FIGHTERS AGAINST GOD WILL NOT PREVAIL!

They Look for a Pretext

Apostates, clergymen, and others cannot put up with our message from God's Word.  Under pressure from religious quarters of Christendom, opposers look for a so-called legal way to justify their fight against  us.  What tactics are sometimes used?  Well, what did conspirators do in attacking the prophet Daniel?  At Daniel 6:4, 5, we read:  "The high officials and the satraps themselves were constantly seeking to find some pretext against Daniel respecting the Kingdom; but there was no pretext or corrupt thing at all that they were able to find, forasmuch as he was trustworthy and no negligence or corrupt thing at all was found in him.  Consequently these able-bodied men were saying:  'We shall find in this Daniel no pretext at all, except we have to find it against him in the law of God.' "  Today, opposers likewise look for a pretext.  They clamor about "dangerous cults"  and try to pin this label on Jehovah's Witnesses. By misrepresentation, innuendo, and falsehood, they attack our worship and our adherence to godly principles.

In some lands, religious and political elements refuse to acknowledge that we practice "the form of worship that is clean and undefiled from  the standpoint of our God.'  (James 1:27)  Though our Christian activities are carried on in 234 lands, opposers claim that we are not  a "known religion."     Shortly before an international convention in 1998, an Athens newspaper quoted the Greek Orthodox clergy as claiming that "[Jehovah's Witnesses] are not a 'known religion, ' "  despite the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights to the contrary.  A few days later, another newspaper in the same city quoted a church spokesman as saying:  "[Jehovah's Witnesses] cannot be 'a Christian congregation,' since they have nothing in common with the Christian faith in the person of Jesus Christ."  This is amazing, for no other religious group puts more emphasis on imitating Jesus than do Jehovah's Witnesses!

We seek to defend and establish the good news by legal means.  (Philippians 1:7)  Moreover, we will not compromise or water down our firm adherence to God's standards of righteousness.   (Titus 2:10, 12) Like Jeremiah, we 'gird up our hips and speak everything that Jehovah commands us,' not allowing fighters against God to strike us with any terror.  (Jeremiah 1:17, 18) Jehovah's Holy Word has clearly marked out the right course for us to take.  Never do we want to lean on the frail  "arm of flesh" or seek "refuge in the shadows of Egypt," that is, this world.  ( 2 Chronicles 32:8; Isaiah 30:3; 31:1-3)  In waging spiritual warfare, we must continue  to trust in Jehovah with all our heart, let him direct our steps, and not lean on our own understanding.  (Proverbs 3:5-7)  Unless we have Jehovah's  support and he himself is guarding us,m all our work will be "to no avail." -Psalm 127:1.

Next time: Persecuted but  Uncompromising

Watchtower, 2000