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| Corp-mesaj (pentru a fi introdus): | Corp-mesaj (pentru a fi introdus): |
| Linia 1: |
Linia 1: |
| − | Auaust 1, 1930
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| − | unto death; they must follow in his steps. These
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| − | must learn obedicnee through suffering, as Jesus did.
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| − | To all of this class is promised the first resurrection,
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| − | and that they will reign with Jesus during that. thou-
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| − | sand years. Their destiny will be a heavenly one.
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| − | They will be like Jesus and see him as he is. Revela-
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| − | tion 20:6 says of these: ‘‘Blessed and holy is he that
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| − | hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second
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| − | death’ hath no power, but they shall be priests of
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| − | God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thou-
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| − | sand years.’’
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| − | When the first resurrection shall bring them to-
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| − | gether in heaven as a divine, immortal, invisible com-
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| − | pany, their destiny will be to be with the Lord forever.
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| − | They, together with Jesus as their Head, will be the
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| − | kingdom, while the earth full of human creatures will
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| − | be the subjects of the kingdom. This heavenly class
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| − | is called ‘‘the church’’, also ‘‘the bride, the Lamb’s
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| − | wife’. They are called ‘‘the elect’’, ‘‘the overcom-
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| − | ers,’’ and are referred to as ‘‘joint-heirs with Christ’’.
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| − | Speaking to this class, Jesus said: ‘I appoint unto
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| − | you a kingdom even as my Father hath appointed
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| − | unto me.’ (Luke 22:29) Again, Jesus said to these:
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| − | *“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me
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| − | in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set
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| − | down with my Father in his throne.’’
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| − | The Scriptures deseribe another elass, who will be
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| − | unfaithful, stubborn and rebellious; who will resist
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| − | the mercy and favor of God, and who will continue
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| − | this rebellion and resistance until God cuts them off
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| − | from all life in the second death. That will be their
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| − | destiny, The second death is called ‘‘everlasting de-
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| − | te WATCH TOWER
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| − | 237
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| − | struction’, in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, which reads:
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| − | ‘‘Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
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| − | from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory
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| − | of his power.’’ This is the class to whom Jesus re-
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| − | ferred when he said: ‘‘These shall go away into ever-
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| − | lasting punishment.’’ He did not say that they would
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| − | go away into everlasting torment, as the clergy have
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| − | taught. He simply says that they will go into ever-
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| − | lasting punishment, and the Scriptures show that the
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| − | punishment is to be death, second death, or everlast-
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| − | ing destruction.
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| − | Over and over we are told that all the wicked will
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| − | God destroy; that they will perish like the beasts
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| − | of the field, and that they will be as though they had
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| − | not been, that is, as though they never had an exist-
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| − | ence. This class will b2 composed of all who have come
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| − | to a knowledge of the truth and then take their stand
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| − | against it.
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| − | Thus we see the destiny of the entire human family,
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| − | according to the purpose of God as shown in his Word.
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| − | (1) A small portion of the race will attain to heav-
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| − | enly glory and be associated with Jesus in the king-
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| − | dom and. in the kingdom work.
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| − | (2) The vast majority of the race will come back
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| − | on the earth again and be privileged to enjoy ever-
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| − | lasting life here on earth if they obey the laws of the
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| − | kingdom.
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| − | (3) A relatively small number will be destroyed for
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| − | ever as rebels against God.
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| − | Thank God no human creature is destined to spend
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| − | eternity is agonizing torment.as the clergy have self-
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| − | ishly taught!
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| − | FORMALISM IN PRAYER
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| − | Ts following extract from a letter reecived
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| − | by The Watch Tower is the reason for writ-
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| − | ing these lines:
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| − | I have been wanting to write about a question that looks
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| − | as though it were small but seems to be of growing impor-
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| − | tance. Some of the friends think that it is formalism to
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| − | kneel in prayer at prayer mecting. At first I thought it was
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| − | all right if they felt that way, but the idea is spreading; even
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| − | E—— thonght she would not kneel any longer. The one
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| − | who started it I think refuses to close his eyes or fold his
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| − | hands—also formalism. This family has ehildren. I’m leading
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| − | the children’s class; the children acted as the parents; so I
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| − | fave a little talk about it, saying that ‘they did not act
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| − | toward their teacher as toward each other, nor toward the
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| − | principal as toward the teacher; so we should remember
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| − | Jehovah is the very highest of all. Then I said we folded our
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| − | hands as a sign of our helplessness without Him, and closed
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| − | our eyes so that we have less to attract our attention and
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| − | keep us from lifting up our hearts together to God’.
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| − | The policy of Satan invariably is to induce men to
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| − | take an extreme course. The Pharisces were extrem-
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| − | ists in their formalism, and delighted. to stand on the
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| − | street corners and pray, that they might be scen of
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| − | men, The motive inducing them thus to do was bad,
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| − | and Jesus denounced them for that reason. Like-
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| − | wise, any formalism practiecd for the purpose of
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| − | attracting attention to the performer is wrong.
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| − | The other extreme is to be brazen and flippant in
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| − | one’s attitude, which shows an entire lack of rever-
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| − | ence for God. It is written, ‘‘The fear of the Lord
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| − | is the beginning of wisdom.’’ The wise man continucs
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| − | in that. proper attitude of fear before God. If any
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| − | man comes to the point that he has no fear of dis-
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| − | pleasing God, then he is in a bad way and his pray-
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| − | ers would avail little or nothing,
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| − | The deportment of a Christian should be in keeping
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| − | with his proper relationship to God. Ile will realize
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| − | that the creature is not as much as the small dust
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| − | in the balance when compared with the great Creator.
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| − | His help!iessness and complete dependence upon the
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| − | Lord God is ever before him. As his knowlede¢e of the
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| − | loving-kindness of God increases he has a greater de-
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| − | sire to worship Jehovah, and a greater measure of
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| − | devotion to him. Ile delights to put himself in the
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