Contents

The Earth as Man’s Eternal Home

That Too Big Glacier Story

A Still More Incredible Tale

And Now the Other Home

To Ride a Bicycle Safely

Australia, New Zealand, Canada

Busy Women in Australia

⁴ Gold and Diamonds'Reach Australia

District Attorney Doekweiler’s Statement

Equal Protection Guaranteed

Something New in Mobbings

The New Government

Self-Defense Would Have Been Justified

Comm on-Sense Judge in Mississippi

Mexico, Panama, West Indies, Iceland

The Pistol “Blesser” Released

Where the Asphalt Comes From

Iceland Turns the Cold Shoulder

“Thy Word Is Truth”

Does God Torment in Hellf

How to Save Gas and Tires

Religion’s Guilt (Part 2)

Catholic Fifth Column Elsewhere

Presenting “This Gospel of the Kingdom” 27 “Index of Proper Names, Expressions, - and Their Meanings”

New World Theocratic Concordance

A Refugee'Trip Through Siberia

Published every other "Wednesday by WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY, INC, 117 Adams St., Brooklyn, N. T., U. S. A.

Editor            Clayton J, Woodworth

Buelneu Manager Nathan H, Knorr

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Notanda

Constitutional Rights Are Rights *

♦ "The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people equally in war and peace; it covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men at all times and under all circumstances. No doctrine involving more pernicious consequences was ever invented by the mind of man than that any of its provisions can be suspended during any of the great exigencies of government. Such a doctrine leads directly to anarchy and despotism. But the theory of necessity on which it is based is false, for the government within the Constitution has all :*the powers granted to it which are necessary to preserve its existence?⁵ So said . the Supreme Court of the United Stsdfe in Ex parte Milligan, 4 Wall. 2 (1866). —Opinion quoted in case of Grace Trent et al. (J. w.), in the U. S. DistrictCourt, Southern District of Indiana,igSdian-apolis Division, Civil No. 349.

Reimbursing the Persecuted

♦ The Ndrth Bay (Calif.) Labor Journal things, and with good reason, that when the innocent have been dragged into court, and subjected to inconvenience, loss of income, attorney fees, public humiliation and other setbacks, the least society can do is to reimburse them for inexcusable blunders of court officials. That seems reasonable, but involves the possibility of many more expensive suits, and so is probably impractical.

The New Fluorescent Lamps

♦ The new fluorescent lamps are made by sealing together two flat disks or plates molded in the desired shape. The inside walls of the disks are coated with a fluorescent substance, and before the plates are sealed together a small amount of mercury and a gas are admitted. When the current is turned on, the fluorescent coating glows with a uniform light.

CONSOLATION

“And in His name shall the nations hope.”—Matthew 12:21, A. R.V.

The Earth as Man’s Eternal Home

That “old world”, “the world of the ungodly,” perished, but the earthly globe upon which the ungodly generation of men were corrupting their way remained and was cleansed of that crowd [of evil men at the time of the Flood], “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.” (Ecclesiastes 1:4) “The earth which he hath established for ever.” (Psalm 78: 69) The literal earth is the creation of Him whose “work is perfect” and who pronounced the earth good. His divine mandate to fill it with righteous men and women and to beautify it forever as the footstool of his universal domination shall be fulfilled. The time of fulfillment thereof during the new world is so near that persons of good-will living today look forward eagerly to having an obedient part in that blessed privilege.—The New World.

NUMEROUS other scriptures, in full agreement with the above, bear testimony that “the upright shall dwell in the land, arid the perfect shall remain in it” (Proverbs 2:21); that “blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5); and that “thou [Jehovah] hast established the earth, and it abideth”.—Psalm 119: 90.

So it is quite in order to discuss the subject of the earth as man’s eternal home, to wonder why so many interest themselves in anything that seems to point to its eternal destruction, and to ponder somewhat on some of the changes in the earth now under way. And it will be quite in order also to think, just a little^ of another everlasting dwellingplace of some, a few, 144,001, of those only that will forever participate in eternal life elsewhere after having lived for a time on this beautiful planet.

That Too Big Glacier Story

The Alexandria (Va.) Daily Town Talk, January 8, 1942, said with some apparent fright, It has been said that

JANUARY 8, 1943 the level of the oceans would be raised 164 feet if all the world’s ice melted. It is not a pretty thought for citizens of sea coast cities and towns (like Alexandria).’

Don’t you believe a word of it. It isn’t true, and reasoning on the subject will' prove that it could not be true. In the first place, even horse sense suggests that the total glacial area of all the continents could hardly be more than a small fraction of the surface. The surface of the earth consists of 139,440,000 square miles of water and 57,510,000 square miles of land. Total area of the earth, 196,950,000 square miles.

Greenland has 827,000 square miles, said to be covered with ice averaging 1,000 feet thick. This may be doubted, because ice-free mountain peaks emerge here and there. It would be just as easy for a careful man to say that the ice averages 200 feet thick as it would be for a careless man to say that it averages five times that. - Split the difference between the two extremes and call it 600 feet. That ought to be enough.

The continent of Antarctica is 2,500 . miles across one way and 2,400 miles the other. That makes, all together, around 6,000,000 square miles of conditions that are about the same as in Greenland. Add another 173,000 square miles for glaciers elsewhere, and it comes to 7,000,000 square miles that may possibly b$ covered with ice 600 feet thick.

That is only one tw^Tenty-eighth part of the surface of the earth, and when 600 is divided by 28 it is apparent that the total ice coverage of the earth could be only about 21j feet if all the ice the glaciers contain were suddenly to melt.

Considering the surface of the oceans alone, the rise in their waters, if the entire ice-mass were melted, would be at the most thirty feet; but as much of the increased water mass would be taken care of by evaporation resulting from higher temperatures,- even this figure may be greatly reduced.

. As showing how wild are some would-be scientists and would-be writers, take the following from Volume 2 of The Encyclopedia Americana, page 12:

The thickness of the ice near the [south] Pole is .estimated by Croll upon theoretical grounds at from 12 to 14 miles, but off the eoast of Victoria Land the iee-wall is only 10 to 20 feet high.

Probably it never occurred to Mr. Croll that there is much difference between 12 to 14 miles and 10 to 20 feet. If he wanted to pile up some glory for himself he could just as well have made the ice 120 to 140 miles thick, or ten times that. There would have been as much common sense to it.

Incidentally, there is good evidence that much of the polar ice is melting, while at the same time, comically enough, the information has been widely spread that the water is disappearing from the earth’s surface at the rate of the thickness of a sheet of writing paper a day.

You can just forget about^J being drowned by melted-ice water. Further, you have Jehovah’s own word for it that "neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth”.—Genesis 9:11.

A Still More Incredible Tale

A still more incredible tale, chargeable to the religionists but not in the least chargeable to God’s Word, is that Almighty God purposes to destroy this earth with literal fire. The scriptures already cited prove that this could not possibly be true. Misinterpretation of prophetic and symbolic statements, fully explained in The New World, are the basis for the wild ideas of these religionists.

But it is not denied that strange things are going on in the earth while it is being made ready for man’s everlasting habitation. There is a story from Philadelphia that, a few months ago, between 11:30 and 12:30 on a certain midday huge bumps inside the earth disturbed so many citizens that more than 400 persons called the Electrical Bureau at the city hall to try to ascertain what it meant. The Bureau was as much in the dark as anyone else. There had been no earthquake, yet in 23 minutes there had been 36 huge bumps, 10 of them tremendous, far inside the earth. You figure it out.

It probably was an earthquake that caused a tidal wave on Lake Erie some six months after the foregoing episode. Suddenly, without warning, a black wall of water swept the south shore of the lake, drowning 7 persons and injuring 12 others. Conceivably, the wave could have been caused by a heavy cliff of underwater rock falling off into the deeper bed of the lake. This shows that the earth is still in a restless state. It has not reached the poise that is coming.

It is quite easy to understand why the ocean turned red off the shores of New Jersey, tingeing the coast for twenty miles and extending far out to sea. This was no sign that the world “is coming to an end” (an expression often used by religionists and others who resist using their own brains). This was merely a plant, Rhodophyceae, or red algae, that may have drifted in from the Gulf Stream, or may have risen from the ocean’s bottom because of the detonation of guns off Sandy Hook. The thing has happened before.

There are recurrent changes in the ocean. Thus, the Humboldt current changes direction every ten to thirteen years. It recently switched farther to the west than ever before, with the result that the warm moisture-bearing Panama current is now bringing rains to the desert of Ecuador, Peru, and the Galapagos islands. See how easy it is for the Lord to turn the earth into a paradise!

Changes in Air Currents

There are numerous changes in the air currents also, as is well known to all. Thus the official explanation of the great drought in the eastern part of the United States in the autumn of 1941 is that there was a stagnant air mass which repelled the clouds. This was so serious that for a time the streams supplying the Columbus, Ohio, reservoir emptied only 3,000,000 gallons per day, although the drain on the reservoir at that same time was 50,000,000 gallons per day.

Jehovah definitely used changes in the air currents over Palestine to affect the interests of His covenant people. An instance is where, in the days of Elijah the prophet, there was no rain for three and one-half years. But when Elijah prayed for rain everybody had to run for shelter from the storm. Control of the weather in the interests of the typical Theocracy is but a small picture of what will happen for the true Theocracy after Armageddon.

Studies made over a period of fifty years seem to indicate that when barometric pressures over the East Indies are high in the fall, the chances are good for a warm winter in the northern part of the United States. When there are high pressures over the Pacific in June, July and August, there are usually warm winters east of the Rocky mountains and north of Virginia. High pressures over the Indian Ocean in April, May and June tend to bring warmer winters for all the United States except the Rocky mountain and Pacific coast areas. High pressures in northeastern Canada and west*^n Greenland mean cold weather for the United States west of the Mississippi. Winter pressures over northern Alaska tend to cause low temperatures the following fall in most of the eastern United States. These are some conclusions arrived at in the Weather Bureau at Washington, based upon “a stupendous number of weather observations made over the world in the past fifty years”.

While equable climatic conditions in the earth are certain under Theocratic rule, yet some of the current phenomena which are quite the opposite provide something of the fascination that comes from witnessing or reading of a calamity. On January 27, 1942, a section of Newfoundland had one of the most remarkable “glitter” storms in history. As usual on such occasions, it first snowed; next came a heavy sleet; then a rising wind, and soon ice. was forming everywhere. Electric and telephone wires were enshrouded in ice 5 to 6 inches in diameter. The wind freshened and poles and trees went down with the wires. Whole tracts of trees bent over until their tops touched the ground. Thick bushes and stout trees were flattened to the ground. In places where the telephone poles remained standing, erossarms were stripped off by the weight on the superladen wires. But there is nothing in this fascinating “glitter” storm to frighten anybody into thinking that Jehovah will not carry out His purpose to make this ’ earth a paradise for all who have the sheeplike disposition.

And Naiv the Other Borne

The Scriptures show some, 144,001, have gone or will go to heaven, i. e., their eternal home is somewhere among the

stars; so it is proper to think a little about some of the stars. There is, for instance, Canopus (which can be seen only south of Florida). Its atmosphere, ' it is claimed, is 1/100,000 that of the earth; it boils at a temperature of 10,000 degrees and moves in giant bubbles at ₅ speeds of several miles a second. Any-♦ way, that is what the astronomers say.

If you are one of the 144,001, it is entirely possible that you might sometime visit Canopus and thoroughly enjoy every minute of your stay.

In the Milky Way there are known to be about 100,000,000,000 individual stars and suns, many of them much larger than the giant sun which swings the earth about it as one of its planets. And then! Hold your breath 1 It is known that there are now about 100,000,000 “Milky Ways”. That is all that can be seen just now, but more will probably be revealed when they get the new telescope ready at Mount Palomar. But 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 suns is a start. The distance across the known universe is set at about 1,000,000,000 light years. Each light year is the distance light travels, at 186,300 miles per second, 60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per hour, 24 hours per day, 365 days a year. That is 5,875,156,800,000 miles in a light year, and the distance across the already known and seen universe is not less than 5,875,156,800,000,000,000,000 miles.

Let each fit himself for his eternal home, earthly, or, if he is one of the 144,001, heavenly, but not get the idea that the Creator cannot get along without him.

And, by the way, what do you think of this idea that any Roman Catholic priest who chooses to do so may order this Creator to- come down here and be sacrificed afresh, as often as the priest pleases? “He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.” (Psalm 147:4) Can you not see what an unspeakable blessing it is to receive everlasting life from such a Creator, and on His terms, and not any imaginary terms made for Him by somebody who knows not what he is talking about?

To Ride a Bicycle Safely

THE curtailment of automobiles, tires and gasoline has increased the number of bicycles in use by more than a million since 1940. A poll of forty cities just completed by the council showed bike registrations up 18 percent.

Cleveland, for example, had 44,000 bikes in 1940. Now it has 62,000. Miami, Fla., jumped from 2,000 to 14,000; Oklahoma City, from 3,000 to 10,000.

The national safety council urges every pedal pusher, tyro or veteran, to heed well the following rules:

Obey all traffic laws, signs and signals.

Ride at the extreme right of the street, with traffic—not on the left, facing it. Don’t zigzag.

Ride single file--never two or more abreast.

Keep both hands on the handle bars. Don’t stunt or indulge in horseplay.

Never hitch a ride on another vehicle.

Carry packages in a basket, or attached securely to the bike where they will not interfere with steering, pedaling or vision.

Never ride double or carry a passenger on the handle bars.

Keep your headlamp and rear reflector in good working order if you ride at night. A rear light is better than a reflector. And by all means, have a horn or bell on your bike—and use it.

Use arm signals when you turn.

Dismount ■ and walk across busy corners.

Take it easy, and be even more careful than when driving an automobile. A bike is no match for a car!

Remember, your bike is subject to the same general traffic rules as an automobile. Obey them!—Altoona Mirror.

CONSOLATION

Australia, New Zealand, Canada

Busy Women in Australia

♦ Interesting stories come from Australia as to how busy the women are, now that their men are all in the war. The women do their own washing, and are proud of it. They go to town on foot and push old perambulators along in which they bring back the family eatables and the firew'ood with which to cook it. They submit to rationing of clothing as quietly as the men. But, indeed, when did the women of any land ever fail to show their courage and to be an inspiration in a time of stress?

Another story from Australia is of a poor little aboriginal woman named Connie. The poor creature was scratching the beach at a place in northwestern Australia, looking for cigarette butts. She came across a tube, dropped from a disabled plane, that contained $50,000 worth of diamonds. It was part of a large consignment from the Java Bank of Commerce, sent out just as the country was falling into the hands of the Japanese. The story did not say what the poor woman received as a reward.

Gold and Diamonds Reach Australia

♦ It is still true that in times of war gold and diamonds are in great demand because they have intrinsic value and can be quickly moved. A submarine took the gold out of Corregidor almost the last thing, and got to Australia with it, A record was made of the American currency, and it was burned, so that if the submarine had been captured the captors would not have profited by it. A few days later $1,000,000 in diamonds was recovered from one of the last planes to get out of Java. The Japanese shot the plane dowm over northern Australia, killing nine passengers. The diamonds had been given up for lost, but were recovered from the wreck six weeks after the crash and are now in the vaults of one of the big Australian banks.

JANUARY 6, 1843

Recognizing the “Higher Powers”

♦ Recognizing Hitler and his cronies as the “higher powers”, and not recognizing Jehovah God and Christ Jesus as the Higher Powers, the Lutheran missionaries in New Guinea not only had radio transmitters with -which to guide the Japanese to their part-of the island, but had on hand hundreds of swastika flags and photographs of Hitler. They were so anxious to boost Hitler that they had even taught the native children of New Guinea to give the Nazi salute.

Men and Women in New Zealand

♦ Reports from New Zealand are that thousands of her young men are with the Royal Air Force in England; others are manning ships; there is a large force of them in Fiji, and a still larger force in the Middle East. Veterans wounded in Greece, Crete and Libya are on the streets, but it is noticeable that there is a shortage of young men. Women run the hotels and tramways, and can do it, too, as well as the men.

Canada Has Too Much Wheat

♦ Canada has a storage capacity for wheat of 600,000,000 bushels. Left over from last year were 400,000,000 bushels. The new harvest added 1,000,000,000 bushels. It was not expected to deliver more than 300,000,000 bushels. That leaves about 500,000,000 bushels -with no place to go, and a fair presumption that much of it would have to stay on the farms and be used as stock feed.

Why Australia Produces So Much Wool ♦ John McArthur imported a few sheep into Australia in 1796, and in ten years his flock had grown to 4,000. The government saw the possibilities of having an independent and almost limitless supply of wool, and encouraged the venture, and within a century there were 100,000,000 sheep grazing “down under”.

7

District Attorney Dockweiler’s Statement

AS THE result of a number of conferences with District Attorney John F. Dockweiler by representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union and of Jehovah’s witnesses, District Attorney John F. Dockweiler [Los Angeles, Calif.] last week issued a public statement condemning vigilantism and mob violence against members of that religious group.

Vigilante Violence

The following evidence was submitted to District Attorney Dockweiler in sworn affidavits:

In one community, on April 25, a mob of local citizens attacked three members of Jehovah’s witnesses on the public streets and in broad daylight, while the latter were peacefully and lawfully distributing their literature—as they had a right to do under the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of this state. Because part of the creed of this religions group includes a belief that flag saluting is a violation of the mandate of Jehovah, as set forth in the Bible—‘Thou shalt not worship false images’—the Witnesses were threatened with being run out of town.

Unafraid of these lawless threats, three members of Jehovah’s witnesses were assaulted and beaten. In one instance, a Witness had his arms pinned back by a mobster, while another stood in front of him and struck him in the face, until the defenseless and helpless victim, bruised and bleeding, was almost unconscious. In another, a vigilante armed with a large braided rope struck a defenseless member of this religious group over the head, severely injuring him.

Lawless Police

This mob violence was as brutal as it was cowardly and criminal. Nonetheless, the local police authorities did nothing to apprehend or prosecute the criminals; instead, they threatened to arrest the innocent victims.

In another community, on May 1, a Witness was threatened that if he should remain in town after dark he would be horsewhipped; once again, not the “citizen” who made the lawless threat, but the innocent victim of the threat was additionally threatened with detention in the local police station.

In a third community in this county, on April 25, a member of this religious group, peacefully offering for sale the publications of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, was assaulted. The person assaulted, not the assaulter, was arrested and prosecuted and charged with unlawful assault.

In the same town, on May 23, a sixteen-year-old boy, standing at respectful attention during a community flag saluting ceremony, was struck and beaten by an overzealous and misguided patriot, who attempted by force to coerce the boy into saluting the flag.

Dist. Attorney’s Statement '

The district attorney’s statement follows:

Because of my official position as district attorney of Los Angeles county, there have come to my attention recently several serious incidents of vigilantism, or cases where citizens assumed to take the law into their own hands, meting out punishment upon their victims as they saw fit, and in most cases very cruelly. I have had called to my attention a number of serious controversies between the Jehovah’s witnesses and groups of citizens, and have had cause to carefully investigate the circumstances surrounding these controversies and these incidents. What I have to say I wish to apply to all citizens, as well as peace officers, in Los Angeles county. I know such persons are good, honest, lawabiding and patriotic, but sometimes it appears that they do not fully understand their duties, and they seem to let their patriotism get the best of their better judgment.

Vigilantism Hit by Wilson

Back in 1918 President Woodrow Wilson condemned outcroppings of vigilantism, when he said:

“No man who loves America, no man who really cares for her fame and honor and character, or who is truly loyal to her institutions, can justify mob action while the courts of justice are open and the governments of the states and the nation are ready and able to do their duty.

“We proudly claim to be the champions of democracy. If we really are, in deed and in truth, let us see to it that we do not discredit our own. I say plainly that every American who takes part in the action of a mob or gives it any sort of countenance is no true son of this democracy, but its betrayer. ...”

Even though we are at war with many enemies, and there are in our midst, according to the attorney general's own statement recently made before the Brooklyn Bar Association the early part of this year, some 1,000,000 enemy aliens, and even though the populace of this country is overstrained because of the tremendous pressure of the needs of civilian defense and the success of the program of the war effort in every respect, we must admit that to date law enforcement has not in any respect broken down or become weakened, either in the townships, cities or the county or the state in which we live.

Equal Protection Guaranteed

I charge you that it is your duty to protect the rights of every citizen, white or black, foreign- or American-born. The Constitution of the United States gives every citizen, regardless of his color or race, regardless of his religion, the same protection. Even though you do not agree with some of the teachings of some of the religions in this country, you must follow the precept of equal protection under the law, because we all believe in a democracy. In the ease of the Jehovah’s witnesses, the Supreme Court has held that this is an accepted and legal religion.

In certain federal districts the situation has grown more intense and the violations of JANUARY 6, IMS constitutional rights have become more frequent than in our own county and community, to such an extent that the attorney general of the United States directed his United States district attorney for the northern and northwestern part of Texas to deliver a scries of radio speeches to the people in his district on the subject of the rights and liberties and protection of religious and racial groupings, with emphasis on the religious group known as Jehovah’s witnesses. So far as the federal government is concerned, it has ample and complete criminal statutory provisions condemning the acts and conduct of vigilantes. So far as the state of California is concerned, we have ample and complete specific provisions to cover violations of the same character, and it is the duty of the chief of the lawenforcing agency, the district attorney’s office, to see to it that persons are prosecuted who violate the provisions of the Penal Code under any circumstances.

What I have said thus far has been more or less general, but, specifically in the case of the Jehovah’s witnesses, I wish to say that they have a right to speak on. the streets of any city in the state of California, on the ' sidewalks, in churches. They have a right to do this unmolested by any chief of police, sheriff, deputy sheriff or any other peace officer, and, it goes without saying, by any citizen or group of citizens. They have a right to pass out their literature unmolested. So long as they conduct themselves according to the laws of this land and the Constitution of the United States they will receive, at the hands of their government, full protection. I know it is not necessary for me to say these things to the chiefs of police, to the peace officers, to the sheriffs or their deputies, or to the members of patriotic organizations, but sometimes wt forget our obligations when our patriotism gets the best of our better judgment.

Assurance has been received by the A.C.L.U. from Mr. Doekweiler that maximum publicity will be given to the statement.-—The Open Forum, Los Angeles, July 4, 1942.

Something New in Mobbings

RECENTLY down Texas way a week of legal battles ensued as a result of the Supreme Court decision of June 8, 1942, upholding as constitutional the license-tax laws voiding the first amendment to the United States constitution, and likened by the chief justice to the odious “Stamp Taxes” of American Revolutionary fame. In the thick of the fight were Jehovah’s witnesses. They desired to preach the gospel in Paris, Texas; they desired not to pay for the privilege of exercising this inalienable right. So they contested the applicability of this sales tax ordinance to Jehovah’s witnesses in their gospel-preaching.

In a futile attempt to prove the ‘commercial’ aspects of the witnesses’ activity the prosecuting attorney drew the following contrast as a basis for protecting the clergy from charge of “selling” while convicting Jehovah’s witnesses, which actually exposed the “bare cupboard” condition of the religious pantry. It was, in substance, this: ‘The people go to church on Sunday; they contribute their money to the parson. And what do they receive in return for their contribution? Nothing, absolutely nothing! That’s not selling! But take the case of these Jehovah’s witnesses, and what do we find? They call upon the people and receive a contribution of 25c. And what do the people get? They get this great big book (holding aloft the bound book)! That’s commercialism! Selling!’

Was the judge impressed? Being a religionist and also a clergyman, he was, and forthwith found the witnesses guilty. It isn’t preaching the gospel, but commercialism, if you tell the people of God’s kingdom and accept voluntary contributions to carry on the work and leave a valuable Bible help in the hands of the contributor. But if a parson has the people come to him, duns them for their last penny, and admittedly gives them ‘absolutely nothing’ in return therefor other than sleep-provoking harangu-ings from his pulpit, that, according to the astute Paris judge, is preaching the gospel. The witnesses appealed from such reasoning.

Now for the anticlimax of this story. During the week of this battle to preserve one of the “four freedoms” the Watchtower Society’s attorney was assisted by Mr. Tom S. Williams, a stockily-built, red-haired attorney from Sulphur Springs, Texas. The name of Mr. Williams was publicized along with the cases in Paris, and also in Dallas, and before his return to Sulphur Springs the folks back home knew he had been active in the defense of Jehovah’s witnesses. Here’s the reception accorded him, as shown by the following letter he subsequently sent to the Society’s attorney:                              .

November 16, 1942 Hayden Covington

117 Adams Street

Brooklyn, N. Y.

Dear Hayden:

When things start happening here there seems to be no end to the way it stacks up, The climax came when I returned home from Dallas, to be attacked and assaulted by a gang of Nazi ruffians, who, according to their true, colors, acted the part of a friend up until the first blow was delivered. It all came about in this way:

I arrived in my office about 11: 00 p. m. and spent about thirty minutes reading my mail. I decided to eat before going home and drove around to Bill Chamberlin’s Cafe on Main Street for that purpose. When I entered the caf£ I found that Bill no longer owned it, but had that night sold to Leroy Pogue and Bill Payne, “my friends.”

Leroy was behind the counter" He invited me in, informed me of his purchase and stated he was glad to see me. I ordered my supper and while I was eating he offered me a drink of liquor. I declined. There were four other men in the eaf£ whom I did not know and they and Pogue went into the kitehen. When I finished my meal I paid my bill and started to leave. Pogue called me back. He asked me to come into the kitchen as he wanted to show me some changes he was going to make and wanted to see what I thought about it. So at his request I went into the kitehen with him.

Before I entered the kitchen door I observed that the other four men were following, but I had absolutely no suspicion of their intentions. It developed that the front door was locked and I could not have gotten out had I suspected foul play. By the time I was in the kitchen I was surrounded by the five of them and Pogue faced me and said; “You have been representing these d----Jehovah's

witnesses and you are one of the------yourself and we are going to beati the ............. out

of you.” By the time he had finished this oration he had struck and missed and I contacted him and he fell to the floor, but was on his feet again shortly. In the meantime I had floored one of the others and maneuvered away from the other three, who were trying to rush me from the back. By that time Pogue was advancing upon me again with an ppen knife in his hand and holloing at the top of his voice. That time I really let him have it right on the nose and he floated through the baek screen door, which was also locked. That was the last of him, except for a lot of racket.

After that I was rushed from behind and pulled to the floor, and from then on I do not know what happened until I was standing outside the front door trying to get back into the place. Someone came by and saw what had happened and led me to my car and I went home.

It developed that Pogue and one of the others got a broken nose, and, aside from having to have their noses fixed, they also had to have several stitches over their eyes to keep the eyelids from falling off. To be sure, I did not eome out unsinged. My tail feathers were scorched also, but nothing serious.

I am indeed thankful to Almighty God for the strength He gave me to handle the situation and for delivering me from that pack of demonized wolves. Be sure they received a severe trouncing along with the surprise of their life, and for this wonderful accomplishment all credit goes to the Most High.

Let me hear from you often, and may God’s great blessing be with you always.

Your brother in the battle for the New World, Tom.

This attorney used to have a lucrative practice. Now he has lost that; hut he has gained far more. He is serving the poor, Jehovah’s witnesses, and Jehovah God.

This is not the first time Mr. Williams has been in the spotlight of Sulphur Springs. His little girl refused to salute the flag. A typical small-town stew followed. The school principal threatened to lick the girl; her 18-year-old brother threatened to lick the principal. The little burg buzzed over this.

Shortly thereafter the boy was going to a school banquet with a girl. Upon arrival at her house, her father met him at the door and said that in view of the fact that his father defended the witnesses in court, and that his sister didn’t salute the flag, his daughter couldn’t go to the banquet with him. Mr. Williams fought for that flag, was a private in the World War, fought in Germany in the front lines, and remained with the occupation army some months after the war’s end. This girl’s pop was in some kind of exempt grouping when the war started, and after its ending joined a reserve corps and later became a captain. The boy went to the banquet alone. The next day the girl tried to smooth things over with the boy. He waved it aside as nothing, remarking that her dad was a peacetime captain while his was a wartime private. This boomeranged on the superpatriot and the town buzzed again, at lis expense.                 •

Now once more, as a result of the mobbing described in the foregoing letter, the town is talking about Tom Williams. And what are they saying? That five men mobbed him? No; but that he mobbed five men!        .

A

* Self-Defense Would Have Been Justified

♦ About 4: 30 in the afternoon of February 25, 1942, George Bogue, 44 years of age, and his son William, 21, who live at 348 West Sixth South street, S^alt Lake City, Utah, called at the home of George Watson, 65 years of age, and one of Jehovah’s witnesses, w^Tho lives at 357 West Fifth South street. The Bogues, who are both big, husky men, were under the influence of liquor.

Young Bogue, who was in the lead, and a total stranger to Watson, walked into the house without the usual formality of knocking, and proceeded to beat up Watson, while his father looked on. When leaving the house the younger was heard to say, “I know a Nazi when I see one.”

As soon as the gangsters had left, Junior Jensen, a young Jonadab, and the only other eyewitness to the dastardly crime, ran a block to the nearest telephone and called the police. In a few moments two officers in their scout ear were at the door. They took Watson, whose face was covered with blood from a number of cuts and bruises (some of his ribs were badly bruised and one fractured) to the emergency hospital, had his wounds dressed and brought him back to his home.

Then they started to hunt for the two outlaws. It was only a few minutes until they found them sitting in a car in front of another man’s house. The older one tried to get away, but was caught. The officers soon had them behind the bars, where they belong. These wretches seem . to have been offended because some of their family had attended meetings of Jehovah’s witnesses. Mr. Watson would have been within his legal rights to have shot and killed them both when they entered his home and attacked him, but the way he chose was the better one and brings less reproach upon the truth.

Martins Ferry Benevolent Police

♦ It is a great thing for a town to have a police force that is opposed to truth and righteousness but is kindly and benevolent toward evildoers. Martins Ferry, Ohio, shines and desires to shine in the latter class. The papers tell about it. Jehovah’s witnesses came there to preach the gospel by offering Kingdom literature to those that might possibly want a place in the Kingdom. A “big crowd”, “quite angry,” had considerable “trouble as they were trying to drive the party away”, and so the police were called. “Police gave the party several opportunities to leave town without getting themselves in trouble, but they refused.” They did this because “the crowd was threatening”. Brave (?), courageous (?), benevolent (?) custodians of public order in Martins Ferry. The name of the inciting priest is unknown. The net result was that “a 15-year-old girl who refused to give her name was placed in the women’s department over night”. “She is a cripple with braces on both legs.” Seven others were arrested. The magistrate dismissed all cases. It was not this occasion that made monkeys out of the Martins Ferry police. They were that already.

“Mustn’t Make Tots Jehovah Witnesses” ♦ That’s the headline, the way it appeared in the Vancouver (B.C.) Sun, May 27, 1942. How does that match up with Jehovah’s own statement to His own people, “Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, that I am God”? A “learned judge” of Vancouver was considering the taking of two children away from their mother and giving them to their father, and said he would do so immediately if he learned that the children were being taught any of the tenets of Jehovah’s witnesses.

Common-Sense Judge in Mississippi

♦ Jolin W. Crisler, circuit court judge in Mississippi, had before him A. J. Powell, indicted for circulating God and the State, (End of Axis Powers) Comfort AU That Mourn, and Conspiracy Against Democracy, which some wild-eyed, halfbaked fanatics with no education, no common sense and no brains had said were seditious. Judge Crisler examined them with care and his opinion was:

These several pamphlets, consisting in all

January a, 1943 of several hundred pages, discuss various subtopics, such as heaven, truth, immortality, resurrection, salvation, and hell. Out of these hundreds of pages not a word, line or paragraph is pointed out in the indictment as being seditious. Nor is the substantial meaning, which might give a cue to the nature of the charge, alleged in the indictment. The indictment simply charges that the pamphlets are seditious. The court, not alone the defendant, is left wholly in the dan-k as to what the state will rely on to convict the defendant.

(To be continued)

Mexico, Panama, West Indies, Iceland

The Pistol “Blesser” Released

♦ Before he shot and killed presidentelect of Mexico Alvaro Obregon, Jose de Leon Toral went to the “Reverend । Father” Jose Aurelio Jimenez and got i his pistol “blessed”. The priest received a 20-year sentence for being an accessory before the fact, but the “Church’s” influence in Mexico is rising again and he has now been released, on the ground that in Mexico it is so customary to “bless” firearms that, being a priest, he was not guilty after all. Obregon remains dead, however.

160,000 Acres of Ramie

♦ There seems not much doubt that ramie is the coming fabric. Suits made from it show no wear after six years of constant use. A single plantation in the state of Tabasco, Mexico, now has 160,000 acres planted to this famous Egyptian textile growth. Quantity production is anticipated in the near future, and inasmuch as new and greatly improved methods have been discovered for freeing the fibers from waste, it appears that the long-anticipated day of ramie is about to dawn.

More Locks for Panama

♦ With the knowledge that World War II, if it continues, will be a titanic fight for the control of the Panama Canal, as one of the major objectives, the United States Government is building an additional set of locks, so that if bombs put one set out of commission the ships can still get through.

The new Gatun locks at Panama will be one and a half miles long, will consume more than 125,000,000 pounds of metal, 2,800,000 barrels of cement, and 4,500,000 tons of sand and gravel, and construction will cost $4,570,500. The new locks will pass larger ships than those now in use, and are to be completed within three years.

Suez and Panama Canals

♦ The tolls for passing through Suez Canal are about twice as high as for passing through Panama, yet the former is much cheaper to operate, as it is a sea level canal, and its cost of construction was only a fraction of that of Panama. In peacetimes Suez Canal paid eighty percent dividends, much of which went to the two hundred families that are the curse of France.

Where the Asphalt Comes From

♦ Marveling at the thousands of miles of asphalt paves, the inquirer into the subject learns that four-fifths of it is obtained from crude oil or petroleum. There are deposits in Switzerland, France, Italy, Texas, Kentucky, and Utah, a big deposit in Lake Bermudez, in Venezuela, and a great lake of it in Trinidad which, it is estimated, still contains 6,000,000 tons of this material.

Over Pitch Lake, Trinidad, one may drive a wagon if he keeps on driving, but if left in one place the outfit will gradually sink out of sight. Men may walk on it, too, but the risk is ever present. When chunks are cut out, to be taken away, the holes gradually refill from the “pitch springs” below the hard surface. Maybe the roof of your house is made of asphalt shingles. They are good shingles, too. So far as known, they never wear out. And they may be had in gay colors. The Lord must like gay colors: He made so many flowers.

Eleven Months Finding a Home

♦ Eighty-six Jewish refugees left France for America in January, 1941. At Bakar, Africa, they were imprisoned until their Argentinian visas had expired; an act of pure cussedness. When they got to Argentina they were not received. Paraguay offered to receive them and Argentina objected; some more pure eussed-ness. Uruguay refused to receive them.

Brazil did the same. At last a Jewish Congressman got them into Curacao, one of the Dutch West Indies, and there they are. They were eleven months making the trip, persecuted at every step because they are Jews.

Smoke Screen Saved the Ship

♦ In the Caribbean a submarine fired a torpedo into the hull of a United States merchantman, cutting its speed to 3J knots an hour. The skipper ordered a lot of oil thrown into the fires, so that the ship was hidden by a black pall of smoke. He then skillfully maneuvered the ship in an area studded with reefs, and finally got away from the submarine in safety, after having been chased by it for an hour?

Fascism in Puerto Rico

♦ Friday magazine claims that in Puerto Rico, where tens of thousands earn only about $200 a year, constitutional democracy does not exist. The governor is a dictator. Washington is 1,500 miles away, and the actual power is in the hands of “a ruthless and pro-Eascist chief of police”. If that be true, it would seem that it might readily be possible to get a new head to the police department, or a better governor.

Tin Can Saved 18 at Sea

♦ Eighteen survivors of two merchantmen torpedoed in the Caribbean finally arrived in New York and explained that they had been saved by a tin can. They had lived for 19 days on two rafts lashed together, on a diet of raw potatoes, raw onions and raw fish. An American merchantman appeared on the horizon. A tin can was hoisted on an oar and flashed in the sun, and the ship came to the rescue.

Iceland Turns the Cold Shoulder

♦ General Marston, of the United States Marines, back from Iceland after eight months, says the Icelanders are independent, and don’t wish Iceland prte tected or invaded by either British or American troops, and least of all by the Germans. He also says that when they have a gale in Iceland it is a real one. On one occasion the men were forced to crawl from their huts to the mess hall in a wind blowing, so it was said, 125 miles an hour.

Some reporter on that story must have stretched something. Wind forces are calculated as follows: Miles per hour: light air, 10; light breeze, 15; gentle breeze, 20; moderate breeze, 25; fresh breeze, 30; strong breeze, 36; moderate gale, 44; fresh gale, 52; strong gale,. 60; whole gale, 69; storm, 80; and hurricane, over 80. At 80 miles an hour a wind exerts a pressure of 19.2 pounds per square foot and would be almost if not quite sufficient to lift a 200-pound man off the ground.

Major House’s Shoes

♦ Major William House, Springfield, Mass., and for the present residing in Iceland, as part of Uncle Sam’s forces, has feet that take the big size 13, not the little size 13. He wanted some shoes, so he sent an order to a mail-order house in New York. After an interval of approximately four months he received, via Bermuda and London, a pair of ladies’ shoes, size 8. Such language is awful 1 Stop it I .

Uncle Sam Gets Stung

♦ In “Washington Merry-Go-Round” Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen furnished the more or less cheerful information that an agent of Germany, George Sylvester Vierick, under the pen name of James Burr Hamilton, wrote a speech for Senator Ernest Lundeen, had copies of it sent free through the mails, and then had it issued in book form under the title “Lord Lothian vs. Lord Lothian”, and published by a company registered as a German agent.

'Thy WORD is Truth—

“John 17:17

i

Does God Torment in Hell?

SINCE the Dark Ages religious men of “Christendom” have taught that the punishment for the wicked, those who disobey God Almighty, is everlasting torment or torture in a hell burning with unquenchable fire and brimstone. Because of this religious doctrine myriads have been frightened away from studying the sacred Bible. Because of it reasoning men have refused to believe in God and the Lord Jesus, not knowing it is a doctrine of the fiendish Satan, the Devil, used to blind the people and turn them away from the just and loving God. That doctrine of eternal torment in hell can not be true, for at least four separate and distinct reasons: (1) because it is unreasonable; (2) because it is repugnant to justice; (3) because it is contrary to the principle of love; and (4) because it is entirely unscriptural.

It seems strange that men with reasoning faculties should ever reach the conclusion that the all-wise Creator would eternally torment any of His creatures. What could be the purpose of such torment? Could it accomplish any good? Would it result to God’s glory?

There could be no eternal torment of any of God’s creatures except by His will. A reasonable, loving God could not torment any of His creatures, because He cannot deny His own attributes. A Creator that would put in operation a system of endless torment would be a fiend, and not a reasonable God. Man is not perfect, yet man has some love. God is perfect,, and He is love. (1 John 4:16) A man or a child of sound mind would not torture his horse, his dog, or his eat. Suppose we have a dog that becomes mad and tries to bite everyone in the neighborhood^ It must be killed; but we would not torment the poor brute by putting it into a slow fire. We would kill it in the easiest way, so that it would not suffer much pain. Why would a sane person do this? Because his sense of justice and love would deter him from doing anything else. Man has not as much love as God. Everything that God does for man He does for the good of obedient and faithful man.

The torment doctrine is unreasonable, because no one could be eternally tormented unless that one were eternally conscious. The Bible texts quoted in the previous issue of this magazine showed that the dead are not conscious. Furthermore, there could be no eternal torment of the human soul unless that soul "were immortal, indestructible. And those Bible texts showed that man is not im-rnortal. Those and all other scriptures bearing upon the subject show that none from among men are granted immortality except those who undergo a change from human to spirit in the resurrection and who receive immortality as a reward for right-doing and who are made jointheirs with Christ Jesus in His glorious kingdom. (1 Corinthians 15: 42-54) It is easy to see, then, that torment after death is a doctrine of Satan; and the two religious doctrines of human inherent immortality and eternal torture must stand or fall together. Since they are both false, they must both fall.

The doctrine of eternal torture is unjust, because God is just. Justice is the foundation of His throne. God plainly told the first man on earth that if he sinned he would die. (Genesis 2:17) If after telling this penalty God put man into eternal torment, then God increased the penalty after man had violated the law, and this ex post facto procedure is contrary to every principle of justice. All of fallen Adam’s children were born imperfect, so that Psalm 14:3 says: “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Every child is born imperfect. It would be very unjust for Jehovah God to permit such a one to be born, under conditions over which he had no control, and then, because he could not obey perfectly, to put him into eternal torture. Man’s sense of justice is shocked at the thought of the torture of any creature, unless his sense is numbed by religion. The justice that man possesses is a Godgiven quality. The more Godlike a man is the more just he is. We should all know, then, that God deals justly with all creatures.

The doctrine of eternal torment is devoid of the attribute of love. Every good father loves his children and children love their father. The mother loves the children and the children love the mother. When the children are disobedient, it becomes necessary for the father or the mother to discipline them; and sometimes by using the rod. But no loving parent would for a moment think of torturing, his or her child. Just punishment is always for the purpose of doing ultimate good, and where the parents are compelled to punish or discipline their children they do it because they love them. The apostle Paul, discussing the discipline by earthly parents and that by God, said: “We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.” (Hebrews 12:9,10) How could eternal torment produce holiness in the unfortunate creature thus dealt with ? Only a wicked fiend would want to torment anybody, because loving darkness and wicked things.

Our great God Jehovah is love. (1 John 4:8) “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5) Everything that He does is good. The doctrine of eternal torment is a libel upon the great and loving name of God, and Satan is responsible for it. But in

/

God’s due time He will make it clear to all that He is love, and that all His dealings are for good of obedient creatures.

The eternal torment teaching is not supported by any text in the Bible. There are some texts that are written in symbolic phrase, in parables, such as that of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus, and in dark sayings; yet these were written to illustrate other great truths, but with no reference to the eternal punishment of the human race. Our space does not permit us to consider such texts here and now. Hell in the King James Version Bible does not mean torment. “The wicked' shall be turned into hell” as a punishment (Psalm 9:17), but punishment does not mean torment after death.

There is a wide distinction between everlasting punishment and everlasting torment. Everlasting punishment is a punishment that lasts. Everlasting torment would be a torment that never ends, but one would be consciously suffering all the time. The laws of the land punish the wicked w’bo violate the law, and the duration of the punishment is short or long in proportion to the enormity of the crime committed. One who takes his neighbor’s life deliberately is punished by the full penalty of the law, and his punishment is lasting. Death is the highest penalty inflicted by the law. It is also the greatest punishment inflicted by Jehovah. Therefore eternal or everlasting death, with no hope of a resurrection, would be an everlasting punishment. But it would not be an everlasting conscious torment. God plainly declares “The wages of sin is death”, not eternal torture.—Romans 6: 23.

Nothing more grotesque could possibly be believed in an insane, asylum or in a home for the feeble-minded than that an infinitely loving God deliberately purposed thousands of years ago to roast practically the entire human family in the strangling fumes of burning sulphur throughout all eternity for something that somebody else did 6,000 years ago.

Motoring

How to Save Gas and Tires

• ♦ With the present need of the govern* ment for rubber and gasoline it would be

well for Jehovah’s witnesses to learn how / to save on these things so necessary for । the witness work.                      .

• ⁴ Recently, my brother and I traveled

about three thousand miles from Akron, Ohio, to the state of Washington in the pioneer work, and we tried some of the things we had learned from here and there to see if they would help preserve the life of Our tires, and if the ear would use any less gas. They certainly did help a lot, so 1 am passing them on to you for the benefit of the Lord’s people who are doing Ris work in the earth at this time.                                   ■

Have the motor in your car “tuned” at least every five thousand miles. If your carburetor is not properly adjusted your gasoline mixture will be too rich or too lean, and this can result in a ten-percent waste alone.

Set the spark two degrees below the motor’s weak knocking-point. There will be a very slight loss of power, but a gallon of gas will stretch a mile farther.

Clean and adjust the spark plugs frequently, at least every thousand miles. This will cut your fuel bill ten percent, and the Lord’s people can use this extra money to reach the “other sheep”.

Don’t start your car moving as though it were a race horse, and avoid racing pickups in second gear. The engine is not able to burn all the gasoline it’s getting. Also, rushing madly up to stop lines, then slamming on the brakes, is a waste of gasoline.

Keep your tires properly inflated by checking them every day about noon. By. checking them at this time you will allow for contracting and expansion, in the hot sun and the cool of the night. This will make your tires last longer, too, as a tire improperly filled is subject to a lot of extra scuffing, and wear.

Park in the shade. Gasoline vaporizes easily, and a surprising amount of gasoline will evaporate through the tiny air hole of the gas cap during hot weather.

Keep the battery well charged for quick starts. The fuel pump is pumping gasoline away during those long, grinding starts before the engine fires. Also, avoid unnecessary choking.

Clean the air filter often. When it is ■ dirty and clogged the carburetor may not get enough air, the gasoline mixture gets too rich, and mileage falls.

Finally, drive at moderate speeds at all times. Not only is it safer, but it takes a fourth less gasoline to go a mile at 40 miles per hour than at 60. And even less at thirty. However, gas consumption goes up if you go slower than this.

Concerning tires: Every time a car driver fails to inflate his tires properly, takes curves too fast, drives for a long time at high speeds, spins his tires in quick starts or skids them to a sudden stop, he is destroying rubber and wearing out his tires before their time.

Change the tires to different wheels every five thousand miles, to insure even wear. Do not take corners at high speeds, because all four tires are scraped sidewise and scuffed.

Have the wheel alignments checked regularly, both front and rear w’heels. Do not bump into curbs, because no tire can stand much of this abuse. Don’t drive too fast on hot dry roads. This heats up the tires and causes them to deteriorate quicker.

When the tires are not properly inflated according to the required pressure they go through the same thing as a rope that is being hit with a hammer on concrete.

Each motorist would do well to make it a habit to cheek the tires on his car each day, shift the tires on the wheels several times a year, and have the wheels aligned at the same time.

Following these rules will give the car owner rich dividends in the form of tire

and gasoline savings and put these things to the use for which the Creator made them.—Paul Walter Arnold, Washington.

Comment by the Owner of a Dozen Cars ♦ Reply to your letter of the 22d, I certainly must agree that the advice given in Paul W. Arnold’s letter which I read as requested, if carried out, will sjive the readers who operate ears many dollars, as well as headaches and inconveniences that always accompany the spending of such dollars. The information therein, if practiced by the American motoring public, would save them several hundred million dollars each year, not to speak of the lives.

If you feel you can spare a little space in Consolation to caution the readers to be just a little more careful with their possessions under this emergency, on account of things’ being hard to replace, in fact, in some cases, impossible, it would be doing them a real favor at this time. The old saying is: “We never miss the water till the -well goes dry.” It may be that some of the friends do not realize the necessity of being careful with what they have in order to continue to use them" for the Kingdom work. A little friend'y advice at this time may help some of us six or twelve months from now from wishing we had taken better care of “Lizzie”, or that brown suit or pair of black shoes. If any of the readers have any bicycles it will be well to keep them; for they may come in handy. Bicycling beats -walking any day. —K. W. Hessler, Pennsylvania.

Cotton Sandals for Worn Tires

♦ The United States Rubber Company advertises a new cotton sandal for worn tires which, when treated with an asphalt emulsion, is expected to run for 3,000 miles. Months of development were passed in experimenting with an asphalt liquid that would prevent skidding on slippery highways.

The No-Wheel Trailers

♦ The ingenuity of the trailer builders ' passes the comprehension of the imagination. They make one set of tires do for five trailers. When the new home on wheels is delivered to the war industry worker, and is placed on location near his factory, the trailer is propped up on wood blocks or timbers, the tires are removed, and the wheels go back to the trailer manufacturer for use on another rig.

A 280-Pound Automobile

• ♦ An Italian boy of 18 invented an automobile that weighs but 280 pounds. It is capable of traveling 137 miles on one gallon of gasoline and of attaining a top speed of 37.5 miles an hour. The machine is so light that when it runs out of gasoline it can be driven by its pedals, and the body is so elastic that no springs are needed.                             .

Honest Judge in Nashville

♦ At Nashville, Tenn., Judge Brown Taylor swore out a warrant for his own arrest on a charge of driving without a new state license, and fined himself $5 and costs. Then he went after 150 other violators of the same law, and they did not get nearly as much fun out of it when it came their turn as they did when the procession started.

Plastic Stronger than Steel

• ♦ The new plastic panels for automobiles are only inch thick, but have an impact strength ten times as great as steel. An ax blow that pierces steel mars the plastic scarcely at all. The plastic cars will be of every color of the rainbow and every mixture of colors imaginable.

Refrigerated Trailers

• ♦ Fish caught in the Atlantic ocean off Boston on Tuesday is eaten in Fort Dodge, Iowa, 1,300 miles away, on Friday. The refrigerated trailers operating between the two cities make this possible; and such lines now crisscross the country.

The Saving of Gasoline

♦ There seems to be considerable saving of gasoline by sundry and divers statesmen such as national chairman Fidward J. Flynn and Secretary Ickes. Amplifying this remark somewhat the charges have been flying around that Flynn had his belongings carted around New York city over a period of years by city cars driven by city employees, while Ickes used government cars to take to market the eggs he raised on his farm in Maryland. Thou seest, therefore, 0 simple one, how these two great men paid naught for their gasoline, and so much was saved for Flynn and Ickes.

Motorists’ Mileage Reduced

♦ American motorists are reducing their mileage, and need to do so. It is calculated that by the end of 1942 the number of passenger cars in use will be cut onefifth, and within six months thereafter by as much as two-thirds. A general disposition to save tires is manifest. ft is expected to produce 200,000 tons of synthetic rubber by January, 1943, and another 200,000 tons within six months thereafter. About ten plants will be needed to produce this rubber, and six of them were under construction within sixty days after Pearl Harbor.

Not-Wanting to Be Stung

♦ In Brooklyn a bee sailed gaily into an automobile and alighted on the right forearm of the lady driver. The lady did not wish to be stung, so she took a swat at the bee and missed him. Meantime the car jumped the curb, hit an electric light pole, and turned over. All the lady got out of it was a fractured skull, a broken nose and some minor injuries. She didn’t get stung.

At Almost Airplane Speed

♦ On Harper Dry Lake, California, a 1940 Willys set a record of 2,048 miles in 24 hours. This figures out at 85.33 miles per hour average, which was the speed of an airplane not so long ago.

The Buyer of Little White Pills _r ♦ At a filling station in Queens, New York, along comes a motorist, drives up, and asks for -water. 11c orders the -water put into his gas tank, pops in a white pellet, and drives off. Another motorist catches the bright idea, chases the first man and begs him to sell him five pills so he also can make water into gasoline. For $2 the deal is done. The buyer drives happily off, uses his car till the gas runs out, and then fills his tank with water. One pill does nothing, two pills do half as much as the first one, and so on to pill number 5. The motorist has lost his $2, lost his pills and lost his temper.

An Interesting Optical Illusion

♦ Near Bear Mountain, New York, there is a curious place on the highway where a car actually rolling down hill seems to the occupants, looking out at either side of the road, to be moving backward. This curious illusion is due to a peculiar bank on one side of the road and a deep cut on the other side, and for months led many honest people to suppose that mysterious magnetic forces drew their automobiles uphill and backward though they were driving down hill and forward.

The Thiokol Non-Rubber Dip

♦ After experimenting with all types of rubber and rubber substitutes the Ford Motor Company offered to the government a rubber substitute, called “thiokol”, which it lias found makes old tires last indefinitely. Two pounds of the substance makes a set of old tires good for 4,000 to 5,000 miles of moderate driving, is the claim. Not an ounce of rubber goes into the making of the thiokol.

Plywood Wheels May Be Practical

♦ Near Rochester, N. Y., an inventor built up a 62-pound wooden wheel of plywood, which seemed not to have suffered injury after 125 miles of driving and is apparently good for 10,000 miles. There may be something to this idea in the present rubber emergency.

Religion’s Guilt (In Two Parts—Part 2)

[The first part of this article notes that American eyes arc upon the war, that passions are high and thought is low; that Jehovah’s long-promised Kingdom is here but disregarded, and that religion is to blame for this; that of all vices religion is the most seductive. The point is raised that the claims

HAS any reader ever seen a criticism of the Roman Catholic organization in the press, even though it is well known that they are consorting with America’s enemies, both in Europe and in Japan¹? Are not all church “functions” “solemnly impressive”, “awesome,” “majestic,” “harmonious blending” (said of chants), “deeply inspiring,” and often accompanied by a half-page “spread” of pictures of “most reverends”, “his eminences,” “cardinals,” “pontificals,” “high masses,” “holy, holy” and exceptionally “holy”?

Has the reader ever seen eucharistic gatherings or other Catholic church events pictured as “ridiculous”? “Hypocritical”? “Idolatrous”? “Hocus-pocus”? No, and you are not likely to until Jehovah exposes the crimes of secret commission which the Hierarchy has buried behind “a refuge of lies”.—Isaiah 28.

The few who attempted to maintain their integrity against the aggressions of Rome immediately suffered the bludgeon of boycott and intimidation. No concerted effort to fight this pressure, by exposure, was made; so the honest editor often found himself out on a limb, without backing and without friends. He was thus faced with the unhappy decision of losing his livelihood or relinquishing free speech and press. The only ones upon earth who have been able to endure, under similar tests and even the venom of the unleashed mob, have been Jehovah’s witnesses, the “Job” class, which name means “hated”, and this they have been by every nation under the sun. (Matthew 24) They alone, as a class, have continued to expose the religious betrayers of the people.

of religion should be evaluated before it is too late. Then it is established that religion is well-supported by Satan, whereas the rule as stated by the Son of God is that all Christians would be persecuted, but that this has not been the case with religion, neither in America nor in Spain, Italy, France or Germany.]

Except for Jehovah’s witnesses the Hierarchy has practically squelched all outcry. She has successfully converted the press to her own use for the dissemination of misinformation and lies. Now the public, instead of hearing unbiased news, receives the propaganda that Rome, and often Berlin, wants one to hear. Coming from a supposedly reliable source, that is, from the so-called “free press”, which well knows the American repugnance to prejudice and partiality, the deception carries unlimited effectiveness. The recent Supreme Court decision, so tardily decried by the editorial writers, which effectively abridges freedom both of religion and of the press, could scarcely have been maneuvered if the Papacy had not first shackled free publication. Newspapermen realize too late that when the Supreme Court permits municipalities to place unlimited taxes upon a small and “hated” minority such a decision puts an end to freedom for everybody. They allowed the Lord’s people to be trampled without protest (with a few notable exceptions) ; now no mercy may be expected when their own interests fall beneath the heel of Rome!

It will thus be seen that the Hierarchy has practically destroyed the freedoms for which America’s forefathers gave their blood!

Summarizing now the relationship between Hitler and the Catholic Church. Hitler was baptized a Catholic; and that he was also molded by Jesuit and convent training is evident upon the most casual examination of his autobiography (Mein Kampf). Seeking to realize the demoniacal purposes fully revealed in his book,

he found a willing ally in the “Church”, which had in fact fostered and instilled these purposes into his mind through Jesuit priests. Some authorities say that ■ a Catholic priest wrote Mein Kampf.

Hitler, therefore, was the tool rather than the master of the Roman Catholic \ Church, and this relation has not * changed. He does the bidding of the pope, even as he followed the plans of Pacelli before he became the present pope, and while he was yet Papal nuncio to Germany. After assisting Hitler to power by the dissolution of the Catholic Center Party, which was virtually the only strong political opponent to the Nazis, Pacelli arranged for the Concordat of 1933, which admittedly⁷ has never been revoked.* The persecution stories, advertised by a press servile to Rome, are nothing but a smoke-screen to fool Americans. Therefore the ire of the world should be directed not alone upon Hitler, but also upon master conspirators of Vatican City, whose black-frocked minions reach to the uttermost parts of the earth. Religion is therefore responsible for the war. Behind religion, and the father of it, is Satan, who maneuvers the Papacy and her dictator sons in an effort to destroy the earth. “Woe to- the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (Revelation 12:12) The peace which the Papacy will shortly⁷ bring in will be short-lived, because it is now⁷ time for the “vengeance of our God”. (Isaiah 61: 2) Armageddon will end all traitors and murderers.—Revelation 21: 8.

* The saint: Ernest R. Pope who aids the Hierarchy’s deception by the “picture proof of persecution” in the Look, magazine referred to in Part 1 of this article quotes the supposedly focal point of the attack, namely, Cardinal Faulhaber, as follows: ‘The greatest part of three years of reconstruction will crash in ruins, if the Concordat is torn up by the State alone. It would be a severe shock to foreign nations now⁷ attempting to find confidence in the new Germany.’—Munich Playground (published in 1941), page 75.

What about Papal relations with the enemy⁷ Japan? Here again one finds the Vatican in full sympathy with the back-stabbers of the “Rising Sun”. Though claiming the Catholic religion has the sole right to teach, she has, for the sake of expediency⁷, permitted Japanese Catholics to worship at the Shinto shrines, so that in that country Catholicism and Shintoism can scarcely⁷ be distinguished one from the other. She has courted Japan as the most useful enemy against the Protestant United States.

Long before the conquest of the Philippines the Jesuits conducted a campaign to belittle the United States, advocating a corporate government like that of Portugal; that is, a dictatorship. In advance of the Japanese, and in the same characteristic manner employed by the priests before the terrible Hitler invasions, fifth-column activities were rampant. A previous issue of Consolation (No. 567, June 11, 1941, page 8) calls attention to a Catholic priest, “Father” Luis Bogel, who was arrested for espionage near the former United States naval base at Subic. (St. Louis Globe-Democrat, extra final edition January 13,1941) Note this United Press dispatch from Manila, on December 11, just four days after the treacherous assault on Pearl Harbor:

The Bulletin reported today that two Catholic priests had been arrested at San Fernando, in Pompanga province, for assorted fifth-column activities in the zone of Japanese invasion attempts.

The Bulletin asserted that in Manila a signal line between Nichols Flying Field and an air raid tower was eut, supposedly by fifth columnists, and delayed the alarm when the Japs raided the Manila Bay area yesterday.

Does one find that the Papacy reprimanded the Japanese for their definitely⁷ un-Christian onslaught on the neutral United States? Not before, but since this assault, the Vatican entered into diplomatic relations with Japan. General Ken Harada, “Japanese Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the

Holy See" (and who has a mug like a carnivorous animal), according to the official Vatican newspaper, Osservatore Romano, possesses “the most appreciated personal qualities”. To this step the British and American governments protested in vain. (Note Chicago Daily News dispatch from Paul Ghali, in Berne, Switzerland, March 27, 1942; Wm. H. Stoneman, of London, in the New York Post of March 31.; and “Papal Tie with Japan Draws British Rap", A. P. dispatch of June 10,1942.)

By August this relationship between those of similar designs had gained headway. The San Diego Tribune Sun of August 3 contains the following:

For the first time since diplomatic relations were established between Japan and the Vatican, the correspondent of the Tokyo newspaper Nichi Nichi was received in audience by Pope Pius XII, it was announced today.

The correspondent reported that “'the spiritual new order in the world will be formed from the collaboration between the traditional spirit of the humanity of Japan and the Boman Catholics”.

Since Pearl Harbor and Dunkirk, fresh examples of what that “traditional spirit” is pour in from Europe and Asia every day. One of the reasons for this close unity is disclosed by the New York Times of March 28, 1942:

It was remarked at the Vatican [in regard to the establishment of relations with Japan] that there are eighteen million Catholics in the territories of the Orient at present within Japan’s political sphere, including eleven million in the Philippines.

The Vatican is therefore the first to recognize the Japanese conquest of the Philippines 1

Had America guarded its borders by the exclusion of the priesthood, as advocated by Abraham Lincoln, she might have avoided such insults from the pope and the mikado!

Catholic Fifth Column Elsewhere

Even a brief survey should call attention to enemy activities of the Romanists

JANUARY 6, 1943 directed particularly against the United States in other countries. Monsignor Pucci, maestro of the Vatican press releases, now by means of the Nazi newscasts leads a campaign in South America to show that the United States is atheistic, encourages birth control, has no family life outside the Catholic church, and has closed its doors to Europe; the intention of which is to arouse hostility, especially among South American Catholics, to this government. {The Converted Catholic, April, 1942)

A plain admission of the charges contained herein is the formation of the Catholic Axis, consisting of Vichy France, Spain, and Portugal. Its purpose is “to capitalize on the pro-Fascism of strongly Catholic circles in Latin America, with the purpose of recapturing Latin America". (Allen Haden, in the New York Post, February 13,1942)

La Prensa, Spanish-language newspaper of New York, had the courage to publish a United Press report of July, from Havana, Cuba, which gives a hint of the pope’s plans for America:

Three Spanish Dominican priests who arrived last week on the Spanish boat Marques de Comillas were taken into custody and turned over to a special court when the police discovered a quantity of documents and photographs of Hitler and Franco, in their baggage, it was revealed officially today.

Among the effects there were pamphlets that declared that if Germany wins the war, Spain will recover various American territories, including Cuba, the police reveal.

Other passengers who also arrived on board the same boat told the police that during the voyage the Dominican priests wore sport shirts displaying the emblem of the Falange. When the passengers protested to the captain about it, they were told that the' boat was Spanish territory.

The priests in custody are: Manuel Garcia, Manuel Meruelo, and Angel Fernandez.

Note that these priests disguised themselves as laymen in order to carry on their Fascist activities. This usually enables the church to appear uninvolved in Fascist plots. .

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The New York Times and other large dailies suppressed this United Press dispatch.

The press recently had much to say about the conviction in Detroit of Max Stephan for aiding Nazi flier lieutenant Hans Krug'to escape. What they did not report was the German aviator’s own testimony that he was further assisted by a Canadian Catholic priest. Says the Scranton Times of July 1, 1942:

Through the Toronto priest Krug said he obtained a railroad ticket to Detroit and made his way to Windsor.

It would be interesting to know what were his connections with the Royal Oak priest, who had been shouting for the Nazis until the Department of Justice banned his Social Justice. It would also be interesting to know how Canada’s flying priest, “Father” Schulte, also crossed the same frontier at Detroit when he was recently pursued by the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, after it was discovered that while ostensibly engaged in missionary work with the Eskimos he had mapped most of northern Canada, and laid caches of gasoline along the Hudson Bay route to Greenland for a possible invasion by the Nazis. (Toronto Globe and Mail, September 26, 1940; published in Consolation No. 556, January 8, 1941, page 6)

Do Americans too foolishly conclude that Coughlin has now given up since the tap on the wrist, banning his propaganda sheet? Have not comparatively few arrests been made compared ti the thousands of howling subverts who offended American ears a so little while ago with the rabble cries for Hitler and Franco?¹ Who but the Catholic Church could prevent Coughlin’s arrest as a traitor? The Converted Catholic is the authority for the statement that a charge of sedition against him and David I.

•Hear these cries in the record (Part 6) of Judge Rutherford’s famous speech “Government and Peace”, delivered in Madison Square Garden, June, 1939, even though a howling and booing mob of Coughlinites had gathered there to wreck the assembly. The word “Franco” can be distinctly heard above the booing.

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Walsh was squelched in Washington. (October, 1942, page 207)

What do the lip loyalties such as the recent pledge of the priests to support the president amount to? Are not such declarations worse than silence, since they put the people off guard? Meanwhile the Jesuit magazine America asks the question: “In reality is [democracy] worth fighting for?” '(May 17,1942) And Cardinal Villeneuve, of Catholic Quebec, even while Canada fights for freedom abroad,' orders the burning of all “New Testaments” by his flock. The same influence caused a Quebec vote of three to one against Canadian conscription of men for overseas duty.¹

One other quotation from The Converted Catholic, April, 1942, to which this article is deeply indebted, discloses the reason for'the bloody Russian campaign:

Bitter jealousy has existed between the Hierarchies of the Roman Catholic and the Greek Orthodox [of which the Russian is a branch] churches since the eleventh century, when the great schism occurred between Constantinople and Rome. Victory of Hitler’s armies over Russia would also open up the way for the Vatican’s victory over what remains of the Russian Orthodox church there. No wmnder the Nazis declare this “a holy war”!

. This brings to an end the consideration of the Hierarchy in a few parts of the world. It is the most infinitesimal part of their misdeeds. Fifteen hundred years of intrigue and bloodshed have gone by. The above is offered merely to prove that her methods and purposes remain unchanged. Even the atrocities of the war, the wholesale destruction of an entire village, such as Lidice, and the murdering of hostages in reprisal, are of Jesuit origin. It can therefore be said that the miseries of this war, the camp followers of starvation, pestilence, and cold, the millions dead and the bitterly sorrowing mourners, are the result of religion’s atrocious greed. The monster Rome cares nothing for the cost even to her own population. She has determined to follow Satan’s leading to “rule or ruin”.

This is but a glimpse of Rome’s infamy, for time would fail any author to recount even the crimes of the last decade.

The United States is committed to win a war started by Rome. While American soldiers die on the battlefields in an effort to stop the onslaught of the Hierarchy’s Hitler and his Shinto allies, at home the gestapo of priests works unhampered. Jehovah’s witnesses, who render a patriotic service by exposing this iniquitous conspiracy, continue to be mobbed without official protest. In September, 1942, while assembled in nationwide convention, their cars were overturned, and men, women and children were beaten and shot, in Oregon, Illinois, and Arkansas.

This American Inquisition has been under way for several years now. Behind it, as usual, is the religious clergy, particularly the Romanist, whose venom is aroused, not by the otherwise unexceptional and law-abiding Americans called “Jehovah’s witnesses”, but by the piercing truth of God’s Word! “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrew’s 4:12) They are “cut to the heart”, and resort to violence, just as in the days of the apostles.-—Acts 5:33; 7:54.

In brief, the record of religion is one of multiplied crimes, and the witness exposing them is almost complete. Her wickedness is far worse than that of her prototype, unfaithful Israel, whose condemnation resulted from similar practices. “Thy eyes and thy heart are directed on nothing but upon thy own

JANUARY 6, 1S43 gain, and upon innocent blood to shed .it, and upon oppression, and upon extortion, to practise them,”—Jeremiah 22:17, Leeser,

There is little time before the execution of “the judgments written”, that is, before Armageddon. (Psalm 149:9) Rome is in the saddle and will ride with the Devil and share his doom.—Revelation 20:10,15; Matthew 25: 41.

This article is particularly addressed to the people wdio have unwittingly supported their greatest enemy, religion. To them these w’ords of Jehovah apply: “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” —2 Corinthians 6:17; Revelation 18: 4.

It is impossible for man to stop the invisible hordes of Satan, and his religious cutthroats, who overwhelm Europe and Asia, and dictate to Americans through the hireling press. But there is one thing all honest men will desire to do: cease supporting iniquity and learn of God’s way to life.

The institution which claims the sole right to save souls has, in truth, been guilty of the death of millions of souls, which it can no more redeem than it can escape God’s vengeance. “They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.” (Psalm 49:6,7) There are many roads to death, but only one way to life. —Matthew 7:13; John 14: 6.

The Bible outlines the course of the future. The Hierarchy shortly w’ill resurrect the League of Nations and dominate a peace conference, in which she will assume the leading role; successful in this, she w’ill attempt to exterminate her most hated enemies, God’s witnesses; then the Lord will put -it in the hearts of her allies, the political and military, who have long known of her extreme hypocrisy, to destroy every vestige of the vaunted religious structure and life. (See Peace—Can It Last?)

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Every statement herein is fully documented' and there is not a newspaper in America that can successfully refute the charge that the Papacy not only sup-■ ports Hitler but also backs the avowedly heathen Japanese. The many appeals to the pope show that he could stop this - war by forbidding Catholics to engage * in it.* A decree from the pope caused a hundred thousand Irish Catholics to desert the Union army.t

Again the people of good-will are addressed: To remain in this organization involves you (to the extent of support donated) in the acts of the institution over which you have no control. Above all else, her greatest offense is fighting against God, who will have none of her “New Order”, but will give the obedient life, under The Theocracy. Why continue with a sinking ship, righteously condemned by the infallible Jehovah ? If you prefer to remain loyal to an organization that knows no loyalty, you, or even billions of supporters, can in no wise avert God’s judgments. No man can now deliver the Roman Catholic world organization; for it has 'fallen into the hands of the living God’. (Hebrews 10: 31; Deuteronomy 32: 29) “Her . sins have reached unto heaven.”—Revelation 18: 5.

But individuals are invited by Jehovah to escape death by quitting the support

• “A Vatican stand against Nazism, Continental observers said, would have reverberations among Catholics from Lisbon to the fighting front in Russia.” (Associated Press dispatch, in Los Angeles Examiner, September -21, 1942)

t A very revealing article entitled “Rome’s Responsibility for the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln”, by Thomas M. Harris, Late Brigadier General U. S.V., and Major General by Brevet, published in Pittsburgh, Pa., by the Williams Publishing Co., in 1897, and now found only in the Library of Congress, shows that of the 5 percent of the soldiers who deserted from the Union army, 45 percent were Catholics. Of 144,000 Irishmen enlisted, 104,000 deserted after the pope recognized the Confederacy. The general’s quotation is from the Pension Department at Washington, D. C. For corroboration of the Papal guilt in Lincoln’s assassination, see article “Jesuit Destroyers”, in Consolation Nos. 579 and 580.

of, and even affiliation with, the object of His wrath. (Revelation 18:4) He mercifully warns the people who have been deceived, so that they may get out of the path of His terrible Executioner. —Zephaniah 2: 2, 3; Matthew 24:14-16.

If you have been a member of the Roman Catholic church perhaps these disclosures have been shocking indeed. But is it not often true that the cure of a disease is unpleasant, even painful? (Hebrews 12:11) Such will not deter a courageous man from pursuing the course • that brings the greatest good though he suffers in the journey. Rely on Jehovah; seek His way and live. The best assistants you can have in learning the right way are the commissioned servants of Jehovah, who will gladly aid you in Bible studies. There is yet time. But it is fleeting! Hasten now, and you shall have the desire of your heart! “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” —Psalm 37: 4.—Elton Groves.

Dies Is Five Years Too Late

♦ According to Federated Press January 16, Martin Dies announces he will now investigate Fascist activities in America. Dies made the same announcement four years ago. In four years he spread lies and falsehood (according to President Roosevelt), undermined democracy (according to Wendell Will-kie), and devoted himself chiefly to undermining labor unions (according to resolutions of CIO convention). He also slandered non-profitmaking organizations, co-operatives, and organizations which exposed the corruption of William Randolph Hearst, until recently America’s No. 1 Fascist. Dies refused to investigate the Nazi Bund (except perfunctorily) or the Japanese spies off Lower California or Mussolini’s agents; he refused to investigate the Coughlinite Christian Fronters (whose Boston offices have just been raided by FBI).—In Fact, January 26, 1942.

Presenting “This Gospel of the Kingdom”

THE Watchtower edition Bible, released at the New World Theocratic Assembly, is a real boon to the witnesses who so joyfully received it at that time. It is the popular King James Version of the Scriptures, but is more than just another Bible. Following the Holy Writ itself there appear three special, Theocratic features: “Index of Proper Names, Expressions, and Their Meanings,” “Concordance of Bible Words and Expressions,” and “God’s Word on Vital Subjects”. These provisions will greatly aid all who desire to study and to understand God’s Word; they are invaluable to the minister who would fulfill his commission to “root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant”.—Jeremiah 1:10. ■

“Index of Proper Names, Expressions, and Their Meanings”

When one looks up a scripture he may find a proper name or expression the meaning of which he does not know or cannot remember. By looking it up in this index one can quickly find out its meaning, and if it has previously been discussed in connection with a prophetic picture God has caused to be recorded, the meaning given may be sufficient to remind one of what it pictures.

When there are two or more possible meanings for a word this index gives . the correct meaning, the one the Lord purposed it to have when He had it recorded. For example, “Mordecai”: In Bible dictionaries and concordances its meaning is stated to be “little man”, a pet name for “Merodach”, “dedicated to Mars,” “a worshiper of Mars,” or “pure myrrh”. Now which of these is correct? The index gives the correct one, “like pure myrrh or bruised myrrh.” The other definitions are of heathen-religion origin, and are not Scriptural. Then, there are other names which are not properly defined at all in Bible dictionaries and concordances; such as “Esther”. It is usually defined as “star” or “the planet Venus”, but only in this New World index is it properly defined as “fresh myrtle”, as explained in the book Preservation,

In studying the daily text one will often find therein a proper name. The index is conveniently bound together with your Bible; look up the name; many times its meaning will throw light on the entire text. In like manner use this index when studying The Watchtower and other Bible helps published by the Society. At back-calls a question may arise concerning a Bible character or place mentioned in the Scriptures. By looking up the word in the index its ' correct meaning can be given, and this meaning may even indicate what it typified or foreshadowed, thus enabling the minister of God’s Word to answer the question completely.

One other point relative to this index: When the meaning of the word has been ascertained, and the explanation has been determined, to be discussed it must be pronounced. The index will aid even in this, although no diacritical marks are used. This rule may usually be followed: If the accented syllable ends in a vowel, the vowel is long, as a, e, I, 6, u. If the accented syllable ends in a consonant, the vowel is not long. For example, A'bel and Ab'don.

New World Theocratic Concordance

The heading under which this subject is shown in the new Bible is, “Concordance of Bible Words and Expressions.” A concordance is an alphabetical, verbal index showing the places in a textbook where each principal word may be found, and sometimes with its immediate context. That definition completely describes the concordance from its first word, “Aaron,” to its last word, “Zion’s.” It is a concordance of the principal words in the Bible, showing where in the Bible they may be found.

This concordance, tied in as it is with, and a part of, the Watchtower edition of the Bible, the “sword of the spirit”, is arranged for ‘hand-to-hand fighting’ which the Lord’s people encounter in the ‘front-line trenches’. It is so arranged that it can be taken into the field and on back-calls for use at a moment’s notice. If this concordance is properly understood and used it will help to meet all emergencies with the point of the “sword”, either in the offensive or in the defensive, by enabling one to locate the texts pertaining to the issue involved.

How may one most effectively use the concordance for this purpose? First, only principal words are listed. Some texts are given containing the word and its immediate context, enabling the searcher to determine instantly if that is the text he has in mind, without referring to the body of the Bible to cheek further. Other texts containing the word are shown by the Bible book, chapter and verse, without any context. In such cases the student must look up the scripture in the Bible itself to determine if that is' the one he is seeking. So through the list of references given till the desired text is located. This is necessarily slower than when some of the immediate context is given; but since it is necessary to have this concordance compact and always available for immediate use it is impossible to give the context of the word in each text cited.

What words are considered as principal words, words that we may reasonably expect to find in this Theocratic concordance? This is important to determine, so that time will not be wasted trying to locate a text by words that do not appear in the concordance. While this loss of time cannot always be avoided, it may be greatly minimized.

There is no inflexible rule that can be followed, but a suggestion is here offered: Keep in mind always that this is a “new world” Theocratic concordance. That is your measuring rod. The prim cipal words shown in the concordance are not determined by their usage by relL gionists, nor are the principal words determined because of their relationship to “character development” or creature exaltation. The principal words are determined by their relationship to the New World Theocracy, their relationship to Jehovah; words that have to do with Jehovah, the things He is going to - accomplish, His purposes, His judgments against the enemy or His blessings for His people. Therefore, in determining principal words, keep this point in mind: The principal words are those specially relating to the great Theoerat, His King, or His kingdom. So doing, you will not have great difficulty finding the word you seek in the concordance.

In selecting the scriptures to be listed in this concordance the endeavor was to show’ the comparative usages of the word, where such exist. For example, “earth.” Under that word Ecclesiastes 1:4, “the earth abideth for ever,” is cited. That refers to the literal mundane sphere. Isaiah. 65:17, “I create new heavens and a new earth,” shows its usage as the rule by the princes under The Theocracy. Isaiah 60:2 is listed: “darkness shall cover the earth.” Here the reference to the “earth” is to the present rule of imperfect men under demon influence. Or, take the word “wine”. The concordance lists Judges 9:13, Jeremiah 25:15, Joel 3:18,1 Timothy 5: 23>and Revelation 18: 3. In each of these texts the word “wine” is used in a different sense, sometimes the literal, in others to symbolize different things. While not all texts containing the word “wine” appear in the concordance, those showing its different usages are listed. This feature was given consideration throughout the concordance when it was in preparation, and will be of use to the student and the publisher alike. At back-calls, for example, it is often necessary to show’ the literal and symbolic uses of words, and this can be readily demonstrated through this Theocratic concordance.

Listed also in this concordance are some Biblical phrases often used by ordained ministers. Many scriptures might contain one of the several words of the phrase, but few would use the entire phrase. .This greatly narrows the field of texts to be cheeked and facilitates finding these often-used expressions. Some of them are: “Appeal unto Caesar,” “body of Christ,” “king of the north,” “kingdom of God,” “principal of the flock,” “second death,” and “thousand years”.

Then, too, there is a special Theocratic feature of showing such words as “Theocracy”, “Vindicator,” and “vindication”. While these words do not occur in the text of the King James Version Bible, this concordance cites other translations that do use them, or shows texts whe^ the original root words are used ad|g| from which the word listed in the con^ eordance is drawn. Thus the concordance may be properly called a “new world Theocratic concordance”.

The third feature in the back of the Watchtower edition Bible, “God’s Word on Vital Subjects,” will be considered in the next article of this series.

Plain Talk by Gannett

♦ Frank Gannett, prominent New York newspaper publisher, in an address at Pittsburgh to the Pennsylvania League of Women voters, went after Congress and the Supreme Court with some pretty plain talk when he said: “Countless boards, bureaus and commissions created by Congress have assumed power that Congress never intended they should have. And a supine, weak and cheapened supreme court is upholding their actions. A change just as alarming has come over Congress.”

A Refugee Trip Through Siberia

A BRITISH subscriber writes at length xl of his trip as a refugee from Latvia all the way across Russia and Siberia to Vladivostok, where he was put aboard a boat for Australia. A special train, chartered by the British ambassador, took 180 of his countrymen on the elevenday journey by rail, and this was followed by a four-week ocean trip before the journey was completed.

The refugees were allowed to bring away with them but very limited amounts of money. They might bring a gold watch, but not a gold chain. Food en route was moderately good to poor. Sleeping accommodations were provided. Passengers were not allowed to stray beyond the station platforms. At every station there were either statues or framed photographs of both Lenin and Stalin. Extracts from the story of the trip follow:

At Perm, we entered that part of Russia Hkde notorious by the sufferings of prisoners wnd their families exiled to Siberia in czarist times. The exiles had to make the greater part of the journey on foot and there were stopping places for the night at certain points, and clearing stations at others. Many thousands of hopeless exiles have passed through the places past which our train was now taking us: Perm, Yekaterineburg (now called Sverdlovsk), Tuimen, Omsk, Tomsk, and others. It was at Yekaterineburg that the late czar's family was murdered.

The majority of the exiles had committed no criminal act, but were suspect on account of their known liberal views and desire for a less rigorous form of administration. Such persons were required to take up their residence in Siberia at some place indicated to them. If the prisoner had a wife and children, these were permitted to accompany him into exile, and many did so. Often the exiles had come from comfortable homes and the hardships of the march, the lack of medical attention (this was available only ascertain clearing stations and frequently these were separated by a march taking two wrneks), the cold, the fetid atmosphere at the shelters during the night, and the complete lack of sanitary arrangements, took a heavy toll of life, especially among the women and children. The official records of the clearing station at Tuimen show that for several years the death rate varied from between 220 and. 430 per thousand, almost incredible figures. No one ever visited Siberia with the object of investigating the conditions of the exiles, without being arrested by the police, notwithstanding official permissions and other documents with which he may have armed himself before undertaking the journey. Exiles are still sent to Siberia; we saw only one party, about 150 men under armed guard, as we were approaching Krasnoyarsk; they were probably working there in the mines.

The nature of the country in this part of Siberia from the Urals and for hundreds of miles is steppe, a treeless waste. No cattle or sheep were seen, and the only form of life visible appeared to be magpies. This steppe is broken here and there by towns, but they are few, large and far between. These towns are old and had their origin in bygone days when the Russian czars were extending their dominions eastward. They began as military stations and were designed to keep in check the hordes of Tartars from the East. Our train was more than two days crossing this steppe, which ultimately gave place to more mountainous country where there are valuable mines which yield a good-quality coal. The center of this mining area is Krasnoyarsk on the Yenisei River; the Bolsheviks have renamed the town Nova-Sib irsk (New Siberia). This place was reached early Friday afternoon November 1.

At Krasnoyarsk a rather pathetic incident occurred. One of the passengers had a wife and child living there, who were on the platform to see him; they were able to spend about half an hour together. The man, although a British subject, had been born in Russia and spoke only the Russian language. Some years earlier he had been sent out of the country by the Bolsheviks because he was a foreigner. His wife, a Russian subject, he had had to leave behind. For some years he had been living in Estonia, and, now that that country had been absorbed by the Bolsheviks, he was again on the move. It is seldom that the Bolsheviks will grant an exit visa to a Russian woman married to a foreigner when her husband, merely because he is a foreigner, is forced to leave the country.

A run of a little more than an hour from Irkutsk brought us to the shores of Lake Baikal, which has' an area of 13,000 square miles; in places it reaches a depth of 4,500 feet, more than four-fifths of a mile. This lake abounds in fish, but is too far away for these ever to appear in European markets. One variety is considered by some to be more palatable than salmon; it was served several times to us on the train while we were in this vicinity.

Lake Baikal is surrounded by great and lofty mountains and the railway winds snakelike round its shore and continues some distance along the eastern side, until .a gap in the mountains is reached through which it continues its way to the east. When the Trans-Siberian railway was first built, a break occurred at Lake Baikal, and the western and eastern sections were connected by a train ferry across the lake. Besides loss of time, the ferry necessitated the use in winter of powerful icebreakers, which had to be kept constantly at work in order to keep a passage open across the water. The extension of the railway round part of the lake was a feat of great engineering skill; for the track had to be blasted out of the solid rock for the whole of the distance. There are nearly sixty tunnels in this section; the work was completed only a few years ago.

Each coach is heated separately. At one end a coal fire is kept burning which connects with the steam or hot water system which warms the whole coach. There are two conductors to each coach, who take duty alternately. They sweep up and keep the coach tidy, attend to fires and see that a comfortable temperature is maintained. At all Russian stations ample supplies of hot water, are available to passengers. At certain points a light engine came alongside the train and pumped hot water into the tanks at each coach. This was a great convenience, for there were only two small hand basins at which to wash in each coach.

The towns in Siberia are mostly built of wood, although brick and stone are used for 4k factories and other important buildings. Paint is so seldom used that one could be well excused for thinking it non-existent. The houses are mostly of one story; consequently a place of any size covers a considerable area. These vast conglomerations of un pain ted dirty wooden houses give the appearance of being the most unattractive and uninviting places imaginable in which to live. Added to this is the knowledge that the people have no liberty whatever, and no money, and there is nothing they could buy with it should they have any. They are underfed, and must stand in queues to get their rations. To further harass them their ears are constantly assailed, in most public places, by the raucous blare of loudspeakers, churning out propaganda tripe, telling them what a happy lot is theirs, apd how the wmrkers of other lands envy them. Interspersed between the talks, dance and other music is played. The quality of Russian radio apparatus is poor, and so is the music that comes through it. The music and dances are played loudly, the talks screamed as in all totalitarian countries, the idea of the propaganda directors evidently being that the louder the fhusic is played, the happier the people will be, and that the louder the talk is screamed, the more convincing the argument, if any. When one sees how the people are harassed, it is little wonder that an official should say,to a passenger, “When you get out, you will surely tel! the world how hard it is for us to live.”

Buying Up Debts in Georgia

♦ The Supreme Court has justly decided that slavery and peonage may not be surreptitiously practiced, as it has been done in Georgia under the contract labor law, which permitted employers, plantation owners and others to buy up debts, usually of Negroes, and to work them until the debts are satisfied. ■

Announcings

1943 YEARBOOK

OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

now released!

EAGERLY you have awaited the opportunity to read the report of the activities of Jehovah’s witnesses throughout the earth during the fiscal year 1942. Doubtless you have wondered what effect the sudden spread of warfare around the globe has had upon the activities of these faithful Christians. What has been the fate of the faithful witnesses in the Philippines? in Burma? in Malaya? in the East Indies and the islands of the sea? What is going on inside the Nazi-patrolled European continent in the way of preaching the gospel of the Kingdom? How has it been possible that a world-ivide report of the witness work of the perilous 1942 is prepared and Released? What has actually been required to carry on the work in all pa*ts of the earth? Can Jehovah’s witnesses be pre^ vented from doing their Goa-given work?

- These and many other questions are answered in the 1943 Yearbook of Jehovah's witnesses. You will thrill ar the evidences of Jehovah God’s leading as His' 'faithful witnesses fought with all their might to overcome the many obstacles and hardships along the way of Kingdom service, and how* they have’ maintained their integrity, some even unto death? Their faithfulness will encour- * age you to good works now.                                             ,

Besides the year’s report, and very important too, the Yearbook contains the yeartext, with comment thereon, and a text (with comments from the Watch- ' tower magazine on each text) for every day in the year. You will want to have this and start every day right by considering the daily text.

Order your copy now. The Yearbook contains 416 pages, is bound in navyblue cloth, gold-embossed. It is available at aOc contribution per copy for this limited edition.

WATCHTOWER, 117 Adams St., Brooklyn, N. Y.

Please send me ............   copies of the 1943 Yearbook of Jehovah’s

a contribution of ........................ to aid in cost of publishing more Kingdom literature.

Name.................;.......  Street ...............................

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32                                                            CONSOLATION

¹

The; Catholic French Canadians chanted: “L’Angleterre est en guerre, Ce n’est pas de nos affaires.” (Meaning) “England is at war, and that’s none of our business.” (The Converted Catholic, June, 1942, page 153)

consolation