Is your name in the Book of Life? Is it pencilled in or inked into the Book of Life? It’s complicated according to a recent Watchtower Study Article. For a start, there are Five Groups not Two (Words in italics below are taken from the referenced Watchtower article).

In my research into the Watchtower Society’s (WTS) doctrines within their own literature I have often found it difficult to find definitive answers; either because the articles are very vague or because they tended to contradict each other. For example; I have been looking in to the WTS’s ideas on who will be resurrected and who they believe to be ‘righteous’ and ‘unrighteous’ and I came across those predictable barriers.

Fortunately, the WTS has now written a Study Article on this matter which lays out their ideas quite specifically, even though the article is still contradictory at times. That article can be found in the Sep 2022 Study Edition of the Watchtower magazine (WT)(1); Study Article 39 (Is Your Name in “the Book of Life” and should be read in conjunction with this article (the paragraph numbers here are in reference to the study article).

As with most WT articles it assumes a large amount of doctrine has already been absorbed by the reader and so is taken as read (called ‘assumed foundation’, a type of logical fallacy). For a Christian, who has not fallen for the WTS scam, this Study Article makes fascinating reading as a great example of poor biblical exegesis as well as dubious logic. I am a great believer that logic still applies to the Bible as it must remain consistent and because it comes from a logical God.

In this article I will be going through the study article mentioned above and highlighting the errors and illogicality contained therein which you might find useful if you discuss these ideas with a JW. I have found that WTS articles almost always contain biblical references that do not actually support the ideas being presented and I will be pointing these out too.

As with all WTS articles the reader is guided to ‘ask’ specific questions in the introduction to each paragraph and, of course, those specific questions are specifically answered for them. Any teacher will tell you that this is a very poor learning technique and does not encourage the pupil to question anything or think for themselves – which is exactly what the WTS wants. Any JW who starts to think for themselves is likely to realise that what they are being taught is in error.

The WTS itself warns its members that reading the Bible alone leads to rejection of WTS teachings (2). The WTS actively discourages research stating that “…it is not necessary to spend a lot of time and energy in research, for there are brothers in the organization who are assigned to that very thing…” (3). This sort of statement is a clear warning sign of a cult; as Nietzsche is often quoted “A truth doesn’t mind being questioned. A lie does not like being challenged.”

Para 1: A small point, but in Malachi 3 v 16 the book is not written by Jehovah but before him. This paragraph introduces Jehovah’s Book of Life and claims that the name of Abel was apparently (see the footnote in the article) the first to be written in it, quoting Luke 11:50,51 in support.

But, those verses say nothing about Abel’s name being written anywhere so their claim is just supposition. Again, it might seem a small point, but why make this claim when there’s no biblical support for it? Maybe the WTS wishes to provide as many references to the Bible as it can to try and give the impression its ideas come from the Bible.

Para 2: To have our names written in this book we must develop a close, personal relationship with Jehovah in order to be in line to receive everlasting life. When researching how the WTS teaches we can obtain everlasting life it becomes clear that what we do in this life actually has very little effect on our chances of everlasting life. Even those who do not develop this close relationship in this life are still given access to paradise earth and given the opportunity to gain everlasting life.

As will be seen later the only difference between those who develop this relationship and those who do not is that the former have their names pencilled in to the book of life and the latter do not. Whilst this paragraph does mention Jesus and His sacrifice this close relationship with Jehovah is simply based on Jesus’ sacrifice without any explanation of what this means.

But, John 3:16 tells us that everlasting life is granted to those who put their belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and not those who have a close personal relationship with God.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

That relationship is only made available by coming to the Son as He is the only way to the Father (John 14:6). Also, John 3:36, which they quote, tells us that those who believe in the Lord (or ‘Exercise faith’ as incorrectly translated in the New World Translation [NWT]) already have everlasting life and are not simply in line to receive it. Having eternal life now is also witnessed in 1 John 5:13 where John says this;

“I write you these things so that you may know that you have life everlasting, you who put your faith in the name of the Son of God.” NWT (Emphasis mine) (4)

Para 3: Exodus 32:33 does talk about blotting people’s name from this book, but in the context of Exodus 32 it can be seen that by this God is emphasising that it is the one who has sinned that will be blotted out, not someone in their place. Rev 3:5 tells us that those who are victorious and are robed in white will not have their names blotted out. Those dressed in white have become so through the blood of the lamb (Rev 7:4) so we need not fear our name being blotted out simply because we have sinned; who indeed has not sinned (Rom 3:23)?

The JW is kept in constant fear of failing and having their name blotted out, they have to make sure their name remains whereas the Christian has no such fear because Jesus knows we will fail and has already accepted us; warts and all. The worm-on-the-hook here is to have our names written in ink in to the book so guaranteeing eternal life (however, see the discussion of life after the final test in ‘para 7’ section below).

Para 4: Just some padding here!

Para 5: Phil 4:3 doesn’t limit the number of those whose names are in the book of Life, other than those specifically mentioned, it adds the ‘rest of my fellow workers’.

Five Groups

The five groups the WTS recognises are now presented. The Bible only ever talks of two groups when considering the future position of people; the sheep and the goats, going to the right or the left (Matt 25:32), the righteous and the unrighteous (Acts 25:15), and those who have done evil deeds and those who have done good (John 5:28, 29) etc. Grammatically the term ‘righteous and unrighteous’ is all inclusive; you are either one or the other, there can be no third (or fourth or fifth) option.

Group One – 144,000

Para 6: The study article mentions ‘those who have been selected to rule with Jesus in heaven,’ citing Phil 4:3. However, this text makes no mention of ‘those who have been selected to rule with Jesus in heaven,’ this is simply an addition by the WTS and unsupported scripturally. Rev 7:3 does not mention having someone’s name ‘written permanently’ in the book, as they assert. Yes, Rev 7:3 precedes the highlighting of the 144,000 but that’s a long way off from what the WTS teaches.(5)

Group Two – Other Sheep

Para 7: Here are mentioned the other sheep, of which most JWs think themselves a part. This term, the great crowd of other sheep, appears nowhere in the Bible, it is a mishmash of John 10:16 and Rev 7:9. By joining these two unrelated groups into one the WTS is attempting to reinforce its two hopes doctrine (6).

Nowhere else in the Bible is there any indication that Christians are split into two groups. Eph 4:4 specifically says that Christians have ONE hope. The original two groups of Jews and Gentiles are brought together as one flock through Jesus (John 10:16). Though the article gives no justification for its statement that the great crowd have their names written in the book, as Christians, we would agree that they do.

Rev 7:14 tells us that the members of the great crowd have had their robes washed in the blood of the lamb yet the WTS teaches that the great crowd are not in the new covenant set up through Christ’s blood and symbolically do not partake of the blood at their memorial meal (Communion)(7). So, it can hardly be said that they have been washed in His blood.

Matt 25:46 does indeed say that the sheep (as opposed to the goats) will go in to everlasting life, but again the WTS is linking the sheep only with the great crowd whereas in the Matt 25 passage the only other group are the goats who go to eternal condemnation. Sso those sheep must be all Christians!

However, the WTS also teaches that no one actually goes into everlasting life until after the final test at the end of the 1000-year reign of Christ (but see the point made below) and many of the great crowd will fail this test (8) and so not go in to everlasting life making Jesus in Matt 25 to be a liar! Having their names written in with pencil actually achieves nothing as will be shown later.

Those who pass the final test in Rev 20 will be judged faithful and have their names recorded permanently in the book, according to the study article. However, elsewhere (9), the WTS admits that even after the final test those who have passed can still lose their everlasting life if they cease to be faithful. So, it can hardly be said that their names are permanently in! In effect, everlasting life will elude JWs, they will simply continue to live until they screw up and are destroyed by Jehovah.

Group Three – Goats; Destroyed at Armageddon

Para 8: – Nowhere does the Bible say that these goats are destroyed at Armageddon, in fact Matt 25 tells us that all nations will be gathered before Jesus for judgement (Matt 25:32) and at that point the sheep and goats are separated. There is no indication there that they are destroyed in a mighty cleansing of the earth at Armageddon.

This paragraph claims that these goats are the unrighteous of 2 Pet 2:9 who are destroyed yet in para 11 of this article the unrighteous are identified as those who have not heard the WTS’s message, or not had the time to respond properly and will go in to paradise along with everyone else and not destroyed – which is it?

The WTS often uses the term clearly (along with the similar term ‘evidently’) when it’s making a bold statement without scriptural support. (10) There is no indication in the verses supplied that those who sin against the Holy Spirit will not be resurrected, they will simply not be forgiven and so will come under judgement. All those who reject Christ will not be forgiven as only Christ is able to provide forgiveness.

John 5:28 tells us that ‘all those’ in the grave will hear Jesus’ voice and come out (be resurrected) which would surely include the goats. The WTS tries to weasel out of this obvious contradiction by saying that the ‘grave’ mentioned there is actually a ‘memorial tomb’ (meaning those who have died but are remembered by Jehovah ready to be resurrected (recreated) (11). The goats are not so remembered and so will not be in the ‘memorial tomb’ and so not resurrected.

Para 9: Acts 24 identifies two groups who are to be resurrected (which are inclusive so should cover all persons), but makes no mention of where these two groups will be resurrected to and certainly gives no indication they will be on earth. It would appear that the 144,000 are not considered as righteous as they will not be on paradise earth and so do not come under Acts 24!

The righteous are stated to be those who serve Jehovah faithfully yet in their Insight book (12), under the heading ‘Righteousness – not by one’s own works’ it is made clear that gaining righteousness is NOT by their own works of ‘self-righteousness’ (though, paradoxically, it claims it is gained by ‘exercising faith’).

The claim that the righteous are those who faithfully served Jehovah while alive and the unrighteous are those who did not means that salvation is through works, which is contrary to biblical teaching (and the Insight Book (12)). Roms 5:9 tells us that we are made righteous through the blood of the lamb and not through our own hard work.

Yes, there were those considered righteous in the times before Christ (which is a discussion point in itself), but the Insight book (12) again says these did not become so through their own works; in these modern times we need the blood of Christ to make us righteous and not our works (Eph 2:8,9).

Group Four – The Righteous

Para 10: Group 4: The article seems to imply that only those who are already dead can be considered as righteous so no one alive today is righteous. This is, presumably, because, until they die, people could fall away and so not end up being righteous. What a terrible position to be in; not knowing whether you’re good enough to be classed as righteous at your death.

Praise Jesus that, as Christians, we can KNOW that we HAVE eternal life (1 John 5:13) and that our righteousness relies on Christ’s blood and not our own hard work(13). There is no mention in this paragraph of anything to do with Jesus and His blood making us righteous (Romans 5:9).

These righteous ones only have their names pencilled in to the book so will still need to prove faithful through the 1000 year reign of Christ and on through the final test before having their names inked in and being granted eternal life, though, as we have seen above, this is not actually life eternal.

So, being righteous on earth and faithfully following Jehovah’s commands actually achieves nothing as it all, relies on your continuing through the 1000 year reign. For further details of what the WTS means by princes in all the earth’ see (WT 1950 1 Nov page 413-418)

Group Five – The Unrighteous

Para 11: – Group 5 In the introduction to this paragraph we are asked what must the unrighteous need to learn to have their names written in to the book. The WTS is very keen on accurate knowledge (14) adding the word accurate in to a number of Bible verses which use the word “knowledge” (Col 1 v 9 et al). The unrighteous are those who did not live righteous lives while on earth, for whatever reason.

However, in ‘para 8’ above, the study article quotes 2 Peter 2:9 and links the terms unrighteous and goats who will be destroyed by Jehovah on the day of judgement. This is taken to mean Armageddon there which adds to the confusion.

But, the WTS does teach that those unrighteous (those who have not dedicated their lives to Jehovah by joining with His earthly organisation) still alive at Armageddon will be summarily destroyed. (15) So it would seem that this is salvation by time-of-death and those destroyed ought to make up a sixth group! If you die as unrighteous before Armageddon you get a free pass to paradise earth, but, if you die at Armageddon there is no such option.

JWs often say that to make it to paradise you have to learn about Jehovah and follow His commands, identifying God’s one organisation and be part of it. (16) But these unrighteous ones who die before Armageddon are still going to make it to paradise without doing any of that. So, which is it; do we need to know Jehovah and follow His commands or not?

These unrighteous ones will have 1000 years in paradise earth to be taught all they need to know on how to live righteously, but this begs the question of how come JWs who have died (the righteous) managed to achieve this in their short lives and yet it will take the rest of us 1000 years? It doesn’t sound like the greatest educational program t

Is your name in the Book of Life?

Summary Box – Whose Names are in the Book of Life? Here we see these 5 different groups clearly laid out according to WTS doctrine:

  1. The Anointed
  2. The Righteous
  3. The Great Crowd
  4. The Goats
  5. The Unrighteous

Of all the groups whose names are in the book none of them have their names inked in except, presumably, those anointed who are already dead (though that group is not mentioned specifically in this article). They can all have their names erased if they fail to continue to meet Jehovah’s standards either in this life or the next – including the ‘anointed’.

It appears that today’s Great crowd are neither righteous nor unrighteous so where do those who survive Armageddon (and so do not die) fit in to this scheme of things? Are they a further group, group seven? Perhaps they are accepted as righteous by being chosen to survive Armageddon. There is an awful lot of presumption and guess work in this WT article which does not bode well for its accuracy!

Para 12: – Who will teach the unrighteous? Here it is stated that both the great crowd (considered righteous by Jehovah for surviving Armageddon?) and the righteous ones will teach the unrighteous. However, in the next Watchtower article (17) in paragraph 2 it states that all the resurrected ones will need to be taught – even the righteous so who will teach them?

Rev 2: 4 is used here to support the judges idea, which the study article implies are the 144,000. But the verse talks of all those who had not worshipped the beast as being in this group. Those who do worship the beast will be destroyed (Rev 13:15). So the group who do not worship the beast cannot mean only the 144,000. Rev 13:8 tells us that all worship the beast except those whose names are written in the book which includes the great crowd who are not part of the 144,000!

The unrighteous do not have their names written in the book and so, according to Rev 13:15, they will all be destroyed and so not make it in to paradise earth. When you start adding things to what the Bible says it can get very confusing!

Isaiah 65:20 does not tell us that even those who live to be a 100 can still be removed (a euphemism for being killed, because, as death is no more on paradise earth, a new word has to be used); it says that dying at 100 will be considered dying young, amere boy, and that age is no defence against sin.

Para 13 & 14: – In these paragraphs we find perhaps the greatest admission of biblical exposition ineptitude that the WTS has ever shown! Previously, it seems, the WTS was unable to notice that the Greek (and their own English translation, the NWT) used the past tense when mentioning the deeds of the righteous and unrighteous. Instead, in order for it to fit in with their other doctrines, they deemed these deeds to be in the future tense, deeds done after people had died; on paradise earth.

In an incredible sleight of hand, they now say but notice, as if it was the reader’s error that this misinterpretation had happened. Suddenly the WTS decides that the correct interpretation (the one Christendom has been teaching for millennia) is the one that makes sense – who knew! Surely this means that what they taught before did NOT make sense, if so why did they teach it?

It doesn’t take a great Greek scholar to determine the tense of these actions, especially as it has been correctly translated into English in the NWT. JWs claim that the Governing Body is humble because they admit their faults, but there is little evidence of humility here in this admission of biblical ineptitude.

To any outsider this should put serious doubt on the WTS’s ability to correctly interpret scripture if such an obvious passage is so badly interpreted. So, we can see that people who practised vile things will be resurrected on to this paradise earth and evidently these vile things were not quite sufficient to make them into goats.

Para 15: – The WTS redefines a resurrection of life as meaning that their names are pencilled in to the book of life, but they point out later that they can still have their names rubbed out of the book if they cease to be faithful. Here, also, the WTS tries to shore up its idea that at death we are acquitted of our sins (a misinterpretation of Rom 6:7(18)).

Para 16: – The unrighteous also have their sins cancelled at death so presumably die sinless too. Why, therefore, are their names not written in the book of life? It’s because of their vile deeds. The Bible says that to break one law is to break them all (James 2:10) so we have all practised vile things in our time. These unrighteous ones will only have their names written in the book (if only in pencil) if they are judged worthy by their dedication to Jehovah – no mention of Jesus here.

Salvation through works continues in to paradise earth it seems. Luke 22:30 talks only of judging the 12 tribes of Israel, not the unrighteous. It could be said that those being judged in Luke 22 are actually the 144,000 as these are from the 12 tribes according to Rev : 5!

If you check out the footnote in the study article you will see they make another admission of error in that the judgement here was previously defined as a negative judgement or a verdict of condemnation (though they don’t say where they said this and I couldn’t find it in their literature). They agree that it may have that meaning but not here as it seems (evidently?) that Jesus used the word in a more general sense.

The Greek word used in John 5:29 is krisis, which has the meaning of a decision or a judgement and not an ongoing assessment as the WTS would have us believe. Logically, what do they call the final ‘decision’ made once the evaluation is complete, are there two ‘judgements’?

So, the ONLY difference between a resurrection to life and a resurrection to judgement (John 5:28,29) is that in the former the names are pencilled in to the book whereas they are not in the latter. Both can suffer exactly the same fate and must continue to dedicate themselves for the 1000 years and pass the final test before having their names inked in to the book.

So, no difference at all in fact; why does the Bible bother to differentiate between the two if there is actually no real difference? Of course, in truth, there is a huge difference as Christians have known and taught for millennia, but not according to the WTS. This lack of substantial difference is partly acknowledged in the next paragraph.

Para 17: – Here the WTS agrees that both the unrighteous and the righteous will suffer the same fate unless they are obedient throughout the 1000 year reign (and beyond as we have seen above). The WTS makes a big thing of the scrolls opened in Rev 20:12,13. They say these scrolls are to be opened during the 1000 years (presumably fairly early on) yet the Bible records them being opened at the end of the 1000 years (Rev 20:7,12,13).

The passage in Rev 20:11-15 does not lend itself to being interpreted as any other way than the final judgement when people are resurrected and appear before God to be judged.

The WTS says that these scrolls must include new instructions from Jehovah on how He wants us to live on this paradise earth. (19) So, presumably, they ought to be opened at the beginning of the time so that we know what these new rules are and not at the end like the Bible teaches. This misinterpretation is necessary to try and shoehorn this passage in to their idea of the educational program taking place in the 1000 year reign

According to the WTS it is not the deeds of people that are recorded in the scrolls, as the context would imply, but instead the rules against which people’s deeds are judged (19). Why would Jehovah come up with a whole new set of rules for living, what was wrong with the old ones? The WTS does not say.

Para 18: – though this paragraph doesn’t explicitly mention John 5:28,29 it is here that the WTS tries to return to its previous interpretation of the deeds in John 5 and says only the deeds after people die count towards their annotation in the book of life.

Finally, we have a mention of Jesus and His sacrifice, saying that all must learn to exercise faith in His sacrifice. It does seem that we can get away with pretty well anything in this life, even doing vile things, and still get a free pass to paradise. In discussions with JWs on the carts etc. the idea that Jehovah knows our hearts keeps on coming up.

Even if we practise vile things, Jehovah knows our hearts and maybe we wouldn’t have practised these things if we had simply been taught properly! How many vile things can we get away with before we become goats and not resurrected?

The study article doesn’t say what it means to exercise faith in his [Jesus’] sacrifice and jw.org is similarly quiet on the details here. In WTS literature (20) it can be seen that Jesus’ sacrifice simply put us back to where we were before Adam sinned by paying for Adam’s sin thus opening up the way to return to paradise. However, if we’re already in paradise what will Jesus’ sacrifice do for us for us to need to exercise faith in it?

Para 19: – No argument here

Para 20: – The greatest educational program ever undertaken will undoubtedly have many flaws as the number of those who still fail the final test will be ‘In number like the sand on the seashore’ (Rev. 20:8). The WTS would have us believe that this simply means that the number is unknown (no one knows how many grains of sand there are on the seashore)(21).

This despite the numerous times the WTS also says that this phrase means up to ‘billions’ (22) or ‘innumerable’ (23). These latter definitions are in line with the sixteen or so other uses of this term in the Bible(24).

Additionally, it will take 1000 years to learn all the stuff we need to know, ‘stuff’ that today’s JWs learn in less than a lifetime, though, of course, we do not know the volume of new rules that the scrolls will reveal. So, despite dying, being raised to life, living on a paradise earth while receiving instruction for 1000 years on how to live, and not being allowed to practise vile things for that time, countless billions will still fail the final test!

What wretched creatures we are, who can save us? (Rom 7:24,25) But will we need to be taught at all for in Heb 8:10,11 we see that no one will need teaching for we shall all ‘know the Lord’. We shall have to wait and see!

Conclusion

This Study Article is actually of huge importance in that it attempts to clearly define the WTS teaching on the Book of life and whose names it contains. It allows us to examine in detail the route the WTS has taken to come up with its various doctrines around this subject and so enables us to identify the errors in their logic and biblical understanding.

The WTS does like to make mountains out of mole hills and spreads out the biblical two groups of the righteous and unrighteous in to a confusing set of five groups (possibly seven if you include those who do not die at Armageddon and those who would be in the unrighteous group had they not been alive at Armageddon and were destroyed along with the remaining goats!).

They have to do this in order to shoehorn their doctrines in to some semblance of continuity. The ideas taught and trusted by ‘Christendom’ for millennia make so much more sense logically and biblically that it is hard to see why anyone would change them. We live with the opportunity to accept Jesus’ sacrifice and gain our righteousness through His blood.

After our death we are judged and if our names are written in His book we go on to eternal life and if not, we go to eternal condemnation. In the words of a strange looking Meerkat – Simples.

If you discuss this study article with any JWs I would be grateful for any feedback you may have on the usefulness of this article.

References:

NB: Many of the WTS books referenced here can be found on the website JW-Wayback.org https://www.watchtowerwayback.org/en/static1/library

  1. https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2022567
  2. WT 1 Aug 1958 p460. Also, an interesting article on how the Irish Catholics are victims of the clergy because they do very little independent thinking! Awake 22 Feb 1986 p8
  3. WT 1 Jun 1967 p338
  4. This is a powerful verse to present to a JW asking if they KNOW that they HAVE eternal life or if the WTS teaches this. I have shown this verse to JWs on carts and they have, unbelievably, simply refused to even look at the verse. They may claim that this verse is only for the ‘anointed’ (the 144,000 of Rev 7), yet the verse itself tells us that John is talking to all those ‘put their faith in the name of the Son of God’. Additionally, the introduction to 1 John in the WTS WOL website states that John was writing to ‘all Christians’ (https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/Bibledocument/r1/lp-e/nWTSty/62/introduction).
  5. On a side note: The need to remain faithful to keep their anointing begs the question of why Jehovah ‘anoints’ these people at all. The WTS acknowledges that the 144,000 have no special duties on earth and in fact are not necessarily more spiritual than those of the great crowd (WT 1 May 2007 pg 31 Questions from readers). If these anointed ones have no extra duties (they ceased to be part of the faithful and discrete slave officially in 2013) and may have their special place removed before death why bother to anoint them now, what good does it do?
  6. WT 1 Dec 1985 p 7, WT 15 Dec 2013 p25 para 13
  7. WT 1 Apr 1979 p31 Jesus not mediator
  8. WTS book ‘Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God’ p399
  9. WT 15 Aug 2006 p 31
  10. I am reminded of the emperor’s clothes fable where only a ‘fool’ could not see the clothes; if the WTS says it is clear then only a fool would not believe it surely?
  11. WTS book ‘Insight On the Scriptures’ (Insight) Vol 2 page 369 Under ‘Memorial Tomb’
  12. WTS ‘Insight’ book Vol 2 page 810
  13. In Roms 3 v 10 we are told that no one is righteous which seems to contradict Roms 5 but the context would imply that Roms 3 is talking about those under the law (v19). Now, while JWs do not consider themselves under the OT law (WT 1984 Feb 15 page 27), they are still under their own laws requiring them to work for their salvation (obedience to the Governing Body and its doctrine, door to door preaching etc.
  14. WT 1 Dec 1989 p10-14
  15. WT 1 Sep 1989 p19, WT 15 Feb 2001 p 14
  16. WT 15 Feb 1983 p 12
  17. WT Sep 2022 SA 40 ‘Bringing the Many to Righteousness’
  18. If our death acquits us from our sins why do we need Jesus, why did He have to die, and what about those who survive Armageddon – they don’t die and so will they not have their sins ‘acquitted’?!
  19. WTS book ‘God’s Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached’ ch 7 p131
  20. WTS book ‘What does the Bible Really Teach?’ Ch 5 para 11
  21. Questions from Readers WT 15 July 1957 p 446, WT Book ‘You may Survive Armageddon in to God’s New World’ page 359
  22. Awake 8 April 1988 p25
  23. WTS book ‘God’s “Eternal Purpose” Now Triumphing for Man’s Good’ Ch 9 p 107
  24. Psalm 139 v 18, Psalms 78 v 27, Gen 22 v 17, Gen 32 v 12, Gen 41, 49, Josh 11 v 4, Isa 48 v 19, Isa 10 v 22, Judges 7 v 12, 1 Sam 13 v 5, 2 Sam 17 v 11, 1 Kings 4 v 29, Jer 33 v 22, Hosea 1 v 10