BEGINNING at the same time in Dublin, Eire, and Edinburgh, Scotland, on Sunday, June 13, 1965, the delivery of this message "World Government on the Shoulder of the Prince of Peace" progressed around the globe during the succeeding weeks and months. Thereby hundreds of thousands of many lands and languages had their appreciation awakened and deepened of what is one of the grandest prophecies on record, now due to reach the climax of its fulfillment. Too good to be lost, the message is being preserved in booklet form, for you and millions of others to read and to prove from the Holy Scriptures of prophecy.
-THE PUBLISHERS
1965
Publishers:WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, INC.INTERNATIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS ASSOCIATIONBrooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
Made in the United States of America
WORLD GOVERNMENTON THE SHOULDER OF THEPRINCE OF PEACE
WORLD government for all mankind will mean only one supreme government over all the earth. It will be a symbol of the oneness of all the people, in peaceful human brotherhood. It is staggering to think of what such a government could do for the good of all the people under it, without favoritism toward anybody and with prejudice toward nobody.
2 Will such a world government ever come into existence over our one human family? Today the matter is at least being talked about very seriously, in view of threatening world conditions. One well-known encyclopedia* says on the subject: "The tremendous problem of world government challenges citizens of the 20th century even more than it did the people of previous centuries."
3 Till now such a political rulership has never been undertaken with the support of all the people who would come under its sway. Humanly speaking, world government needs quite a widespread desire of the people for it. The encyclopedia just quoted from says that a certain study of the subject "suggests that world government will not be established unless, first, there is present in
* The Encyclopedia Americana, edition of 1956, Volume 13, page 96.
1. What will world government mean and symbolize?2. What is being done today by citizens of this twentieth century regarding world government?3. The result of a certain study of the subject suggests that world government will not be established till what conditions are met?
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the minds and hearts of many millions of the people in various countries of the world a consensus, common desire or, group consciousness to form a base for world control; and, second, there is put into operation some type of governmental machinery which provides for making laws to control directly some but not all of the conduct of individuals in any nation or state of the world, for enforcing such laws by direct action on individuals, and for protecting groups of people against aggressive or oppressive conduct on the part of other groups."
4 Somebody may well ask, Do we not already have world government in the form of the United Nations organization, which has its headquarters in New York City? No, replies the same encyclopedia: "Neither the League of Nations nor the United Nations was built on the broad group consciousness essential for world" government; nor was either [organization] given law-making power, law-enforcing power, or effective power to restrain aggressive or oppressive national or group conduct."
5 The late Pontifex Maximus of Vatican City, Pope John XXIII, did not consider the United Nations to be a world government. On Thursday, April 11, during the Holy Week of the year 1963, he signed his famous encyclical entitled "Pacem in Terris" ("Peace on Earth") , which he addressed not only to the "clergy and faithful of the whole world" but also "to all men of goodwill." In Part TV of this encyclical he spoke of a "public authority of the world community," and went on to say:
6 "It is our earnest wish that the United Nations
4. Why have the League of Nations and the United Nations not been real world governments?5, 6. (a) Of what "authority" did Pope John XXIII speak in his encyclical "Peace on Earth" of 1963? (b) What "earnest wish" did the encyclical express regarding the United Nations?
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organization - in its structure and in its means - may become ever more equal to the magnitude and nobility of its tasks, and that the day may come when every human being will find therein an effective safeguard for the rights which derive directly from his dignity as a person, and which are therefore universal, inviolable and inalienable rights. This is all the more to be hoped for since all human beings . . . are becoming more consciously aware that they are living members of a world community."
7 Apparently this encyclical sparked the holding of a four-day gathering in New York City, on February 17-20, 1965, of the International Convention of Peace under the sponsorship of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. It is reported that this convocation "had as its purpose a study of the practical applications of Pope John's encyclical Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth), published in April, 1963." More than 2,000 invited guests attended the sessions in the New York Hilton Hotel, these being from fourteen nations and including religious clergymen, scholars, scientists and statesmen. The secretary-general of the United Nations attended and spoke. The various speakers emphasized that a "strong international organizational body was essential in view of the alternative of nuclear war." (N.Y. Times, February 21, 1965) An Associated Press dispatch datelined New York, February 20, said:
8 "Famous British historian Arnold J. Toynbee declared today that civilization had reached a point where the very continuity of the human race depends on formation of World Government. 'It is the mutual interest of the nations to subordinate their national sovereignty to world authorities,'
7, 8. (a) What gathering did that encyclical apparently spark, and what "body" did the speakers emphasize as being necessary? (b) What did historian Toynbee say regarding the need for world government?
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he said. 'This is the only condition in which the nations can survive in an atomic age.'"
9 How should such an institution be produced? Right-minded workers for it agree that world government should not mean the domination of the world by one powerful nation that seizes control and maintains itself in control by brutal force. The democratic nations of the West claim that international communism purposes to dominate the world; and at such a thing those nations shudder. Says the above-quoted encyclopedia on this feature of the subject:
10 "One of the largest groups working for the 'support and development of the United Nations into a world government with limited powers adequate to assure peace' is organized into United World Federalists, Incorporated. Leaders of world federalists are not likely to agree easily with those Russians who would develop world government by transforming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics into a World Socialist Soviet Republic."
11 When we look at the stark realities of the day, is it not vain for us to hope for men to establish a satisfying world government? Today the cold war rages between Eastern and Western blocs of nations dominated by opposite political ideologies, with great rifts dividing even each of these blocs of nations, with internal political disagreements splitting up each individual nation. This gives us no basis for hoping that the needed world government will come even though we are all under the threat of nuclear war with all humanity as its victim. Love of national sovereignties is too strong in the hearts of men who have the spirit of this world. Fanatical devotion to
9, 10. (a) What should world government not mean? (b) What is the United World Federalists, Incorporated, working for, and how do its leaders disagree with Communist Russians?11. What stark realities of the day dim the hope for men to set up a satisfactory world government?
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political ideologies is too powerful among men who think they have the only workable system of government. A change of heart is not to be expected in men who cannot be convinced against their will. If we have to judge by the experiments that men have made with all sorts of political government and by the practical results of their experiments, what kind of world government would men give us anyway?
12 World government is necessary to the preservation and happiness of the human family. This fact is being admitted more and more as time goes on. But can it come only by human means? Is man of this so-called Brain Age the final one for us to look to for bringing in the all-necessary world government? Is there nothing beyond man and his boasted science to which to look and to appeal? Happily there is! There is the great Governor of the universe, of which our earth is a tiny part. For Him it should not be hard to govern our earth. As earth's Creator, he should be expected to govern it. He will do so. Who can prevent him from doing so?
13 Today, after coming to see the need for it, men do not need to go on endlessly arguing as to what kind of world government it should be, how it shall be put in operation, and who shall hold the post of governor, and how such world governor shall be named and chosen. Long before this system of things got started, world government for all mankind had already been decided upon by the highest authority alive. Men in general have ignored this authority and his decision and purpose. For the leading men of this nuclear age to continue ignoring him means nothing but putting
12. For what is world government necessary, and to whom can we look to bring it in?13. Why is it now unnecessary for men to go on arguing about things having to do with world government, and to what will such continued arguing lead?
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themselves to needless trouble and at last getting nowhere but into the very disaster that they hope to avoid by man-made world government.
14 The supreme authority is the one source of all rightful government. To him world government over mankind is nothing new, modern or recent. More than two thousand six hundred years before this nuclear age was born he caused a governmental decree to be published, that promises to be fulfilled in our own time. The decree was published in the eighth century before our Common Era. At that time Assyria, with its capital at Nineveh, was the leading world power, but, despite its great aggressions, it did not become a world government. There was a city that Assyria threatened but never did subdue. This was Jerusalem. In this city the following governmental decree was pronounced and published; and here we give the translation of the decree into English, approved of by the late Pope John XXIII:
15 "A child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace. His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." -Isaiah 9:6, 7, Douay.
THE PROMISED PRINCE
16 In those words God foretold the setting up of a world government of endless peace, for the ruler-
14, 15. (a) Why is the subject of world government nothing new to the supreme authority? (b) What governmental decree did this Authority cause to be published in Jerusalem in the eighth century B.C.E.?16, 17. (a) What did that governmental decree foretell? (b) How was that title "Prince of Peace" misapplied in India not long ago?
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ship would rest upon the shoulder of one who was to be called the Prince of Peace. This title was to be borne by no one else but the one who would rule over mankind. Not many years ago the title was wrongly applied to a mighty general and political ruler. While still holding the presidency of the mightiest military republic of the Western bloc of nations, he was paying a courtesy visit to India. December 9, 1959, was the date of his arrival in India's capital city, New Delhi, and one of many magazines reporting on this event said:
17 "India had not experienced such a mob scene since the death of [Mahatma] Gandhi. More than a million villagers and city folk thronged New Delhi's streets waving and shouting . . . ("Long live Eisenhower!") . . . ("Hail Eisenhower!") Above the hue and cry stretched red and white banners proclaiming: 'EISENHOWER - PRINCE OF PEACE.' " -The Watchtower, as of September 15, 1960, page 549.
18 However, sad to relate, since that event, his own nation took part in warfare in southeast Asia, which threatened to grow into a conflict that would take peace from the whole earth. All this proves how vain it is to tack the title "Prince of Peace" onto a mere man, even though some Hindus thought that he was Vishnu Ka Avatar, a reincarnation of the god Vishnu. True, the governmental decree of the Lord of hosts said that the promised Prince of Peace would also be called God the Mighty, but he could never be president of the United States of America nor of any other republic on earth today. The Lord of hosts says that the Prince of Peace had to "sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom."
19 This called for the Prince of Peace to be a
18. Why could not the promised Prince of Peace, also called God the Mighty, be president of any republic on earth today?19, 20. (a) What did, that call for the Prince of Peace to be as to his descent? (b) What covenant requiring this did the Lord of hosts make with faithful David?
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descendant of David of Bethlehem, who was king of Jerusalem in the eleventh century before our Common Era and whose kingdom extended finally from the Euphrates River southward to the River of Egypt. (Genesis 15:18) To this faithful David, the Lord of hosts made a solemn promise that kingdom power would remain in his family for all time and that his kingdom would therefore be forever. (2 Samuel 7:1-17) In the language of the Douay Version of the Holy Bible, one ancient inspired psalmist worded God's promise in this way:
20 "Then thou spokest in a vision to thy saints, and saidst: I have laid help upon one that is mighty, and have exalted one chosen out of my people. I have found David my servant: with my holy oil I have anointed him... . my mercy I will not take away from him: nor will I suffer my truth to fail. Neither will I profane my covenant: and the words that proceed from my mouth I will not make void. Once have I sworn by my holiness: I will not lie unto David: his seed shall endure for ever. And his throne as the sun before me: and as the moon perfect for ever, and a faithful witness in heaven." -Psalm 88:20-38, Douay; 89:19-37, King James Version.
21 Since the Lord of hosts decreed concerning the Prince of Peace that "his empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace," this Prince upon whose shoulder the government is laid must be the Permanent Heir of King David. For this to become true, the Heir of David's everlasting kingdom must be born on earth in David's line. His birth was foretold, and it was to mark a turning point in history. Another prophecy of the birth of this Prince was made by the prophet Isaiah at a time when the kingdom of the royal house
21, 22. (a) What, therefore, must this Prince of Peace be as to heirship? (b) What other prophecy did Isaiah give regarding the birth of this Prince?
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of David at Jerusalem was threatened by an alliance of enemy nations. To the king then ruling, Isaiah said:
22 "Hear ye, therefore, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to be grievous to men, that you are grievous to my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." -Isaiah 7:13,14, Douay.
23 The birth of this son has long been a historical fact. It is noted in the records of history that are beyond denial and that cannot be wiped out, to prove that the Lord of hosts has performed this miraculous birth, as he promised that he would do. A tax collector of the Roman Empire, named Matthew Levi, explains how the birth occurred by divine power. He names the virgin mother as Mary. To call attention to the fact that this was a fulfillment of the prophecy of the Lord of hosts by means of Isaiah, Matthew Levi says: "Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." (Matthew 1:22, 23, Douay) According to God's command, the child was named Jesus.
24 A medical doctor of the first century of our Common Era made an investigation to establish the truthfulness of the then current report about this miraculously born Jesus. Then this Doctor Luke wrote the facts to his friend Theophilus to strengthen the faith of this believer. Doctor Luke reports that at the time that Mary was told that
23. What does Matthew Levi write regarding the birth of this son as being a historical fact and as a fulfillment of divine prophecy?24, 25. (a) What investigation about birth did Doctor Luke of our first century make? (b) What did he report the angel Gabriel as saying to Mary regarding the son to be born?
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she was God's choice for becoming the virgin mother of the Son of God, the angel Gabriel said to her:
25 "Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end.... The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.... no word shall be impossible with God." -Luke 1:28-37, Douay.
26 Doctor Luke supplied historical facts and figures by means of which we can calculate the year of Jesus' birth. He shows how the birth of Jesus came to take place at the city of Bethlehem, as foretold by the prophet Micah seven centuries earlier. (Luke 2:1-7; Matthew 2:1-16; Micah 5:2) The birth took place in a stable in an overcrowded city, where a person could be overlooked for the crowd. But the birth was not allowed to go without witnesses besides the child's mother Mary and foster-father Joseph. God raised up witnesses to this birth of his Son. He sent an angel to give to the shepherds out in the fields at Bethlehem the needed directions on how to find this newborn babe in a stable manger.
27 The angel identified who the child really was and told what his future was to be by saying: "For, this day, is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David." Besides those shepherd witnesses, there were also heavenly wi...
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