roman Catholic Hicrarehy and their allies. Concerning sueh enemics Jehovah says: “Woe to the erown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!’ (Isa. 28:1) The enemy, the religionists, are drunken with satanie wine; and such, in their maudlin, drunken state, go forth, mak- ing war against the remnant because the remnant