“Then two she-bears came out from the woods and went tearing to pieces forty-two children.”

(2 Kings 2:24)

Some boys had jeered Elisha, who was Jehovah’s prophet at that time. He “called down evil upon them in the name of Jehovah. Then two she-bears came out from the woods and went tearing to pieces forty-two children.” Does this mean that we are not to mock Jehovah’s Witnesses and God’s “appointed channel of communication, ‘the faithful and discreet slave’?” – Matthew 24:45; Our Kingdom Ministry, September 2002, page 8.

No, this is not the case. Granted, Jehovah does not tolerate it when someone jeers his prophets. But Jehovah’s Witnesses “do not claim that … they are prophesying in Jehovah’s name.” (Awake!, March 22, 1993, page 3) Since “God’s people today are not prophets,” we can ridicule them without worry. – God’s Word for Us Through Jeremiah, page 167.

“Knead the dough and make round cakes.”

(Genesis 18:6, NWT 1984)

Abraham wanted to regale Jehovah with cake. Baking cakes was women’s work already back then, so Abraham charged his wife with this task. That was in harmony with the teachings of the ‘faithful and discreet slave,’ for “children can see, for example, that men build houses and women bake cakes.” (The Watchtower, September 15, 1973, page 554) “You teen-age girls, have you taken an interest in preparing meals for your household? How many pastries and cakes have you learned to bake?” – The Watchtower, February 1, 1978, page 5.

Likewise today, men can instruct their wives or daughters to bake cakes. But they should not follow the example of Sándor Völgyes who “asked his wife to bake cakes and to put Watchtower articles into them.” (1996 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses, page 104) Such may have been possible in the 1950s, but today the Watchtower magazines are printed with toxic ink for financial reasons. However, the Bible mentions another detail that is important when it comes to cake baking.

Abraham had asked Sarah to bake “round cakes.” Later the Israelites “began to bake the flour dough that they had brought out from Egypt into round cakes.” (Exodus 12:39) According to the Mosaic Law, only “ring-shaped cakes” were fit for sacrificial use (Leviticus 7:12) Centuries later, when an angel raised the prophet Elijah out of his sleep, “there at his head was a round cake.” – 1 Kings 19:6.

So all acceptable cakes had been round back then. A widow in Zarephath once slid into a dangerous situation when she had to tell Elijah: “As Jehovah your God is living, I have no round cake.” Elijah did not punish her, though, but rather said to her: “Do not be afraid … Only from what is there make me a small round cake.” (1 Kings 17:13) Since “all the things that were written aforetime were written for our instruction,” Jehovah surely included this detail in his word by intention.

Obviously it is God’s will that women and girls bake round cakes. Once Tamar, David’s daughter, ignored this command and baked “heart-shaped cakes.” What were the consequences? She was raped and spent the rest of her life in isolation. (2 Samuel 13:14, 20) What a terrible punishment she had to suffer because she did not bake a round cake!

If we want to please God, we must not bake square or heart-shaped cakes. False prophets flood today’s world with sheet cake recipes, but in reality this propaganda comes from Satan. Only “round cakes,” baked by women or girls, are acceptable to worshippers of Jehovah. We must not take this issue easy; even King David warned of “the apostate mockers for a cake.” (Psalm 35:16) No, we must heed God’s just principles in every aspect of our lives, also when baking.