WITHOUT DISRESPECT TO ANY NATIONAL GOVERNMENT it may be truthfully said that all mankind today groans under human rule. They have hoped against hope that in the long run their man-made governments will get on top of the worsening world situation and somehow save the human family from permanent disaster. But they are continually being disappointed. It is high time to be looking in another direction from man's rule. The publishers of this booklet are happy to point in the only right direction for mankind's relief and lasting salvation. The change for the better is at hand! Read this booklet and rejoice!
-THE PUBLISHERS
1968
PUBLISHERSWATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, INCORPORATEDINTERNATIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS ASSOCIATIONBrooklyn, N.Y., U.S.A.
[Bible quotations herein are taken from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.]
Made in the United States of America
MAN'S RULE ABOUT TO GIVE WAY TO GOD'S RULE
RULE, as we here consider it, means the exercise of authority or control. The word also carries with it the thought of a period of time during which a special ruler or government exercises control; also, the state of being governed. In languages that are drawn from or built upon the Latin, the word comes from the Latin word regula, which means "straightedge, rule"; and, in turn, this word comes from the Latin verb régere, which means "to lead straight; to guide." The word "government," which is associated with the word "rule," is drawn from the Latin verb gubernáre, which is borrowed from the Greek verb kybernán, which means "to steer," and then "to guide, to govern," and "to act as a helmsman, a pilot." When it is viewed from this understanding, there is nothing wrong in itself with the idea of "rule" by means of a government. And what right-minded person does not want "rule"? Especially when a person is imperfect, as all of us are, who does not want a "rule," a "straightedge"? If we are anxious to go straight, to do things right, who does not appreciate being steered right, directed and governed right? In such a world as this, many of us still do. Such a straight rule by right government will shortly be given to mankind, with wonderful blessings resulting. But by whom?
1. (a) What meaning for the word "rule" are we interested in, and from what Latin words is its derivation? (b) With such understanding, how do right-minded individuals view "rule"?
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2 Man today is well acquainted with rule and government, for all his experience therewith. The estimates made by devotees of the evolution theory as to the length of man's existence upon this terraqueous globe cannot be relied upon; they are mere wild, unfounded, unreasonable guesses. According to the most authoritative source of information, the accurate history of man from his true beginning, man has been upon this earth now close onto six thousand years. During almost all that time he has been subject to man's rule, in varieties thereof at various times or in various parts of the earth. What form of rulership and government has man not tried for his benefit, from cruel despotisms to modern-day republics and so-called "people's democracies"? The Encyclopaedia Britannica takes note of this. Under the heading of "Government" (in Volume 10, edition of 1946) it says:
3 "Government in the ancient world presents three main types - the great despotic empires of Sumeria, Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Macedon; the city states of Asia Minor, Greece and Italy, and the unique empire in Rome of a city-state gradually becoming the centre of empire, and, in the process, changing its republic system into an autocracy, limited only by the survival of some republican institutions and traditions. . . . the Roman theory of universal domination lasted on throughout the Middle Ages and, through the titular supremacy of the Holy Roman Empire, delayed the emergence of national territorial states with a clear title
2-4. Why can it be said man is well acquainted with rule and government, and what interesting comment on this is made by The Encyclopaedia Britannica?
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to independence. This delay was assisted by the equally universal claim of the popes to human obedience, and by the efficient organization of the Church system of Government through the canon law, and the courts which administered it, throughout the Christian world...."
4 Pointing to the effects of political developments during the sixteenth century upon government, the same Encyclopaedia article says: "MODERN TIMES. If the modern nation-state clearly emerges in the 16th century the history of modern government falls equally clearly into two main periods since that time, the period before and the period since the French Revolution [of the eighteenth century].... Modern democracies show great variations in their governmental organization," and it speaks of the flexible kinds and the rigid kinds. -Pages 560-565.
5 The same ancient governments mentioned by The Encyclopaedia Britannica, namely, those of Sumeria (or Babylonia), Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Macedon, Greece and Rome, are dealt with in a book far older than the Britannica and parts of which, in fact, were written right in Babylonia, Persia, Macedonia, Greece, and Rome in Italy, and thus giving us a direct insight into the rule and government of those places. That accurately informative and authoritative book, although finished in the first century of our Common Era, has today a wider circulation than The Encyclopaedia Britannica and is still found to be an authority even regarding modern times. That book is The Holy Bible or The Sacred Scriptures.
5. What book far older than the Britannica deals with ancient governments, and what advantage does it have over other books?
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6 It is the only book that gives mankind an authentic account of its beginning and of its history for more than four thousand one hundred years. Furthermore, some of its many predictions or prophecies which have not yet been fulfilled carry us right down into this twentieth century of our Common Era and even for a thousand years from today. Rightly, this marvelous Book tells us much about man's rule and how it would work out. It is the only book that assures us that man's rule is now about to give way to God's rule. This is because this book was written under the inspiration of God's invisible, directive active force or spirit and hence comes to us from the hand of God the Creator, who has preserved it to this day for our salvation.
WHY MANY TODAY DO NOT WANT GOD'S RULE
7 The thought of coming under God's rule is becoming detestable to more and more millions of people today. To their minds it brings the thought of theocracy, which is really what God's rule means. But to many of those persons who revolt at the idea of God's rule, theocracy makes them think of corrupt, oppressive rule by immoral, greedy, self-seeking, totalitarian religious priests and clergymen, who demand the absolute, unquestioning obedience of all mankind and who demand also their money under the cloak of false religious pretenses. For many centuries Europe had such a so-called theocracy run by priestcraft. This time of priests openly meddling in worldly politics and trying to hold the political rulers subject to them
6. Outline the many excellent features of this book called the Bible.
7. Why do many millions of people detest the thought of a rule by "theocracy"?
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is referred to in The Encyclopedia Americana (in Volume 13, edition of 1956), in its article on "Government," in the following words:
8 "SOURCE OF GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY. Various ideas have been held by different people in different periods of history as to the source from which government derives its authority. . . . For many years in many countries, kings claimed to rule by divine right. They asserted that their governmental authority came to them directly from God. Many rulers in Europe have acknowledged that the pope was the direct representative of God on earth and had taken their authority from the popes as God's agent on earth. The divine right of kings was claimed by some rulers later than 1600. James I of Great Britain (reigned 1603-1625) was a staunch advocate of divine right." -Page 89.
9 Not only the earlier kings of Europe during the time of the Holy Roman Empire considered the pope of Rome to be "God's agent on earth," but the popes themselves and the religious hierarchy under them as well as the common people thought the same as those kings. Thus such popish rule through his hierarchy was considered a theocracy, and that is one of the meanings given by the dictionary to the word "theocracy." Thus, too, because of considering themselves to be "the direct representative of God on earth," the popes claimed to wield universal sovereignty, universal domination. What student of European history does not know of the pope's claim to the right
8. How does The Encyclopedia Americana define the sources of governmental authority?9. What meaning came to be given to the word "theocracy," and so how do people often feel when such a theocratic rule is recommended for mankind?
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to crown and uncrown kings, to enthrone and unthrone kings? What student does not remember how Pope Leo III crowned King Charles the Great or Charlemagne at Rome on Christmas Day of the year 800? But it was Napoleon Bonaparte who crowned himself emperor in the presence of the helpless pope, shortly after the French Revolution. What wonder, then, that intelligent persons of today who are informed on the kind of rule that prevailed during the time of the popish "theocracy" cannot stomach the thought of God's rule being about to come, if God's rule means the restoration of such a hierarchical rule!
10 Fortunately such priestly theocratic rule has been only a sad part of man's rule, for religious popes and priests and clergymen are mere imperfect, dying men. Certainly such religio-political rule by the priests and clergy of Christendom has disgracefully misrepresented God's rule. Hence when man's rule gives way to God's rule the politico-religious rule of the priests and clergy of Christendom and also of pagandom must also give way and disappear for all time, to mankind's eternal relief.
HIGHER RULE THAN MAN'S INEVITABLE
11 Yet when we talk of man's rule giving way to something else, the question arises, Can there be any other kind of rule over the whole earth than man's rule? The evolutionist and the materialist will emphatically answer No! But they stubbornly blind themselves to the facts of history, Man is certainly not ruling the rest of the visible,
10. What must happen to the religio-political rule by priests and clergy of Christendom and pagandom?11. Why can we be assured that a rule on earth other than man's is going to be a reality?
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tangible universe, even by means of his rockets and spacecraft. The Creator of the universe, God Almighty, does that. He has the Creator's right to do so. He rules all the rest of the universe, so why not also the earth? It is impossible to stop him from doing so. Just because man has lived upon the earth now for about six thousand years and more than three thousand million humans today inhabit the earth, this does not give them the legal right to the earth and its rulership. God never gave up his Creator's ownership of the earth and his right to rule it and its inhabitants. He was ruling the earth when he created man and gave man his start in earthly life. That was almost six thousand years ago. Was there anything wrong or bad about God's rule then?
12 Consider: God did not create man a grunting, beastlike caveman partway up any scale of natural evolution. The Creator of all the glorious universe in outer space created man as a creative work that would bring credit to his divine creative ability. God himself is perfect and all-good, and he created a perfect work when he made the first man. The Bible writer named Moses, who lived for forty years under ancient Egyptian rule, got God's spirit of inspiration and wrote concerning God's creative work: "I shall declare the name of Jehovah. Do you attribute greatness to our God! The Rock, perfect is his activity, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice; righteous and upright is he. They have acted ruinously oh their own part; they are not his children, the defect is their own.
12. In what condition or state was the first man created, and how under divine inspiration does Moses show this to be so in Deuteronomy 32:3-6?
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A generation crooked and twisted! Is it to Jehovah that you keep doing this way, O people stupid and not wise? Is he not your Father who has produced you, he who made you and proceeded to give you stability?" (Deuteronomy 32:3-6) From these inspired words there is no mistaking that Jehovah God created the first man perfect.
13 The hairy, lowbrowed, vicious-looking caveman imagined by the evolutionists could never be in God's image and likeness. The creation account written by the inspired prophet Moses says that God purposed to create man in his image and likeness and that he actually did so. For this first man he also created a perfect wife. When he thus finished his creative work respecting our earth, God took an overall view of his work and he pronounced it to be "very good." God the Creator is the best critic in all existence, and when he pronounced his earthly work "very good," it was indeed so. (Genesis 1:26-31) In this "very good" state of human perfection man got his start, this indicating that God the Creator purposed to rule over intelligent earthly creatures with whom he could deal on the basis of their perfection, a man and woman who reflected what God was and who could appreciate what God was and who would be able to yield perfect obedience to him, even in the smallest thing, as well as in all other things.
14 What kind of living conditions did God's rule mean for that perfect first man and woman? Poor, slummy, crowded living quarters in a polluted
13. (a) Why is the evolutionist theory of man's existence false and misleading? (b) How did the Creator, Jehovah, purpose to deal with man whom he had created?14. What type of living conditions for the perfect man and woman did God purpose, and how is this evident from the Bible account at Genesis 2:8-15?
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atmosphere and general environment? Or in a jungle where he was constantly in danger of being attacked by ferocious wild animals or vipers? To do so would have been inconsiderate, inconsistent, unloving on the perfect God's part. Only perfect conditions would be suitable for his perfect human creatures. A paradise of Eden, a garden of pleasure! In proof that God's rule is good for its subjects, Genesis 2:8-15 tells us: "Jehovah God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Thus Jehovah God made to grow out of the ground every tree desirable to one's sight and good for food and also the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. . . . And Jehovah God proceeded to take the man and settle him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to take care of it."
15 God created this perfect man, who bore God's "image and likeness," with the ability to appreciate law and order. In order to keep this perfect intelligent creature aware of the fact that he was responsible to his Creator and was subject to God's rule, God placed a simple limitation upon him, a small one indeed but one that would therefore prove the perfectness of his obedience. Genesis 2:16, 17 informs us: "And Jehovah God also laid this command upon the man: 'From every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction. But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.' "God as Creator and Lawgiver was perfectly within his right in
15. What ability did the perfect man in God's image have, and so why was the limitation of Genesis 2:16, 17 placed on the perfect man?
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laying such a command upon his human creation. It did not imply that the man had criminal tendencies that needed to be legislated against to curb his wicked inclinations. It merely asked for him to restrain himself in one small regard in order to show respect for his Creator and perfect love for his heavenly Father.
16 The man, being newly created, had yet to prove his obedience to his invisible heavenly Creator, and his keeping of this simple command would lead him to perfect his obedience to God. It would remind him that his enjoying everlasting life in happiness in a paradise earth depended upon perfect obedience to his Creator God and Father. Thereafter the perfect man had to decide whether he desired to continue forever under God's rule or not.
17 It was after this that God created a wife in lovely perfection for the man and married them. In order to inform the man and woman why he had put them on earth and had married them in the paradise of Eden, Jehovah God stated his further law to this perfect couple. It was not a law for them to refrain from doing anything bad, but it was a law for them to do good to the very ends of the earth, and this under God's blessing. Genesis 1:28 tells us: "Further, God blessed them and God said to them: 'Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.'"
16. To what would obedience on the part of the man lead, and of what remind him?17. What further law or command did Jehovah place on the first man and woman in the paradise of Eden, and was it a good law or a bad one?
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18 Ah yes, "have in subjection" all the lower animal creations, but not have in subjection all other human creatures who as their offspring and descendants would in due time fill the earth that would be subdued to a paradise beauty everywhere. God issued to the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, no commission to set up man's rule over humankind. God's rule, that then obtained there in the garden of Eden, was to continue, and all the perfect offspring of Adam and Eve were to be subject to God's rule. It was to be a pure, ideal theocracy, with no human priests or pope. What would this mean for all mankind under such rule by the invisible God and heavenly Father? Everlasting life in human perfection, in peace and happiness, in an earth-embracing paradise!
START OF MAN'S RULE
19 Under such paradise conditions, with such wondrous divinely ordained goals set before one, who would want to start man's rule in the earth? In fact, who started man's rule such as we have today throughout the earth? When was it started? Man himself started it, back there in the paradise of pleasure almost six thousand years ago. Before they started filling the earth with perfect offspring, the woman Eye and the man Adam did so. It took only one small act to do so, and that was to break the law of God's rule against the eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. Adam and Eve's doing so was induced, not by God their Creator and Father, but by a
18. (a) What was not included in man's authority on this earth? (b) Who, then, was to rule over man, and with what result?19. How, then, did man's rule get its start on earth, and who was responsible for starting such rule?
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newly arisen rebel who opposed God's rule, not only in the earth but throughout all heaven. In the language of Adam and Eve their word for "Resister" or "Opposer" was Satan, and for this reason this original rebel against God's rule in heaven and earth is called in God's written Word "Satan."
20 Satan was not visible to Adam and Eve, for he is a superhuman, invisible spirit creature. By tricky use of a serpent or snake in the garden of Eden and making human speech appear to come forth from it, he first suggested to the unsuspecting Eve the desirability of breaking the law of God's rule and the setting up of man's rule on earth. With regard to God's warning of the punishment of death for eating disobediently from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, Satan said through the serpent: "You positively will not die. For God knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened a...
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