Contents

Religion’s Pagan Origin

. Her Blasphemous Teachings

What Became of the Pharisees?

Origin of the Monks

Constantine’s Standard

A Word About Constantine

The Most Interesting Things

What’s the Use?

A Dramatic Escape

United Announcers’ Theocratic Assembly

Why Religious Education?

“The Unofficial Ambassador at Large”

“Thy Word Is Truth”

Transforming the Mind

When “The King of the North” Slipped Up 18

“Things That Are Never Satisfied”

Brief History of Sinarquismo

A False Face for the Spanish Falange

“Mexico Fears a Clerical Coup”

Adepts at Covering Up Facts

Dancing Satyrs, Jitterbugs, and Petting

Girard and Region ,

Was Gonzaga of Purer Mind than Jesus?

Eusebius of Nicomedia

Presenting “This Gospel of the Kingdom”

The Emphatic Diaglott for Analytical Study (Part Two)

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In Brief

The Coining Pay-off at Armageddon ♦,The Associated Press accredits Izvestia, the official government paper of Moscow, with some delicately veiled aspersions on the pope which may be summarized as follows:

There are people who hope that Doorn castles await the Hitlerite clique. Vain hope! The approach of Fascist criminals to the bar of justice has activized those ready to defend the Hitlerite robbers.-For instance, the pope has appealed to London inhabitants to forgive the Germans for air raids and treat them in a Christian attitude.

Some other people are mentioned besides the pope, but, as. he claims to have all wisdom, there is no need to specially mention them. They merely echo his expressed hopes.

A California subscriber sent in the clipping which embraced the above information, and inquires, comically and vitriolically:

Can you remember a single instance during Hitler’s blitz of the Allied countries when “papa” ever shed crocodile tears and pulled out all the emotional stops in an agony of sympathy for them? Neither can I. Not once did he ever chide his little playmates, Mussolini and Hitler. Instead, he commissioned an army of specially trained priests to follow their invading armies into Russia for the avowed purpose of proselytizing the subjugated people. Papa’s much vaunted infallibility, like Hitler’s, Mussolini’s and Tojo’s, took an awful battering in that campaign. Anybody that would trade a mangy dog for that kind of infallibility would sure be getting the worst of the bargain. People who willfully follow that kind of leadership richly deserve to wind up where they will wind up. —R. Markham.

Cheer dp! What is coming to the four that Markham mentions is so much worse than what they were able to do to either Britain or Russia that it will make their work look like a girl’s tea party.

CONSOLATION

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

Volume XXVI                 Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, November 22, 1944                   Number 657

Religion’s Pagan Origin

IF THAT title, “'Religion’s Pagan Origin,” sounds incredible to you, bear this in mind before we examine that origin: Not one doctrine taught by religion, not one symbol idolized by her, but that flourished among the pagans centuries before Jehovah delivered His law to Israel at Mt. Sinai.

Heathenism means “ignorance _ of the true God; the rites and practices of pagans”. (Winston's Simplified Dictionarg) Christianity means knowledge of the true God, ‘“whose name alone is Jehovah,” and obedience to His commandments set forth in His Word, the Bible. God’s law was given for the very purpose of keeping obedient creatures from observing the rites and practices of the heathen or pagans.

Many persons think themselves Christian because they observe and practice a body of ceremonies or rites. Religious teachers cause them to believe, that their adoption and adherence to this body of ceremonies, or rites, which constitutes their religion, is what,'distinguishes them from the “heathen”. Such persons are shocked out of sensibility when told that it is exactly this body of ceremonies or rites that identifies their religion with paganism.

Why has this hard, if aw’ful, truth been kept hidden? The history of religion, when brought to light and candidly stated, reveals Religion for what she actually is: a very subtle enchantress, overwhelming men’s power of reason with dark, unholy influences, the world’s most monstrous fraud! There are some persons who realize this fact. And yet,

NOVEM BER 22,1944 at the same time, such persons have confused religion with God’s Word of truth. They have identified the teachings of religion with the characteristics of Jehovah. While realizing that God’s commandments forbid His creatures to practice the rites of the heathen or pagans, yet they are astonished that the Bible was written for the purpose of freeing men’s mind from religion. That is because they cannot conceive of the fact that not one teaching or symbol adopted by modern religion was ever authorized in the Scripture.

A^To Christian is commanded to preach a single religious doctrine, or practice a single religious rite, or idolize a single religious symbol. All Christians are expressly commanded to abstain from such; because every doctrine, rite and symbol identified with modern religion had a pagan birth. It still is pagan. Its parading under the name “Christian” makes no difference whatsoever. Religion, heathenism, paganism have one common origin and mean exactly the same thing!

Why, then, may be asked here, Ijas religion become blindly confused with Christianity? The evidence, which you are invited to examine herewith, reveals this answrnr: The founders of religion and its modern supporters have at all times absorbed into their own organizations whatever doctrine, rite or idol found among the heathen they might turn to their own advantage. The ambition of religious leaders was, and is, to gain temporal power and control over the people. They have contaminated the

3 truth, which is God’s Word, with superstition, which is religion, to gain their end. They care not if their so doing has brought forth religion, which is a horrible mockery and a dishonor to the name of man’s Creator, the Almighty God, who is perfect in love and justice, wisdom and power. They are joined to Satan in his lust for power, in his crusade to conquer the universe. And for a very brief moment, here in the final end of this “present evil world”, religionists may gain control of and claim for themselves these kingdoms which Jesus flatly refused at the hands of the Devil.—Matthew 4: 8-10; Revelation 13.

Their triumph of world domination will be permitted only so that Jehovah may then vindicate His name from religion’s reproach. He will show her up, at the height of her glory, for what she really is! Because she takes His great and holy name upon herself, and pretends to serve Him, and to represent His beloved Son, the Most High God has pronounced His judgment against religion.

Before executing that judgment at Armageddon, Jehovah sends forth His witnesses to warn all living that religion originated wholly with His adversary Satan the serpent. To all who seek the truth and desire life in a new world free from religion, Jehovah sends forth this final call: “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4) Religion’s destruction is soon coming, at Armageddon!

Her Blasphemous Teachings

Now for the proof that religion’s doctrines are wholly false and abominable to the Almighty God. Space will not permit us to examine all her doctrines. Neither is that necessary. All religions doctrines are founded upon one fuhda-• mental lie. The one thing that most forms of modern religion will agree on is that “man possesses an immortal soul”. Let us examine that teaching briefly. - -

In origin it is purely pagan. Plato taught the ‘immortality of the human soul’ theory to his pagan contemporaries centuries before the Christian era. Later, Plato’s works laid the foundation for Catholic theology. “Much of the politics of Catholicism,” says Will Durant, “was derived from Plato’s ‘royal lies’, or influenced by them; the ideas of heaven, purgatory, ■ and hell, in their medieval form, are traceable to the last book of the Republic.'' (The Story of Philosophy)              .

The same doctrine was being taught in the religion of Egypt when Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s household. Moses naturally was well acquainted with the religion of the “immortality of man”, God used Moses to record the first five books of the Bible. The only instance where the ‘immortality of man’ is mentioned therein is quoted as a direct statement from Satan the serpent: “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” (Genesis 3:4) Satan alone, in all of Moses’ writings, is authority for that doctrine. It conflicts directly with Jehovah’s statement, “thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis-2:17) This proves conclusively that religion’s basic doctrine is built upon Satan’s word and therefore challenges God’s statements by a fraudulent lie.—John 8:44.

Instead of even remotely intimating the immortality of anyone save Jehovah alone, God’s law delivered through Moses expressly forbids the slightest contact whatsoever with anyone who teaches such a doctrine: “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer^ of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.” The dead having no “spirit”, necromancy, the pretended art of communicating with such “spirits”,¹ could lead man into communication only with wicked demon spirits under Satan; and that^: Jehovah positively forbade:

“For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Loud.”—Deuteronomy 18:10-12.

Following Moses came the other holy prophets, all of whom ran into constant conflict with this doctrine of Satan on every hand. It was the fundamental religion in Egypt, Assyria, India, Greece, and Gaul. If the doctrine is true, why did none of them teach it? Why did they, like Mose#, persist in teaching the contrary, that “the soul that sinneth, it shall die”? (Ezekiel 18:4, 20) “What . man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?” (Psalm 89: 48) Even the soul of the righteous escaped not this fate.

Jesus came teaching the everlasting destruction of all wickedness in the consuming fire of God’s wrath. Not once did the Son of God declare that ‘the soul of man never dies’. His apostle after Him maintained the emphatic opposite, that inherent immortality belongs to Jehovah alone. (1 Timothy 6:16) To have taught otherwise would have denied that God gives life everlasting to mortal creatures on condition of their strict abstinence from religion and their devotion to Him.—Romans 6: 23.

How, then, did this purely Satanic ' doctrine work itself into the Christian church?, It had been introduced to the Jews of Jesus’ day by the Pharisees. On this point Gibbon remarks:

To the authority of the Scripture the Pharisees added that of tradition, and they accepted, under the name of tradition, several speculative tenets from the philosophy or religion of the eastern nations. The doctrines of fate or predestination, of angels and spirits, and of a future state of rewards and punishments [such as a place of “eternal torment” in which to roast alive such “immortal souls”), were in the number of these new articles of belief ...

These new articles, mark you, embraced the identical devilish practices positively condemned by Jehovah’s law above mentioned: that of using divination, of observing times, consulting spirits, etc. Continues Gibbon:

. . . and as the Pharisees, by the austerity of their manners, had drawn into their party the body of the Jewish people, the immortality of the soul became the prevailing sentiment of the synagogue. (Eckler’s edition, Gibbon’s History of Christianity, pages 139-140)

What Became of the Pharisees?

Jesus told this austere, self-righteous sect, who had contaminated the Jews with the “immortal soul” doctrine, that they were children of the Devil. (John 8: 44) Because He proclaimed His Father’s purpose to establish a new world with Christ himself as King thereof, the Pharisees cried 'High treason’, denied Him as their King before Pilate, declaring, “We have no king but Caesar.” Jesus spared no language upon this sect of lying religionists: “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.”—Matthew 23:13.

Bear in mind also, before we inquire what became of the Pharisees, that Jesus denounced them in words of bitter and prophetic ring: ‘Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”—Matthew 23:15.

What Pharisaical religious organization has compassed the whole earth and blighted the world for a thousand years with its religious inquisitions such as put to death the Son of God ? What sect has distinguished itself above all others by its zeal for the traditions of its “Holy Fathers”? Who not only turned humanity away from Jehovah God by their Pharisaical doctrine of 'eternal torment of immortal souls’ but have also added another compartment called “purgatory” to Such a place ? Who? from their rigorous observance of their traditions, have come to look upon themselves as more holy than common men, and separate and exalt themselves from the people in a self-idolizing hierarchy? The name Pharisee means “separatist"’. Did that “holier than thou” “separatist” sect, who declared themselves unequivocally for a totalitarian Caesar while putting to death Jehovah’s Son, vanish from the earth and leave no posterity behind?

Jehovah’s terrible answer, recorded in Kevelation 17, applies to this very war-racked world: its peoples plundered, butchered and robbed by bloody Caesars, with a great religious organization riding on their backs toward world domination, driving them to the relentless slaughter of earth’s poor innocents I This present reJigio-fascist monstrosity is more Pharisaical than the murderers of God’s beloved Son, who cried to them: “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”—Matthew 23: 33.

Origin of the Monks

In the days following Christ’s resurrection and the death of His apostles, swarms of religious sects came into existence, all of which imitated the early Christians in one way or another, all of which claimed the prophecies or the teachings of Christ and His apostles as their guide, but all of which were nonetheless pagan in origin and pagan in teaching. Taylor's Jliegesis reckons upward of ninety different heresies that arose within the first three centuries; “nor does it appear that even the most early and primitive preachers of Christianity were able to keep the telling of the Christian story in their own. hands, or to provide any sort of security for having it told in the same way.” (Page 366) The religion that was to become what is now^r known as “Catholic” was a fusion of many of the heathen doctrines which absorbed most of the early Christian church. The Catholic doctrine of celibacy, and the order of monks and nuns, were, doubtless, influenced by

such “separatist” sects as the Pharisees. It would be a short step indeed, if any, between the present-day monkish clergy of Catholicism and the ultravain and sanctimonious Pharisees whom Jesus unmercifully condemned. (Matthew 6:1-16) All such long-faced sanctimoniousness and vicious inhibitions wfliich were the first requisites of the Pharisees are now⁷ identical among the Catholic clergy. '                  .

But it is to a more purely pagan sect than the Pharisees that we must look for the origin of the doctrine of Catholic celibacy. This sect was knowm as the Essenes, or Therapeuts, with headquarters at Alexandria, Egypt. They had practiced monkery long before Jesus came to earth, and it could easily have been from the Essenes that the Pharisees themselves learned to be "separatists”.

According to Taylor’s Diegesis, page 67, the titles Essenes, Therapeuts, Ascetics, Monks, Ecclesiastics, and Eclectics all applied in different ways to this selfsame sect. Mark .well each of these titles; they are still in use! The Egyptian word Essene means the same as the Greek word Therapeut, each signifying healer or doctor, and indicated that this sect claimed superior powers to heal. The name Ascetic pertained to the severe discipline and exercise of sclf-mortification, Pharisaical fasting and long prayers and contemplations, and even making of themselves “eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake”. The name Monk. signified their “delight in solitude, their contemplative life, and their entire segregation and abstraction from the world”. The name Ecclesiastics had reference to their being “called out”, “elected,” “separated from the general fraternity of mankind, and set apart to the more immediate service and honor of God.” Their name Eclectics indicated

that their divine philosophy was a collection of all the diverging rays of truth which were scattered through the various systems of Pagan and Jewish piety . . . wherever found; alike indifferent, whether it were derived from saint, from savage, or from sage—from Jehovah, Jove, or the Lord.

Constantine's Standard

The religious symbol called the “cross” was introduced to the Catholic system by Constantine. Constantine, as emperor of the Roman Empire, was the first world ruler to perform “with his own hands the sacerdotal functions”. Hence the title “Supreme Pontiff”, which succeeding Roman emperors masquerading as bishops or popes (now’ called “Holy Fathers”) adopted. It was through Constantine that the Catholic religion w^ras raised to temporal pow’er.

And if we arc to believe Constantine, it was a vision of the “cross”, or “the celestial sign of God”, that led him, after the murder of his four fellow governors of the Roman Empire and the establishment of himself as supreme ruler, to embrace the “church” and set her up as ruler of the “Holy Roman Empire”. Constantine told the story of seeing the “cross” to Eusebius, official “church” historian. Eusebius “suspected” the “veracity” of his victorious master, and intimated that if anybody less than Constantine himself had told him such a whopper, he wmildn’t have believed it. (Gibbon, Eclder’s edition, p. 312)

Gibbon calls the story a “Christian fable”', and relates the account this way: Constantine, having murdered three of his fellow⁷ governors, was on the march to polish off the last one, Maxentius.

In one of the marches of Constantine, he is reported to have seen w’ith his oWn eyes the luminous trophy of'the cross, placed above the meridian sun, and inscribed with the following words: “By This, Conquer.” This amazing object in the sky astonished the whole army, as well as the emperor himself, who-was yet undetermined in the choice of a religion; but his astonishment was converted into faith by the vision of the ensuing night. Christ appeared before his eyes; and displaying the same celestial sign of the cross, he directed Constantine to frame a similar standard, and to march, with an assurance of victory, against Maxentius and all his enemies. (Page 311)

Hence the “standard” or “cross” of Constantine, still worshiped as a sacred symbol or idol by his grateful “church”. But the “cross” as a religious symbol had existed among pagan nations for ages before Constantine! Like monkery, -or the “immortal soul” doctrine, the “cross” idol was simply grafted in from the heathen.

The following account of the origin of the “cross”, quoted from Taylor, appears in Eckler’s footnotes in Gibbon's History of Christianity, pages 312, 313:

The Nile was worshiped as. a god by the inhabitants of the count lies fertilized by its inundations, before all records of human opinions or actions. The ignorant gratitude of a superstitious people, while they adored the river on w’hose [overflowings] the fertility of their provinces depended, could not fail of attaching notions of sanctity and holiness to the posts that were erected along its course, and which, by a transverse beam. [italics his], indicated the height to which, at the spot where the beam was fixed, the waiters might be expected to rise. This cross at once w’arned the traveler to secure his safety, and formed a standard of the value of the land.

It should never be forgotten, that the sign of the cross [italics his], for ages anterior to the Augustan era, was in common use among the Gentiles. It was the most sacred symbol of Egyptian idolatry. It is on most of the Egyptian obelisks, and was believed to possess all the devil-expelling virtues which have since been ascribed to it by Christians. The monogram, or symbol of the god Saturn, was the sign of the cross, together with a ram’s horn, in indication of the Lamb of God. Jupiter also bore a cross with a horn. Venus a cross with a circle. The famous Crux ansata is to bo seen in all the buildings of Egypt; and the most celebrated temples of the idol Chrishna in India, like our Gothic cathedrals, were built in the form of crosses.

A Word About Constantine

According to Taylor, pages 345-354, Constantine drowned his wife Fausta, in a bath of boiling water. He beheaded his eldest son, Crispus, in the very year in which he presided in the Council of Nice. He murdered the husbands of both his sisters, Constantia and Anastasia. He murdered his own father-in-law. He murdered his nephew, a boy twelve years old. Taylor methodically arranges Constantine’s slaughter of his personal family under the following dates:

Maximian, his wife’s father, A,D. 310;

Bassianus, his sister Anastasia’s husband, 314;

Lieinianus, his nephew by Constantia, 319;

Fausta, his ■wife, 320;

Sopater, his former friend, 321;

Licinius, his sister Constantia’s husband, 325;

Crispus, his own son, 326.

On the night of October 26, 312, according to Taylor, Constantine was “converted” to the Catholic religion. That would mean that Constantine committed all the above murders, except that of his father-in-law, after his conversion.

And just a, word about murder No. 5. That one was of Sopater. Sopater, “his former friend,” was a pagan priest. After murders 1, 2, 3 and 4, Constantine resorted to Sopater for absolution. But Sopater . refused the consolations of paganism to Catholic Constantine. According to Lardner’s translation of the “church” writer Sozomen, Constantine “applied to Sopater, the philosopher, and he answering that there was no expiations for such offences”, Constantine thereupon murdered Sopater too. After that, continues Sozomen, hastily, the emperor then had recourse to the Christian bishops, who told him that by repentance and baptism he might be cleansed from all sin; with which doctrine he was well pleased, whereupon he became a Christian.

According to this account, if true, Constantine must have been “converted” at least nine years before he became a “Christian” 1 And after becoming a “Christian”, following the murder of Sopater, the founder of the “cross” murdered nobody else much—except his brother-in-law Licinius and his own son. —Marley Cole, Tennessee.

The Most Interesting Things

THE most interesting things in the world usually arrive in a family one at a time, sometimes two at a time, sometimes three, sometimes four, and rarely five. The weights of the Dionne quintuplets ranged from 2 pounds 14 ounces down to Marie’s little package of cuteness which tipped the scales at 1 pound 15 ounces.

In the last fifteen years there have been about forty-eight families in the United States where there have been four additions to the family at one time, but only about a dozen sets of quadruplets are known to be living in the United States. There is one set in the Zarief family in New York city. Quadruplets are hard to raise. The encyclopedias seem to have nothing on the subject.

Slowly the human family is learning more about how to take care of the unspeakable gift of life entrusted to it, but many still have the superstition that the route to good health is via the medicine cabinet and the corner drugstore. However, there are fewer dying as a result - of drinking radium-charged mineral water, fewer blinded by using poisonous eyelash dyes, fewer blinded or paralyzed by using superfluous hair removers, and fewer turned into corpses by bogus diabetes cures or so-called “slenderizers”. The government has saved many from premature deaths by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Acts of 1938.

consolation

What’s the Use?

WHEN you look upon the wanton wreckage of religion, and you see your hopes blasted by war, and pestilence and famine, and men's hearts failing them for fear of things coming upon the earth, and when you know the significance and meaning of these things; and when you see majorities riding roughshod over truth and justice, and hear mobs and educated people alike cheering them on; and when you try to help those who will not help themselves; and when you try to educate those who deny you and build hurdles in your path; and frame mischief by a law; and bear false witness; and deny you rights accorded to others; and you are compelled to stand by helplessly while right and justice are trampled under foot, and tyrants and dictators and despoilers are seemingly marching away in triumph, gloating over their evil deeds, you are inclined to say, ^tfWhat’s the use ?”

Then, in your discouragement that man’s enemy is himself, and that he has allowed his greatest enemy, the "god of this world”, to blind his mind, and that he makes no effort to learn the truth, and that he martyrs and stones those that would help him, you suddenly remember Christ’s sufferings, how He was persecuted, and His sayings that “the servant is not greater than his lord”, and that “he that endureth to the end shall be saved”, you forget the “what’s the use?” and appreciate the great and wonderful privilege set before you, and go forward with greater courage and zeal for the Lord, knowing that you are privileged to participate in the greatest work of all time, the vindication and glorification of Jehovah’s name, —H. G. Elmore.

Stop the Cruelties

♦ William Howard Hay, M. D., New York: “I know of nothing that has ever been developed through vivisection that could not much better be proved in other and less cruel ways. We have little right to the name of Christian people until we stop these cruelties.”

A Dramatic Escape

THREE British officers who knew no language but English escaped from a German prison camp in East Prussia. Polish secret authorities passed these men from town to town and village to village, gave them food, shelter and disguises, and forged documents that took them the whole length of Poland from north to southeast; thence they went across the Ukraine, through both the German and Russian lines, and finally landed safe and sound in Moscow.

In Moscow, unless they were yery well read, they were probably astonished at the progress that has been made. The Metro, Moscow’s underground .railway system, is unsurpassed by any in the world. It was built in record time, and on a wave of popular enthusiasm, by its owners, the people. It is of record that doctors, teachers, musicians, students and men and women of all grades and professions vied with one another in voluntary labor to speed its completion. Of this great public improvement Dean Hewlett Johnson said:

For beauty, lighting, general comfort, and orderly working this railway has no equal; its stations, platforms and escalators, free from disfiguring advertisements, are spacious and marble-lined. But of particular interest are the electric trains, entirely designed and constructed by Soviet engineers. These trains carried upward of 100,000,000 passengers during their first year of working, without • any significant defect or fatal accident, and succeeding years further demonstrate their solid achievement.

Scenes of United Announcers’ Assembly in British Isles: (1) Assembled and (2) advertising in Birmingham; (3) booklet released at Northampton; (4) Bristol assembly tent; (-5,6) Giasgow announcers; advertisers in (7) Bradford, (8) Derby, and (9) Belfast; (10) assembly in Cardiff,

United Announcers’ Theocratic Assembly

A Report from Mexico— Miscellaneous Pictures

COMPREHENSIVE report of the United Announcers’ Theocratic Assembly, held internationally by Jehovah’s witnesses last August 9-13, was published in the October 25 issue of this magazine. However, additional reports and pictures from distant lands have now found their way to Consolation, and those of particular interest are herewith passed .on to interested readers. On the facing page scenes from British Isles’ assembly cities are reproduced, and other miscellaneous pictures from scattered points appear in this article. As to written reports received, a very interesting one from Mexico is at hand. To give a word picture of the United An- -nouncers’ Assembly in the land of that southern neighbor the following extracts are published:

Jehovah is gracious to His people in Mexico as elsewhere. Through the Society He permitted this country to have a part in the annual assembly for worship and service to the honor and glory of His name. Arrangements were made for three assembly points in Mexico; namely, Mexico city, Monterrey and Mazatlan. These cities are located in such a way as to permit greater numbers of publishers and people of good-will to attend the feast. When the publishers learned that the theme of the convention was to be “United Announcers” they were all anxious to be one of the announcers of such an important event and to do so in full unity with their fellow witnesses the world over.

This fact [concerning unity] was also appreciated in Mexico, as was manifested by the united effort of the publishers on Saturday, ■August 5, when the first announcing work began. At the contact points there were more than had been expected on hand and all eager to do their part. The placards for information marching were distributed and each person was supplied with a good-size stack of handbills advertising the public lecture and with an assignment for a busy downtown corner. Each was instructed that they were to be given only to those accepting, without trying to force the handbill into anyone’s hand. Again and again the publishers returned for more handbills, and the supply that had boon prepared for two days was given out the first afternoon I Quickly the printer was put to work that very night to get a supply ready for the following day. The staff at the Society’s Branch worked shifts nightly from then on until the 13th printing handbills.

On Wednesday, the ninth of August, at three o’clock, the convention opened formally with a program identical with that coming over the wire from Buffalo to the assemblies

(1) Large sign being erected on Buffalo’s in the United States. The last speech for the afternoon session was entitled “'Education for Life in the New World”, and the assembly was indeed thankful to learn that this short lecture had been prepared as a new Spanish number of Kingdom News. The publishers present were given a quantity free to be distributed in the door-to-door work and on the street corners to those manifesting interest.

Among the many experiences related during the five days’ assembly was one given by a servant to the brethren. It took place in the state of Veracruz during the servant’s visit to a small company which had its company headquarters a short distance from the town. The company servant had been warned by the town politician that if they attempted to hold meetings they would be mobbed because the town was composed of “good Catholics” who would defend their faith (against all truth). The threats were ignored and the meeting was held. During the servant’s address to the publishers and people of good-will a mob was forming, and before the meetihg was over the mob was encouraged to go from shouting to throwing stones and finally to shooting firearms at the Kingdom Hall. Two rifle shots aimed at the servant to the brethren’s head through the window missed him by¹ scant inches and imbedded themselves in the wall. By a bit of quick thinking the leader of the mob was brought into the Kingdom Hall and held there by the witnesses until the mob broke and went its way. The mob leader was so angry when he saw that he had failed to finish the witnesses that he swore by his demon gods that he would “get” the company servant ‘within a week’. The exciting part of the experience was that the company servant was also present at the Assembly and appeared on the platform to explain that a few days after the mob leader’s threat an opposing political party ambushed the mob leader and his chief henchmen and “got” them instead. The climax was when the company servant handed the servant to the brethren two lead balls telling him they had been dug out of the waifs of the Kingdom Hall, proving that “the Loan saveth not with sword and spear.- for the battle is the Lord’s”.

Here we are now at the last day of this wonderful Assembly of the only people who do know their God and who constantly “do wonders” by His grace. The brethren were anxious to hear the much advertised lecture, “The Kingdom of God Is Nigh”, but at the same time they realized that soon they would be parting for their respective homes and would not see each other for another year, if it be His will. The morning session opened with the “Baptism” lecture and a good number indicated that they wished to be immersed to demonstrate that they had agreed to do Jehovah’s will. There was a slight recess after the morning’s first session until the semi-final

event, which was the lecture “The Foolishness of Preaching”. The hall used in Mexico city was the “Teatro Hidalgo”, which was on the verge of being packed out for the first time in a long time. This theater has five balconies and seats about 2,100 people. The brethren filled the lower section and an hour before the public lecture was scheduled to begin the theater was packed. A loud-speaker was installed on the front of the building so that those outside could hear the program. Just before the lecture started a heavy rainfall commenced. This caused a good number of people to seek refuge in the theater’s ample front entrance, where, to be sure, they would also hear the Lord’s timely message.

The public had expected to hear a “sizzling” speech, and, by His grace, they were not disappointed. Although the expected lecture was not delivered (because we hadn’t received a copy), the brethren as well as the public were held spellbound by a real eye-opener. The lecture delivered was none other than “Religion Reaps the Whirlwind”. The speaker was constantly interrupted by applause, and after the lecture free copies of the Uncovered booklet were given free to those who would accept. Among those present was a Catholic priest, who sat through the lecture as if dazed and afterwards could be seen in earnest discussion with witnesses, holding an Uncovered booklet in his hand. (This same priest is now attending the Mexico city company Watchtower and book studies.) The crowd lingered in the theater for some time after the lecture was over. Real interest was aroused.

The assembly in Monterrey was much on the same order. The same program was followed and results were very gratifying. The brethren there were very diligent in the King’s service, which caused the religious “shepherds” to interfere. On the fourth day the witnesses in charge were notified that “the Civic Hall must be vacated”. No amount of investigation could disclose the reason for this action other than, “Orders from pp above us.” For this reason the last day the Monterrey Assembly was forced to hold their program in a great arena under a fierce sun. Although this dampened the public interest to some extent, more than one thousand persons attended the public lecture and joined in the repeated applause to show that they are “wise” to the Roman clergy and their sneaky ways. Try as the Devil and his dupes may, they cannot stop the great proclamation of “this gospel of the kingdom”. So, as in all other places, the witnesses of the King in Monterrey remain to this day united announcers of Jehovah’s Theocratic Government.

The assembly in Mazatlan was held according to schedule and the publishers who attended there covered every house in the city with invitations for the public lecture. More than four hundred persons attended this assembly, which is very good, considering that it is a small city and that the companies in that section of the country are very small and the witnesses very poor.

The Mexican publishers expressed their determination to press forward with their brethren in other countries in the great educational work entrusted to their care, and, by His grace, they expect a good increase in number of workers during the present year, thanks to the refreshing truths served them during the never-to-be-forgotten United Announcers’ Theocratic Assembly.

VTEWSLET” ( spons ored by the

Xi Professional Council of the National Probation Association of 1790 Broadway, New York city), in its issue of August 1944, carried some interesting statistics that tended to show that the fuss which religious leaders are making about religious education in the schools is not based upon any evidence that such education is needed to reduce crime or delinquency. The article, entitled “Churches, Research and Children”, says, in part:

In 1930 George R. Mursell made a study of religious training as a preventive of delinquency, using 800 boys from the Ohio State Industrial School [for delinquents] between the ages of twelve and eighteen, and a similar control group of 600 nondelinquents.

Working with a questionnaire and standard psychological tests, Mr. Mursell concluded, after comparison of the religious training of the two groups:         '

“It would appear as if the more one attends church, Sunday school, says one’s prayers, etc., the more delinquent he is apt to be. . . . On the whole, it seems safe to conclude that there is no significant relation between religious

CONSOLATION

training and delinquent or nondelinquent behavior; that, whatever causes one to be delinquent or nondelinquent, it is not religious training, knowledge, attitudes, or background.”                                    .

The assistant superintendent of schools in Passaic, N. J., William C. Kvaraceus, reported in Sociology and Social Research for March-April, 1944, a study of 761 delinquents (563 boys and 198 girls) referred to the Passaic Children’s Bureau during the past five years. Only 59 boys and girls of this group reported no religious affiliation. The Catholic group among the children made up 67.59 percent of the total number, Protestants 22.58 percent, and the Jewish group only 1.99 percent, although the community has a rather large Jewish population. Comparison was made with state figures on church membership for the general population.

Upon inquiry it was found that 54 percent of the 594 delinquents on whom data were available attended church regularly, 20 percent irregularly, and 25 percent seldom or never. Mr. Kvaraceus points out the significance of the fact that the 54 percent regularly attending church were not deterred from aggressive-delinquent behavior. They failed to translate their church experience into their daily behavior, which he thinks may be-due somewhat to the nature of the church experience itself. . . .         '

A different approach to this same theme is that of Millard J. Heath, chief probation officer of the juvenile court in Dallas, Texas. . . .

Mr. Heath took census tracts as area units in his study, a total of 64. He determined the delinquency rate by these census tracts on the basis of the total number of children in the area who, according to the 1940 census, are ten to sixteen years of age (boys) and ten to seventeen (girls), the upper limits being those for local juvenile court jurisdiction. He then listed all of the churches for each of these areas. . . . The tract with the highest delinquency rate per 100 children, 11.7, contained a total of only 407 children in the ages given. This tract had six churches. The area with no delinquency at all, a score of .00, had a juvenile population of 439, and no churches 1 The area with the smallest number of children, 146, was third in delinquency rate, 8.9, and had eight churches. . . .

The number of churches ranges all the way from none for four areas to two with 22. The three other churchless areas have a decidedly low delinquency rate, the highest being 1.33, the others each less than 1 percent.

It appears, therefore, that the greater the number of churches in a community the more delinquency there is likely to be. Whatever else the figures may prove, they certainly do not support the contention of religious leaders that they must have access to the public schools to prevent the increase of crime and delinquency. It further indicates that if these men had proclaimed Christianity instead of seeking to inculcate religion the results would have been different, and that without question.

“The Unofficial Ambassador at Large” ♦ Honoring Archbishop Spellman with the title “The Unofficial American Ambassador at Large” the London Cavalcade proceeds to make the following observations which make one side of the mouth go down and the other side go up:

We do not know if it is true that he went to Quebec, that Churchill and Roosevelt had a dossier on his talks with the pope, or that he presented to the Anglo-American Conference a report on the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church on postwar problems. All these suggestions have been made, and there has been no denial. There may be no good reason why a little apostolic guidance or advice should not be tendered to the premier and the president. Certainly, our hopes of a better world would be stronger with that sense of dedication to high spiritual purpose which all our mentors agree to be lacking. But if that be so, the great religions of Buddhism and Mohammedanism might as well be called in. They are as potent for good as official Christianity. And they have a better record in the matter of war. Why confine our own brand of religion to one denomination—why not a few consultations with Methodists, Baptists, or Unitarians?

Transforming the Mind

EVERY person consecrating to God and whom God anoints with His holy spirit He counts as called and chosen to the heavenly kingdom, the New Nation. Hence 1 Peter 2: 9 says to such: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” In order to show forth the praises of Jehovah God they not only must believe that Jehovah is God but must joyfully obey His will, and represent His cause, and use the faculties with which they are endowed to testify to His great name, goodness and purpose. To do this one could not conform himself to this evil world, but must stand aloof from it and serve the Lord God. The Word of God is his guide. The Word or Bible informs him that he must not conform himself to the world, because Satan the enemy is the “god of this world”. At Romans 12: 2 it is written: “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

The transformation process now is carried on by the anointed Christian, building up his mind by studying God’s Word, from it ascertaining God’s will, and by it proving what is the good and aceeptable and perfect will of God. It can be seen easily that God would not make anyone a member of the Kingdom unless he is in full and complete harmony with the Lord Jesus. As it is written: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed

to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29) This means that each one that will ultimately be a member of I the Kingdom must grow in the likeness j of the Lord Jesus, by copying His example as Jehovah’s witness, and the holy spirit or active force of God work- t ing in each such one both to will and * to do of God’s pleasure.—2 Corinthians J 3:18.                                             -

“This world” means' Satan’s organi-    !

zation in both its visible and invisible    <

parts, Satan the Devil being the invisible overlord over disobedient humankind. He is the “prince of this world” and its god. (John 14: 30; 2 Corinthians 4:3,4) The one that will ultimately be of the Kingdom must not love the world. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof : but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”—1 John 2:15-17.

For more than fifteen centuries the Papal system, with headquarters at Rome, has cited the* above-quoted words of 1 Peter 2: 9, claiming to be the chosen people there mentioned by the Lord. Such claim is absolutely false. The “nation” mentioned is God’s “holy nation”. Instead of the so-called “Holy Roman Empire’s” being holy and the Roman Catholic religious organization’s being holy, some of the blackest crimes of human history have been committed in the . name of and by that religious system ,and its political dupes.

Some honest men protested in the name of Christ against the wicked reign of that system. The result was the Protestant denominations, organized in the name of Christ. It was only a matter of time until Satan overreached these Protestant organizations, and they have organized themselves into real political companies, some of the national liberation committee that backed up the attempted assassination of Hitler in July, 1944, being reported to be both Catholic and Protestant elements. It has been well said that the Methodist religious denomination is one of the strongest political organizations in the world.

Those various denominations have deemed it their business and commission to convert the world, and therefore think it necessary to bring into their institutions the rich and the influential of this world. They have opened the doors to such and made them the principal ones of their flocks. They have organized the clergy, as distinguished from the laity; and these clergy meet in councils and control the system or denomination, and use it for political purpose. Instead of their minds' being transformed like to the mind of Jesus Christ, they make, themselves a part of this world and claim that their denominations constitute God’s kingdom on earth.

Speaking to such, James 4:4 says: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” The word “adulterers” here does not refer to a lack of chastity between the sexes, but means those having a relationship with this world contrary to God’s law and their Christian professions. It means that the ecclesiastical systems have broken the implied covenant with the Lord God and have made friendship with the world and entered into an alliance with the commercial and political elements of the world; and, together, all three constitute the visible part of Satan’s organization, the symbolical "earth”.

Now in these modem times many wings of the ecclesiastical systems are presided over by clergymen that call themselves “modernists”. It appears that the “modernists” are in the majority in number among the Protestant clergymen. A modernist is one who denies the Bible account of man’s creation, denies man’s sinning and being sentenced to death, denies the ransom sacrifice of Jesus, and, of course, denies Jehovah’s kingdom by His Son Christ Jesus.

God foreknew that the ecclesiastical^ systems, Catholic, Protestant, and Jew-' ish, would conform their minds to this world and be overreached by the Devil and used for his purposes, as a part of his organization. At Jeremiah 2:21-25 He stated: "Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? . . . See thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways; a wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? ... in her * month they shall find her. . . . thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.”

The prophecy here shows, in full harmony with the facts as all can see them, that religious ecclesiasticism has turned into a degenerate plant of a strange vine, that she has become polluted, that she has gone after demonism, which is religion, that she has been in the valley between the political and financial elements of the Devil’s organization ; and, like the trait characteristic of a dromedary or a wild ass, she unlawfully runs after the ultrarich and ultra-influential and politically powerful, that she might have the plaudits of men and the honor that the world could bring to her. Ecclesiasticism did not get this from being transformed by the renewing of her mind according to God’s will, but developed this way as a result of falling. under Satan the Devil’s influence.

In seeking to transform his mind to know and prove God’s will, the Christian will studiously avoid the course and the systems of ecclesiasticism.

When “The King of the North” Slipped Up in Mexico

THE Nazi-Fascist party, with its real headquarters at Vatican City, is having a hard time of it; and the Scriptures show that this particular aggregation, described in the eleventh chapter ' of Daniel’s prophecy as “the king of the north”, shall eventually, and in the not far-distant future, “come to his end, and none shall help him.”—Daniel 11:45.

Harold L. Ickes, former Progressive Republican, now secretary of the interior, has been prominent as an administrator of what until lately was called the “New Dorff”. Heus over 70 years of age, is able, active, and has forgotten more than most ojfflS critics ever knew. A copyrighted article in the Chicago Daily News, sent from Mexico city, January 20, 1944, contains the following important information:

Sinarquists have been called “America’s Fifth Column” by Secretary Ickes, but they are smiled upon by the State Department and by many of the Catholic hierarchy here and in the United States. Up to last week they were entrusted with a little power [the Ministry of Education] in the Mexican govern" ment.

The Sinarquist minister of education resigned, and, instead of putting another Sinarquist in his place, President Camacho put in two men, a secretary of the foreign office and “the vigorously democratic army chief of staff”, General Tomas Sanchez Hernandez.

The Sinarquists fumed. From their gloomy headquarters in Mexico City they issued attacks on the new educational setup as being inspired by Moscow and came as close to a word of warning as they could, on an inside page of El Sinarquista, their weekly newspaper;

“Sinarquist youth is preparing for more dangerous and hard battles. It is strengthening the sword of its spirit.”

The policy of appeasement of the Sinarquists seems to be over in Mexico, and not a minute too soon. This is their story and why they were appeased.

Sinarquism, which owes much of its ugly physical appearance to the Spanish Falange, from which it was copied, was born in the poor farming section of Guanajuato in 1937. It was near the scene of the old bloody Cristero uprisings of ten years before, and literally dozens of Fascist groups were in the district, trying to form a going organization.

Officially the National Sinarquist Union was founded May 23, 1937, on the farm of a Mexican-born Falangist, Jose Antonio Ur-quiza, by a group of youngsters who were “disgusted with the prevailing moral, political and economic disorder—and decided to restore the Christian order in Mexico” [when everything was run by the priests in their own interests and in the interests of the big landowners, the haciendados].

“Things That Are Never Satisfied”

When the wise man names the four things that are never satisfied, that can never have enough (Proverbs 30:15,16), he does not mention the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. It was not in existence at the time he wrote. But if he were writing now, it should be included in the list. The Hierarchy has the most insatiable political ambitions of any organization that ever existed beneath the sun, though it claims to have none at all.

President Camacho is the first Mexican president in a generation to declare that he is a Catholic. In some sections he has permitted religious processions; he has returned some church buildings to the Hierarchy; he has allowed priests to appeal¹ in public in what is described as “semiclerical costume”. These changes have been opposed by some -who remember the fight which Mexico has had to wage to gain and retain her liberties from the one institution that hates human liberty worse than it hates anything else on earth. But Camacho did not move fast enough to suit the Hierarchy, and when he began to suspect the Sinarquists of their real purpose, and put two liberals in the office of minister of education in the place of the Sinarquist Vazquez, who had resigned on account of ill health, the fat was in the fire. Something had to be done.

Having (by January, 1944) obtained 900,000 to 1,000,000 members, the decision was made to kill President Camacho, and three months later Lieutenant Antonio de la Lama Rojas, a member of President Camacho's palace staff, fired at him from a distance of only six feet, but, on account of nervousness, missed him. He was himself killed the same'night by operation of the “ley de fuga”, i.e., he was “shot while attempting to escape”. TTis excuse to Camacho for trying to kill him was that government regulations forbade him to attend mass in uniform. That’s a great notion, isn’t it?-—trying to kill the president of a country because, though you both have the same religion, the president does not surrender things as fast as he should.

Brief History of Sinarquismo

Getting ready to grab the world in 1940, the Jesuits originated Sinarquismo May 23,1937, the same year when Coughlin began operations in the United States, and straightway requested and received permission to colonize Lower California, a key to the West Coast. President Camacho was twice requested to dissolve this organization, but declined to do so. The original members were all Jesuit-trained aristocrats and intellectuals, Jose Antonio LTrquiza, and Olivares, Zermeno, Mendoza, and Ornelas. The founder was Oscar Reichert, alias Oscar Schlueter. Those who attend Sinarquist meetings are paid their traveling expenses and ten pesos besides. Paying people to attend meetings is something new; but anything goes in these days. Somebody with money to spend must feel that what is being purchased is worth the price. In May, 1942, the Sinarquist newspaper republished a previous declaration that “Sinarquism struggles for the restoration of the Christian [Roman Catholic-controlled] social order. Liberal democracy, as well as Fascism and Communism, is contrary to this order”.

Sinarquism desires above all things else that the common people should not be educated. It doubtless knows the widely published fact that in the United States the ratio of illiteracy is 6 percent, wdiile in Mexico it is 60 percent to 80 percent; also that in the United States the ratio of illegitimate children is 2.4 percent, while in Mexico it is 25 percent to 50 percent. It wishes to make use of the common people, but it does not wish to do anything for them. In reality it is w’orking for the haciendado class, but masquerading as for the poor.

A False Face for the Spanish Falange

Sinarquismo is a false face for the Spanish Falange. Lieutenant de la Lama Rojas was really their tool for attempting to overthrow the Mexican government, so that, in its place, there could be put in a government like that of Argentina. Senor Lombardo Toledano, Mexican labor leader, and president of the Latin-American Confederation of Labor, a few days after the attack on Camacho explained to the New York Times that Sinarquism is frankly Fascist in character. lie wmnt on to explain about De la Lama Rojas and his friends:

The direetors of the conspiratorial center ■were some Mexican Catholic priests and reactionary elements among whom a prominent place was taken by Lieutenant de la Lama.

Continuing Senor Toledano’s story the Times (April 18, 1944, eight days after the attempted assassination) said further:                    ■

Senor Lombardo Toledano displayed photographs showing De la. Lama in company with a group of his associates. In the group was an American Catholic army chaplain in uniform. Senor Lombardo Toledano suggested that the United States government should investigate his connection with the group.

tTlie identity of that chaplain would be of great interest to the general public, but not to a Times reporter or a Times editor, for reporters and editors like to eat, and they don’t like to look for work. So the Times did not mention that his name was O’Brien. Not only did Mr, Toledano mention his name (published elsewhere), but he

submitted four photographs to support his ciiargc and demanded an investigation into the “illegal participation of O’Brien in the activities of this group of conspirators”. Two of the photographs showed a man in the uniform of a United States army chaplain standing close to Lieutenant Antonio do la Lama Rojas, who died a few days ago from a bullet wound sustained when he attempted to escape after his arrest for trying to kill Camacho in Mexico City. Toledano said: “I do not make any charge beyond this—that O’Brien was in contact with the conspirators, .as shown in these photographs of members of an organization known as Amigos del Soldado (Friends of the Soldier). With the exception of Rojas, who is dead, and of O’Brien, all the men in these photographs now are in custody. I ask the people of the United States to demand of their government the immediate investigation of the conduct of O’Brien and of the contacts that may be found between him and other U. S. citizens and the reactionary pro-Fascist elements behind the conspiracy in Mexico.”

The Mexican labor leader, who is also head of the Federaeion de Trabajadores Mexieanos, with 600,000 members, as well as of the Latin -American organization, with 4,000,000 members in 13 nations south of the Rio Grande, insisted that if the assassination had been successful, it would have been followed by a planned revolution. Toledano added that he did not “blame the Catholic clergy as a whole or the Catholic church” either in Mexico or the United States for O’Brien’s conduct.. He insisted he was unable to give any information regarding O’Brien beyond what was evident in an examination of the photograph—that he was about 50, of distinguished appearance, wore a U. 8. army chaplain’s uniform and service ribbons on his chest,—New York Daily News.

It docs not seem to be necessary to identify Mr. O’Brien any further, though it adds to the general interest to remark that his superior officer is Brigadier General W. R. Arnold, chief of U. S. army chaplains, and that Brigadier General /Arnold is of the same religious faith as was Air. Rojas.

“Mexico Fears a Clerical Coup"

Tn its issue of May 10, 1944, the Christian Century had a 24-column article under the above caption, from its special correspondent in Mexico city. This gentleman, G. Baez Camargo, says interestingly:

The photographs show De la Lama participating in religious ceremonies in the company of priests, a general and a number of officers and soldiers. In one of-them attendants are giving the Nazi and Falange salute. In another Father O’Brien, a chaplain in the U. 8. army, is holding a flag. [Kind not stated.]

After mentioning the associated “Marian Congregation of Military Men, led by a Jesuit, Father Soto”, and that the Mexican press had minimized and blurred the whole affair of De la Lama as the work of a paranoiac rather than that of a conspirator, Mr. Camargo ties the whole tale together as follows:

There seems to be a strong point in Toledano’s Contention that there is a plan afoot for a Fascist uprising and a clerical-military dictatorship. General Camacho, the head of a liberal' and moderate regime, stands in the way. Another fact seems to point in the same significant direction. De la Lama was a member of the Sinarquista faction and a close friend of the former Sinarquista chief, Abas-eal, whose private secretary was a certain Herr von, Trotter, a Nazi. The weekly magazine Tiempo in its latest issue publishes the proceedings of a secret meeting of some 40 Sinarchist leaders and many “soldiers” on April 14, which took important resolutions in the light of De la Lama's unsuccessful attempt on the president's life. According to Tiempo the speakers said: “We are impatient to go into action. . . . Why should w'e wait longer? We are lighting for a just cause and besides we are prepared.” There were shouts of “Vengeance ■ Action !” and insults were hurled against the president and other members of the government. Then, Tiempo goes on, a resolution was taken to inscribe in the list of Sinarchist martyrs “our brother and fighting companion” Antonio de la Lama, who was “treacherously slain because he defended Ins rights as a Mexican and a Catholic, trying to kill a treasonable leader whom we ginarquixtas do not recognize as constitutional president of the republic.

Adepts at Covering Up Facts

One of the most extraordinary things about the Boman Catholic Hierarchy is its efficiency at covering up misdeeds, before they are perpetrated, and afterwards. It should have been perfectly apparent to highly placed ecclesiastics in the United States as to what was on foot among their own folks in Mexico, but on either April 6 or 8, 1944 (figures not legible), either four days or two days before Sinarquist de la Lama Rojas made his attempted assassination of his country’s president, the “Right Reverend” Monsignor Luigi Ligutti, of Des Moines, Iowa, in a lecture in his home city, and reported in the Des Moines Register of the date in question, stated that within the past month he had just returned from a ten-week journey to Mexico; that he had gone there to make “a special study of the new Sinarquist movement and its leaders”; that it was “his second trip to the southern republic during the last tw'o years”; that as a result of his ten-week investigation of Sinarquism he “found nothing in its literature and propaganda, nor in the spirit or character of its leaders, to suggest that it is made up of imitators of Hitler and Franco”. He found that “the leaders are all men of Catholic faith and come from religious homes”.

It must have been a big shock to Mr. Ligutti when this Sinarquist leader De la Lama, this man of Catholic faith, and from a religious home, tried to murder his fellow Catholic Camacho, and in Camacho’s own home. Maybe in his ten weeks’ study of the movement he and Mr. O’Brien altogether missed Mr. Rojas. Or maybe he needed another ten weeks to get acquainted with him and the forty like-minded reported in Tiempo as mourning their fellow Sinarquist’s untimely death while engaged in his “rights as a Mexican and a Catholic” to kill the country’s president.

On thinking the matter over, President Camacho seems to have concluded that he was not specially sympathetic with the idea of being murdered, and so,he also undertook to follow' Mr. Ligutti’s inquisitiveness about Sinarquism. He sicked the Mexican attorney general on the job and that gentleman brought a criminal indictment against the outfit and started out by saying:

Sinarquism has carried out in the past seven years an intense political campaign, both by word of mouth and in waiting, through which it has spread the idea, programs and methods of aetion of a foreign government, the Spanish, Moreover, it has hindered the work of governmental organizations and has disturbed the public peace and order by inciting the Mexican army to rebel against the government of the republic.

One wonders, also, if, in his ten weeks’ study of Sinarquism, Mr. Ligutti learned or did not learn the Sinarquist rule, “The general and absolute rule is that no subject matter must be put to a vote at meetings. Our movement is hierarchically organized and consequently it is the chief or leader who gives orders . . . the soldiers obey.”

Dancing Satyrs, Jitterbugs, and Petting

THE pure worship of Jehovah means giving careful attention to Kingdom interests; and that means our personal conduct as related to those interests, as well as the direct witnessing activities. It is certain that Satan will do his utmost to sidetrack any who are trying to keep themselves separate and clean, worthy of the marvelous assignment of the divine mandate, after Armageddon. If he can make them drunk and keep them drunk with his wine of error, he will stop at nothing to accomplish it. To show how exceedingly subtle he is, suppose we note a warning given by Jehovah to Israel, and the strangers sojourning with Israel. And, mark you, this was directly related to their manner of worship. "And thou shaft say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers [.there are the “other sheep”, you notice!] which sojourn among you, that offereth-a burnt offering or sacrifice, and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto [Jehovah]; even that man shall be cut off from among his people. And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them "throughout their generations.” (Leviticus 17:8,9,7) Here Jehovah is warning His people and the “other sheep” with them of the dangers of religion ; He speaks of it as offering their sacrifice unto devils. What do you think is behind that statement? Who are the devils here referred to? and how are offerings made to them? In the city of our God, His holy mountain, at the feast He has prepared, there is nothing served but the pure wine of Kingdom truth, well refined, and those who partake do not err. However, in the city of the mimic God it is different. Notice how God’s Word describes the condition there: “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. . . . But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.” (Isaiah 13:19-21) Do you know what a satyr is?

The text quoted from Leviticus says “they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils”. That word “devils” is from the same Hebrew word translated “satyr”. What could Jehovah mean when He warned His people against these satyrs, dancing devils? That is what we are going to find out, because it describes exactly what they are doing at that horrible feast in the bird cage of the old-world city, Babylon. Keep in mind it is with her wine, which is the spirit of devils, that Babylon makes all the inhabitants of the earth drunk. And keep in mind also that it is with the pure fragrant wine of the Kingdom truths that Jehovah makes glad the hearts of His consecrated people attending the feast He has provided- There is your contrast! It is with His holy⁷ spirit, His energizing power, operating through the holy angels, that He moves His people to worship Him in spirit and in truth. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts.” —Zechariah 4:6, Am. Stan. Ver.

In that Jehovah warned Israel against religion back in Moses’ day, it shows that Satan’s subtle deceptions were already⁷ working. It has been called to our attention in Watchtower that Satan introduced his devil religion right there in Eden. It was there he began to play upon human passion. It was there he succeeded in dethroning man’s reasoning powers and caused the pair, created in the image and likeness of God, to worship and serve the creature more than the Creator. It is right along this line we must be particularly ■watchful today, and especially our youthful companions, with all the vigor and full blood of young life.

Let us go right to the beginning and see what happened hack there. It will help us now. The Great Father gave to His earthly children that wonderful mandate, a most precious assignment of service and duty. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the. earth.” There was a sweet particularity in that assignment never before given to any other creatures. It presented in its purity of exercise untold joys, exquisite and neverending delights crowned with divine approval. What a mandate! There was just one requirement, and only one— obedience. “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not ,eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Here was the Devil's chance. God is restricting you! God is deceiving you! "Ye. shall not surely die!” “Ye shall be as gods!” Eve’s feminine mind became disturbed. She leaned to a creature, and not to her Creator. Reason was cast aside and she began to yearn for that which was forbidden; she reached out for foolish information not concerning God’s mandate to them. She becaine a fatuous woman, a woman infatuated with the beguiling and subtle suggestion of Satan. Eve stepped aside from the path of righteousness. Adam followed suit. Instead of acknowledging his Creator in all his ways, he leaned to his own understanding and chose to worship the creature, Eve, rather than his Creator, the Most High God. His infatuation for the woman caused 'him likewise to step aside, side-step. At this point both had succumbed to the wiles of Satan; hence ' both had left the pure worship of their heavenly Father, Jehovah God, and were now bound back in worship of the Deyil; they had become religious. Principle was dethroned; passion and sentiment now reigned. The divine mandate was no longer their sweet privilege. It was to be fulfilled later by some faithful ones, whose integrity Satan could neither shake nor break.

Now, young companions, yes, and older ones as well, you may ask, But how does this affect us now? Remember Jehovah’s warning to Israel and their companion strangers: they should not offer their sacrifices to devils, satyrs. What Jehovah said back there was recorded for us right here; at this time when His great “city”, His “mountain”, is open for refuge, and in which “mountain” His sumptuous feast is spread. Satan the Devil began to develop in Eden his system of religion, which he eventually organized in the ancient city of Babylon. He began to pave the way for the bringing forth of the false “seed”, his counterfeit raessiah, anointed one.' Eve said to the Lord: “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” The word “beguile” means “to gain the interest or notice of by wiles; to charm”. It was at this point Satan began to prepare his mysteries, his charms. In devil religion one of the names of the goddess mother goes right back to Eve; the name is Fauna. The full name “Oma Fauna Fatua” means, literally, “The mother that turned aside, being beguiled.”

In this heathenish system of devilworship the husband of Fauna was called Faunus or Faun. The name Faun in Chaldee is pronounced either Faun or Pan. Pan is the name of their first pagan god. The name “Pan” means “He who turned or stepped sideways”. So there you have in the Babylonish system of devil-worship the deification of Adam and Eve. Now let us follow this through a little farther. The demon-god Pan was the head or first one of the satyrs. Now, 'you remember how Isaiah, Jehovah’s prophet, stated of Babylon that "satyrs shall dance there”, and how Jehovah warned, ‘Ye shall not offer your sacrifices to devils, satvrs.’ You see what was behind Jehovah’s timely warnings! Let us see if we can identify Adam as the first of the satyrs. The word “satyr” carries two meanings. It is from a root which means to be horribly afraid and to hide oneself; hence, the “hidden one”. The other meaning of the word is “a he-goat”. The complete meaning of the word “satyr”, then, is ‘the he-goat, the hidden one, horribly afraid’. Now, do you remember what happened to Adam after he had willfully worshiped the creature instead of the Creator, and had thus become religious? “And he said, I. heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, . . . and I hid myself.” So, you see, there is the first of the satyrs, the hidden ones, horribly afraid, Adam! Pan, the name meaning “he who stepped sideways”, the head of the satyrs, clearly identified Adam. Now let us see how Eve fits into this picture. “Fauna,” the 'goddess mother, was also called “Fatua” (beguiled), which is from the same verb as.Phet. Ph is also pronounced as p; so the word becomes Pet. Pet is the name of the goddess of infatuation. And that is where our word “Pet” comes from, petting, petting-parties. Adam succumbed to the petting of the fatuous woman Eve, the mother who turned aside, being beguiled. Now you see how devilish demon-worship is ? Human passion and sentimentality run riot! But one more point! With this pagan system of devil-worship goes the ceremonial dance. The peculiar sideward gait of the worshipers of Dagon; the leaping sideways of the priests of Baal; the peculiar movements and steps employed by the priest in the offering of mass; the he-goats, horribly afraid, depicted in the jazz-crazed steps of jitterbugs, are all part and parcel of the religion of the filthy city of “Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency”. And Jehovah says ‘it shall be as when He overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah’. So you see how utterly impossible it is for any of us, invited to Jehovah’s feast, and being vessels meet for our Master’s use, to have any part at the table of devils. Did not the apostle Paul say: “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, 'they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.” We cannot feast on the ‘wines on the lees, well refined’, and at the same time touch the filthy, idolatrous potion of God’s avowed enemy. If you want to pet, if you want to jitterbug, if you want to sidestep in any way, it can only lead you down the same path that Adam and Eve took and far away from the delightsome joy of the divine mandate awaiting those faithful ones of the “great multitude” just beyond the battle of Armageddon.—Contributed.

Girard and Religion

TO RESIDENTS of Philadelphia, Pa., the name of Stephen Girard is a legend replete with all the glamour of an American success story and one of the first. His fortune came from many sources, but chiefly from^: international trade and banking. His vessels sailed the oceans and seas of the globe. They carried valuable cargoes from this country and brought back with them precious freightage from distant shores.

His name today is remembered because of Girard College, which was founded on 42 acres of ground in Philadelphia from a trust fund of $5,000,000 which he left in his will. This fund now exceeds $87,000,000, and the college he founded' on a walled campus now* has 29 buildings, including Founders Hall. There are 1700 students, and the courses include elementary, high school, trade and commercial training. The students are given these educational opportunities, together with* complete maintenance,

Girard had a clause in his will which was the occasion for a famous lawsuit one hundred years ago. This clause and the decision of Justice Joseph Story, who wrote the opinion of the court, went a long way in establishing liberty of conscience and the principle of separation of church and state. In fact, the case has a close bearing on the debate now going on in various communities over the pros and cons of released time from public schools for religious instruction. The clause in question is as follows:

I enjoin and require that no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister of any sect whatsoever shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever in the said college, nor shall any such person ever be admitted for any purpose, or as a visitor, within the premises appropriated to the purpose of said college.

Girard then pointed out that in making this provision he was not attacking any religion or any sect, but was doing it to save young persons from the pain and annoyance of controversies which are apt to result from a multitude of sects. He then adds:

My desire is, that all the instructors and teachers in the college shall instill into the minds of the scholars the purest principles of morality, so that, on their entrance into active life, they may, from inclination and habit, evince benevolence towards their fellow creatures, and a love of truth, sobriety and industry, adopting at the same time such religious tenets as their mature reason may enable them to prefer.

Stephen Girard was born near Bordeaux, France, May 24,1750. He trained on French ships and obtained a captain’s license. Sailing for a New York firm, he stopped at Philadelphia, in 17'?6, where he made his home for the balance of his life. When a yellow fever epidemic broke out in 1793 and thousands of people fled that city, Girard remained and, at the risk of his own life, he visited the sick in the hospitals.—The New Age.

Was Gonzaga of Purer Mind than Jesus?

TN* HIS work The Roman Catholic J- Church in Italy, published in London by Morgan & Scott, Alexander Robert-, son, D.D., Venice, shows how an innocent mind can become befouled:

I have been told that Italian men have no difficulty in picking out from amongst a group of young girls those who have been trained by nuns. Such invariably put a bad construction on every word a man says to them and on his every action. Under the pica of guarding their pure minds from evil, all kinds of evil have been instilled into them. They have been fed on the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of evil, and that knowledge and no other comes out in the look of the eye and the speech of the lips.

Elsewhere in the same book, the author shows the effect of the instruction in a Papal seminary on the mind of a clean, decent boy *.

For example, an Italian gentleman, who is not a Protestant, but rather an Ultramontane, told me that when he was a boy in the Papal seminary his priest-teacher when instructing the class as to the life and character of St. Louis Gonzaga, who is the guardian saint of boys and students in Roman Catholic seminaries, said that “San Luigi era tanto casto che non guardava in faccia la sua madre” (“St. Louis was so pure that he did not look his mother in the face’’). My- friend then added: “I was completely puzzled to know what my teacher meant, for I was accustomed as goon as I got home from school to rush to my mother, to climb upon her knee, and to gaze into her face. It was not till after long years that I eame to understand his words.”

Eusebius of Nicomedia

THE place and date of the birth of

Eusebius (u-se'bi-us) of Nicomedia are not known, the first mention of him being that of his service as a bishop (caretaker) of the church at Beirut (Berytus), in Phoenicia. He is accused of leaving this charge and getting himself transferred to Nicomedia, whence his title. Nicomedia was at one time a city of great splendor and the residence of the Bithynian kings. Later it was a favorite resort of such emperors as Diocletian and Constantine. Hence it must have been a city of some importance in the time of Eusebius, who was contemporaneous with Diocletian and Constantine. (The city is now known as Izmid, and has a population of about 30,000.)

The reputed conversion of the Emperor Constantine to the “Christian religion” of the time was an event of considerable consequence. It changed immensely, and suddenly, the position of the church, whose hierarchy became of

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great power in the empire, bishops being held in great esteem for the influence they exercised over the people. The historian observes that “both the purity and the freedom of the church were in danger of being lost”; and that is stating it mildly, when one considers that Ari us and other bishops were banished for believing that which the Scriptures plainly set forth, namely, that Jesus Christ is “the beginning of the creation of God” (Revelation 3:14), and that He is “the firstborn of every creature”. —Colossians 1:15.

Freedom of religion and of worship, never very secure, suffered as much after Constantine as before, if not more. With the union of church and state the civil power, being what was called the “secular arm”, enforced the decrees of the religious councils, whether one could conscientiously accept them or not. Eusebius was one of the weaker souls caught for a time in the snares of enforced religion. The circumstances of

consolation the time, and which form a background for this brief biography, are described by the historian as follows:

“'The state was becoming a kind of church, and the church a kind of state. Thq emperor preached and summoned councils, called himself, though half in jest, a bishop’, and the bishops had become state officials, who, like the high dignitaries of the empire, traveled by the imperial courier-service, and frequented the ante-chambers of the palaces in Constantinople. . . . The emperor determined what doctrines were to prevail in the church, and banished Arius today and Athanasius tomorrow. . . . The church was surfeited with property and privileges. The emperor, a poor financier, impoverished the empire to enrich” it. That Christianity had shared the gain of the Christian church from these great changes, is very questionable,, to say the least.

The Arius and Athanasius referred to above were the theological leaders on opposing sides of a fierce controversy that arose in the church at this time, concerning the divine nature of Christ. ■ Arius and his followers, while recognizing the divinity of Christ, as the Son of God, denied the identity or equality of the Son with the Father, maintaining that the former could not be coexistent with the latter, nor of the same substance, but must have been derived from and created by the Father, and must therefore be subordinate to Him. This doctrine was denounced by the Athanasians as. a gross heresy, tending to the destruction of the true Christian faith. To decide the question between Arians and Athanasians in an authoritative way, Constantine convened the first general (cecumenical) council of the church, at Nieira (often called Nice), a city of Asia Minor, where 318 bishops met, in the year 325, and adopted the formula of belief still known as the Nicene creed. The Arian doctrine was condemned by an overwhelming majority, its chief supporters were exiled and their books were burned.

It may be remarked in passing that it is always considered a good idea to burn an opponent’s books when his arguments are too Scriptural and too convincing.

NOVEMBER 22, 1944

Eusebius was present at the council of Nicaea. He was "on the spot”, for he foresaw that the trinitarians, who had no great regard for the truth, would win out. Not quite as fearless as Arius, and having some self-interest, he reluctantly signed the creed, with mental reservations, saying that he accepted the statement of “the faith” according to “the genuine signification of it”. He wdiild not, however, Join in the condemnation of Arius, whose position, he contended, was misunderstood. So Eusebius straddled the fence. But when he raised again the controversy which the council had supposedly settled, Constantine, who was in no mood to be trifled with, banished Eusebius to Gaul, where he could exercise but little influence. Evidently Eusebius was “against the government”.

The emperor’s sister, Constantia, however, favored Eusebius, and her influence resulted in his being restored to imperial favor and influence. Eusebius may have been related to the emperor at least distantly, for he was a relative of Julian, the emperor’s nephew. As bishop of Nicomedia he exercised great power and stood at the head of a party of Arians who were interested in undoing the work of the Nicene Council. He was a formidable opponent of the proud Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria. Eusebius did all in his power to see that Arius was restored and again admitted to the communion, telling Alexander, the bishop of Constantinople, to see that this was done, if he wanted to continue as bishop. And Alexander complied, at least so it seemed, but the circumstances saved him from actually admitting Arius again to the communion of the Constantinople church, for Arius was poisoned before the order could be carried out.

Eusebius continued his activities in behalf of what was called the “Ariari heresy”. (It is considered a good plan to_; call an opponent a heretic if his arguments are convincing and unanswerable.) Eusebius probably lacked out-

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spoken boldness (which becomes Christians), and he does not seem to have had tactfulness of the Theocratic kind, or he carried it to an un-Theocratic extreme, but /he stuck to his' guns, popping away at the Nicene Creed, with discretion. Shortly before the emperor’s death Eusebius was called for. The emperor wished to be baptized and Eusebius performed the symbol, then so often misunderstood. It had been deferred as long as possible under the supposition, so it is believed, that it would wash away all one’s preceding but not subsequent sins. To Eusebius of Nicomedia, therefore, goes the distinction of having baptized the emperor who put the so-called “Christian religion” into the place of power.

Eusebius was elected to the bishopric of Constantinople in 339, which he is believed to have maneuvered himself, though it was against the canons of Nicaea which prohibited such “translations” or transfers. He probably got some satisfaction out of this final opportunity to show his disregard for the actions of that council. He has the disadvantage of having the story of his life handed down by enemies, but he seems to have held his own in the great controversy, which continued for many years after his death, A.D. 342. The truth concerning the subject, though it was stigmatized as being “Arianism”, continued to spread, and the testimony of the Scriptures concerning Jesus Christ has never been wholly obscured.

The EMPHATIC DIAGLOTT

An incomparable instrument for accurate study of God’s Word.

The EMPHATIC DIAGLOTT contains three renditions of the Holy Scriptures from Matthew to Revelation. In parallel columns are the original Greek text and an emphatic modem English translation. The Greek text is also supplemented by a sublinear word-for-word translation in English which affords an accurately literal rendering of the text. Additional features are the copious footnotes and the Alphabetical Appendix.

The EMPHATIC DIAGLOTT is printed oh thin Bible paper, contains . 924 pages, is bound in blue leatherette, gold-embossed, and measures 7 x 5|" x 1".

The EMPHATIC DIAGLOTT is published exclusively by the Watchtower Society. Not distributed commercially.

Sent postpaid on a contribution of $2.00 per copy.

A book that should be in every library.

iitihiiHiimitHirininniti iiiiiniiiiniiiiiiitiiia finttwmn mrmi nntHiiiiiumiintiiiiiimiiti tiiiitiiiininniitiiinii tiiintiitinii tn tiiiniiiiiiiiinniHHmit niiiiiiiiiHitHttimiiHijiiiiiiiiiiiiniHiiiiiiiiiiiintiiiiiuiBittiiiiiitiiiniiiiiiinKHinlm'mnrrmiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinL r WATCHTOWER            117 Adams St.           Brooklyn 1, N.Y. |

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28                                                            CONSOLATION

Presenting “This Gospel of the Kingdom”

The Emphatic Diaglott for Analytical Study

(In Two Parts—Part Two)

IN THE introduction of The Emphatic

Diaglott there are two pages that consider the Greek alphabet and a few elementary rules of Greek grammar. Time spent in mastering the information there given will not be wasted; it will repeatedly be of value to the Theocratic minister. But of interest at the moment in this introductory material on Greek is, How will it aid in a critical study of the Diaglott? How will it enable one to refute false doctrines or safeguard one from any religious coloring that the interlinear translation may not remove?

The ability to transliterate or to convert the Greek characters to English equivalents will open to one’s use a good point for refuting the religious claim advanced by the Catholic Hierarchy that the church is built on Peter. They cite Matthew 16:18. Air. Wilson’s emphatic translation in the right-hand column reads (Jesus speaking to Peter) : “Thou art a rock, and on this rock I will build my church.” The interlinear does not clear up the matter, the two terms “rock” being used there and still permitting religionists to argue that the two “rocks” are referring to the same thing, that is, Peter. But by raising the eye to the Greek words above these tw^To words “rock” appearing in the interlinear, the false claim is shattered. The first occurrence of the word “rock” is seen to be Petros, a noun of masculine gender applied to Peter. The second occurrence of “rock”, the rock upon which the church is built, is seen to be translated from something entirely different, the wmrd petra, of feminine gender, and referring to a great rock or mountain, and not to Peter. Then, if one referred to 1 Corinthians 10: 4, where it speaks of a spiritual rock and identifies that rock as Christ, and looked over to the Greek and

NOVEMBER 28,1944 found the same Greek word petra, that would certainly clinch it that the “rock” of Matthew 16:18 on which the church is built is not Petros, or Peter, but is Christ the Chief Cornerstone.

How will a knowledge of the Greek alphabet help one avoid any religious coloring that may have crept into Wilson’s emphatic translation, and which the literal word-for-word interlinear translation may not remove? In the following way: As one reads in the righthand column he may wonder why he never runs across the name of the wicked Serpent, Satan, the Devil. He comes to Matthew 4: 8 w^There he is used to reading, “The devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain,” etc., and reads instead: “The enemy takes him to a very high mountain.” Two verses later,- instead of reading Jesus’ words, “Get thee hence, Satan,” he finds, “(let thee behind me, adversary.” The Greek words for Devil and Satan, didbolos and satands, are always translated and never allowed to stand untranslated as proper names of the wicked one, not even in Revelation 20:2, where his four names are given.

The question arises, When does the word “enemy” in the right-hand column refer to the Devil, and when to some other enemy? The only way to determine the matter is by knowing the Greek alphabet and being able to transliterate the original word in the Greek text. Thus one can see whether the Greek word is didbolos or some other word. James 4: 4 speaks of friends of the world as being enemies of God. Obviously the word “enemy” here does not refer to the Devil. Looking at the Greek text, it is found to translate the Greek word ekhthrds. Ekhthrds is the Greek word for. “enemy", not didbolos, which means . “slanderer”. This religious bias of Mr.

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Wilson gets him into deep water when he translates the parable of wheat and tares, at Matthew 13:28,39. Verse 28 says, “An enemy [ekhthrds] has done this.” Verse 39 names the enemy, saying, according to the Authorized Version, “The enemy that sowed them is the devil.” “Enemy” here is from ekh-thrds, and “Devil” is from didbolos. Generally, Mr. Wilson renders both ekhthrds and didbolos as “enemy”, but he could hardly say here, “That enemy that sowed them is the enemy.” Stubbornly avoiding use of the name “devil”, he arbitrarily translates the text, “That enemy who sowed them is the adversary.”

Mr, Wilson’s religion was responsible. How so? The Christadelphian sect to which he belonged does not believe in a personal Devil. They teach that when such words as Satan and Devil occur they merely represent evil in the abstract, evil forces or influences at work. Hence the vague and indefinite word “enemy” is used rather than the specific name “Devil”,

All this analysis shows that even in those few instances where the usually excellent emphatic translation by Mr. Wilson, or even the interlinear renderings, give in to some religious influences, his fine work still has within its covers provisions for detecting these rare instances and avoiding them. The foregoing will serve to illustrate the thoroughness with which the Greek Scriptures can be delved into through the emphatic translation in the righthand column with its signs of emphasis, through the literal word-for-word interlinear translation, and through reference to the Greek text itself.

For the most part the emphatic translation by Mr. Wilson is very good. The student will find far more occasion to commend even the right-hand column in the Diaglott, when it is viewed in comparison with the Authorized Version. For example, if one’s study should include Duke 17: 21, he would not want to fail to note the emphatic translation in the right-hand column. Instead of seeming to support any such blasphemous claim that “the kingdom of God is within you”, it reads: “God’s royal majesty is among you.” Matthew 3: 2 and 4:17 also show the word “kingdom” as meaning the King rather than the actual ruling government set up or the territory of the kingdom. There the cry, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” was sounded; but that the presence of the King was meant is shown by the Diaglott rendering, “The royal majesty of the heavens has approached.” There are many, many such superior renderings of texts in the Diaglott, and they should be noted to appreciate the advantages of this fine work. It is. interesting to note in passing that Mr. Wilson even uses the name “Jehovah” in many places in his emphatic translation. (See, for example, Matthew 21:9, 42; 22:37, 44; 23:39; Mark 12:29,30,36; Luke 20:37; Acts 2:34.)

As the eye runs up and down the columns on both the left-hand and the right-hand side of the pages it will spot here and there a star or asterisk, and brackets enclosing certain Greek and English words. These signs cause one to look at the footnotes running across the bottom of the pages, and there one will find under the number corresponding to the verse number in the text a reference as to how other manuscripts render the verse or words involved. The reference is usually to the Vatican MS. No. 1209, and the enclosing of words in brackets always means that though they are admitted by Griesbach they do not appear in this ancient Vatican MS.

The information thus gained by the student is oftentimes valuable not only for private study but also for use in field service. For example, if a believer in taking up serpents cites Mark 16:18 to support his demon-inspired practice, a reference to this text and its context in the -Diaglott will show that it is spurious, verses 9-20 being enclosed in brackets. Luke 23:34 is often quoted by pious religionists and characterdevelopers, where the Authorized Version represents Jesus as praying to His heavenly Father to forgive those putting Him to death, because they did not know what they were doing. Jesus’ words to them in the twenty-third chapter of Matthew didn’t seem to indicate they would be forgiven, and when this text in Luke is checked up in the Diaglott the words "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” are found to be in brackets, and a footnote shows they are not in the Vatican 1209. The student should notice such omissions when they seem to be of consequence.

Another mark, other than the asterisk, will meet the eye as it reads along in the right-hand column. It is the obelisk, or dagger. It likewise is referring to a footnote, but the material to which it calls attention is more in the nature of a commentary. Such a mark appears in a verse previously mentioned, Luke 17:21, and a very enlightening discussion is offered as to why the verse should read "God’s royal majesty is among you”, rather than saying, “The kingdom of God is within you.” An obelisk is found in the trini tartans’ pet text of 1 John 5: 7,8, These two verses in the Diaglott merely read: “For there are three which testify; the spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three are of one.” The footnote to which the obelisk or dagger refers tells that the additional words found in the Authorized Version and which seemingly support a triune God are not found in older MSS., but that they are spurious, and infers that their forgery was designed to support the “trinity”. Many points of historical and explanatory value are to be found under these obelisk references, and the student should cheek all those that appear in his reading.

There is one last sign that appears in the Diaglott text, and which indicates the presence of a footnote thereon. This is the double obelisk, or double dagger.

It is not necessary to discuss these, however, as they are merely cross-references to related texts, and are used in exactly the same way as the marginal cross-references in the King James Version.

There is just one feature of the Diaglott left for mention: the Alphabetical Appendix. It has a wealth of information. If it offers information on an obscure point, use it. It may help in clarifying a doctrinal point, such as its discussions under the headings of “soul”, “Gehenna,” “baptize” and “baptism”, “keys of heaven,” and many others. It may help to look up characters that enter the account. For example, if one comes to the name Nathanael, referring to this appendix will inform one that Nathanael and the apostle Bartholomew are probably the same individual. The Alphabetical Appendix may clear up a seeming contradiction. To illustrate: Matthew’s account says that Jesus told Peter he would deny Him thrice before the cock crowed; likewise say the Luke and John Gospels. But Mark says that before the eock crowed twice, Peter wmuld deny Him thrice. Which is correct? A reference to “cock-crowing” in the appendix reconciles the seeming contradiction very satisfactorily. Matters of historical background are treated. “Cor-ban” is referred to in Mark 7:11. What is the significance of the term? The appendix material under that heading clarifies it and emphasizes how the religious Jews made void God’s law by this tradition. So add to the critiealness of your study by familiarizing yourself with this appendix.

Truly, then, The Emphatic Diaglott opens up a wide field for intensive study of the Greek Scriptures. No other translation begins to match it in this respect. Study it in an analytical manner. You will be greatly benefited and edified, and be a more able minister of the gospel as a result of your study of The Emphatic Diaglott.

“FREEDOM NOW!”

TESTIMONY PERIOD-DECEMBER 1-31

December signals an “all-out” distribution from door to door, for the first time, of the new 384-page book

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FREEDOM NOW

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will be given with each copy of the above illustrated book throughout December. This is also the first “all-out” distribution of this timely booklet.

During the “Freedom Now!” Testimony Period, Jehovah’s witnesses will be offering these two new publications to the people, both on a contribution of only 25e. For your copies you may use the coupon below, and receive them by mail postpaid.

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Please mail to me one copy each of "The Kingdom Is at Hand" and "The Kingdom of God Is Nigh", for which I enclose 25c contribution.

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